Interview experience:
Called for interview, sent email with application attachments, given flight code, hotel code, Travel and Hotel covered.
Tons of paperwork. FAA APPS / Biography / Resumes / College Transcripts / Application - Multiple Copies. Flown up, cattle car, TSA check, Double tree hotel is nice, Cab driver from Farwest will try to run you up, give you the grand tour, Alaska gives you a voucher for the cab, be careful, some people came late because of this guy. Waiting room with mostly regional jet pilots, low PIC Time, Most all from Horizon. Blue Blazers. Most all seemed to be in their low thirties. All seemed scared, quiet, no one wanted to talk, kinda funny really.
Computerized Test. Two hundred questions on a laptop.
Personality profile: Mostly this.
Ex: You like to be alone strongly Disagree, somewhat disagree, neither disagree or agree, somewhat agree, strongly agree. Very subjective, never given directions, answer honestly. The scuttlebutt is that it's timed and that you want to answer middle of the road, many questions are asked over and over in different ways, not hard to see they are looking for consistency.
Math questions: 2 4 6 8 10 _ Fill in the last number. Multiple choice. This is an easy one. They got really hard after this.
Verbal: Budda's version of heaven. First letter of word that answers the most correct name of word
a) b b) g c) I d) N
D) N = Nirvana
They tell you that it's not pass fail, they lie, if you do pass, you get the interview with two senior capts, HR lady and HR lady in training.I did. Very little actually aviation questions. They popped out the ANC ILS 7L approach, asked how I would do it. Take careful note of the MSA, vor Step down in the hold, ILS looks strangely displace. Then it was on to 'if the capt wanted to take off with a nav light out' what would you do. 'given your experience, what would you do if you were way ahead of the capt?' (interesting question)It's a dance. Not sure if they want you to be safety first, or do whatever the capt says. I went with a mix of do the right thing, work it out with the capt, if he gets stupid, he can call the reserve capt, then head back to the hotel. Basicaly the whole interview was this type of stuff, almost no aviation questions, all about my take on getting along, the lousy pay, being stuck in ANC for 3 weeks on reserve, and basically wondering why I would take such a lousy job. Never cracked my logbooks, no aviation weather, regs, performance, it was hilarious, considered I got no sleep and studied four days for this. Back to waiting room. Then told me I was to stay another day for the chief pilot/ HR lady interview. Whoopie, I passed. Next day. Chief Pilot and HR lady try to be stare you down a little, kinda funny, CP lightened up after a while, Why now? (CP) - You used to make $, why would you come here for this pay? (HR). What would cause you to quit? (HR) Give me another reason why you would quit (HR) So if the airline did this, would you quit? (HR). Tell me about your training? (CP). Have a question? Yeah, pension?, is it protected? Furtive looks..no. So if the pension was taken away, would you quit? (HR)
Since I passed the previous interview, then all questions about flying ability, getting along, handling bad situations were answered to their satisfaction. The last interview was simply them trying to figure out if I would stay. Strange. If I was good enough to get another job offer, if I could walk, If I would put up with their crap. Honestly, I have never been in an interview where they tell me how bad the job is, over and over, then ask why I would do it, over and over, why I would leave, over and over.
Being unemployed, on vacation, I applied on a whim, after 20 yrs in corporate, no way was I canning a good corp. job for airline pay and schedules, so this was a lark, and I got the call. I am glad I went, talked with the other scared, no PIC time applicants, saw the inner workings of an airline with a good reputation. It was a joke. They are hiring guys who need to lie at the interview, who just want a seat on a big jet, almost zero aviation vetting, all personality. One Horizon girl mentioned the computer personality test was a subjective way to fail applicants. My advice. If you really want to work for these guys, I mean you don't want to fly, just say your a pilot, come in as a regional pilot, who I was told were offered jobs right there.They are comfortable knowing that you are used to the lousy pay, not being the capt, lousy schedules, and that your not going anywhere.
Since the senior capts and HR liked what I had to say, basically good enough to fly with them, it came down to a management decision, not a flying one, at the CP/HR level...will this guy leave us? And make no bones about it, this isn't about commitment or perseverance. The job sucks, period, and I can do better, but I didn't say that, but they knew it.
I would guess, that if you go in and articulate that basicaly you don't mind your life sucking to sit in their jet, and you will do anything to be an airline pilot for them, even if you never fly, are sitting in ANC on reserve 3 weeks out of the month, You just want to be an airline pilot, its your dream, even if they sell all the planes, retirement goes away, you never make capt, your wife divorces you, kids are raised by step daddies. doesn't matter, your just want to be an airline pilot. Then maybe they will hire you. After 20 questions of this ilk from HR, no joke, every question, more extreme then the last...'ok, Alaska has a fleet of Metros, never made capt, pension raided, pay cut...would I quit...ok, yeah. Even the CP was nodding at this point, I mean, if things got so bad, you gotta leave, but I guess, that's not the right answer. You gotta lie, and lie well. You will never leave, you will keep applying until you get on here. You don't care if you fly or make capt, you just want to sit in a big jet and say your an airline pilot. It's your dream. Whatever.
Flying back down from Seatac, conversation with the guy next me, had half the plane laughing and in tears. I was joking that the pilots they hired were probably the nicest guys, well adjusted get along with everyone,...remember that before you hit the side of mountain because they never look at logbooks, or actually ask hard aviation questions. But the pilots are great guys.
For those technical naysayers..I was called the next day, after my afternoon CP interview. They never had time to call refs, do FAA checks, do a drug test..never got a sim ride, like the Horizon guys had to(I guess they don't trust their flying skills - Same company). Simply told that they appreciated my coming up, but they weren't moving forward with my app. No problem, hung up. I was actually relieved. three weeks a month sitting in ANC on reserve?
Everyone was nice, professional, there were no issues or problems. Hindsight being 20/20 the only upside to this job would have been the pension, IF it was protected. Talk to the Eastern and United guys about that. My guess is if your a regional pilot, looking for a job, meaning you don't want to fly, but sit in a plane, can articulate that you need this job, your desperate in a semi-professional way(what ever that means), then you might get on. Don't do this in corporate, unless your boss is a real loser, and wants cheapo guys. No billionaire wants to sit in the back with a desperate, beat down, hunkered down, no confidence, no experience guy at the yoke that might not be able to fly but gets along with everyone.
In summary, I got an idea on the culture and working conditions of what is considered to be a decent airline, that's worth it's weight in gold, in my time, my marriage, money and lifestyle. If I had gotten the job, probably would have done it for six months, gotten some 737 time, parlayed that into a BBJ job. So maybe they were right in not hiring me, but I am not impressed. Good luck.
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