Interview experience:
My experience is a little different from most of the gouges because I did an open interview. Basically open interviews cover the same info as the normal interviews in Dallas, the only difference is that you don't do the sim the same day. If you do the open interview it's a good idea to contact them first. It starts with an information session that lasts for a couple of hours. At the end of that they review over your resume and online application and if they're interested they will tell you to come back after lunch to be interviewed. Those of us who contacted them first didn't have to worry about whether or not they would see us. We got letters inviting us to the interview. It would suck to go all the way to the interview and sit through the info session to just be told that you're not going to be seen. It seemed to me like maybe 1/3 or more of the people weren't back after lunch. There were several reasons that they said at this time would keep you from getting an interview. The only one I really remember is if you've failed a 121 training program. They wouldn't even look at the resume of people who have failed 121.
Lunch was about an hour or so, then on to the interviews. From talking to other people it seems like the tech and hr are the same as the normal interviews in Dallas, it's just more people are doing them at the same time. So I did the tech first. First my logbook was reviewed and he went through how the interview was going to work. I know I was nervous the whole time but he did a good job trying to put me at ease. He said it was ok if I didn't know absolutely everything, which really helped. Chat a bit with the interviewer! Ask them a few questions about themselves! Make it seem normal, not like you're trying to stall the questions from coming. Keep in mind they want to make sure they can sit in a cockpit with you for hours at a time, as well as make sure you know your stuff. So the questions were really really basic IR stuff. He gave me a METAR to read, there were some notes at the end but nothing too strange or that I haven't seen before. Then a TAF. I read just the first two lines and he told me it was good. He showed me an airport diagram. I don't remember what airport. The only thing I didn't know on it was the center of the airport. Questions were about frequencies, symbols (like the beacon), taxi routes. Didn't spend too long on that. Low altitude enroute chart. Pointed to basic symbols. I'm talking really basic here. To study for this just have a friend ask you questions about different things you see on Jepps. To give you an idea of how basic it was, he thought he would trip me up by pointing to a COP. Got to an approach plate. Finger fly the approach. Brief the approach. I read the approach we were doing, the date of the approach, the second line, MSA and high obstacles and what we were going to be doing on the approach. He liked that I stressed the MSA and the high obstacles. Other people were told they didn't stress that enough. Some of the questions about the plates and charts seemed like they were trick questions b/c they seemed too easy. They're not tricking you! They want you to know how to read a plate. My guy didn't do STARS or DPs but I heard some of the other ones did. If you have never used a Jepp, study it! It takes about 20 mins to learn it if you've been using something else! There was some guy who said he hadn't seen a Jepp before. Don't be that guy. He didn't get the job. If you can't study a Jepp for some reason then just fake it. The stuff is intuitive and if you act confident then maybe they won't know you don't know what you're talking about. Really though, if you fly for AE, you're going to be reading Jepps anyway so you need to learn them no matter what. Do it before the interview. Because I had some 121 experience I was asked about duty times. 1000 in a year, 100 in a month, how much a day, etc. Some people without 121 were asked these things, too, but if you have 121 you will definitely be asked. That was all the 121 I got. No 3585 or anything complicated like that. Oh they asked the 1-2-3 rule. When do you need a take-off alternate? When do you need a second alternate? Take-off rvr mins (121, not 91). Then about the last plane a flew - a 1900. What kind of engines? How does the gear work? Nothing about the over-speed governer or any of that complicated stuff. I think maybe I was asked about flaps.It's been almost a month since these interviews so I know I'm forgetting a lot. I left with the impression that if you know what you're doing, you'll do fine. If you don't, you won't.
HR - we were all asked 5 questions from a list of questions. Mine were What would you change about yourself? Why eagle? Describe yourself in one word. Proudest accomplishment? Why should eagle hire you? Someone else was asked what makes a good F/O? Do you have those qualities? HINT: don't say no. :)
Then if they liked you at the open interview you were asked to go to Dallas for the sim. The earliest was within a week, the longest was a month or more. In Dallas you just kind of meet up with the group who is doing the normal interview. You just show up halfway through the day. The group was split into half doing the sim first and HR/TECH in the afternoon, and then a group that did the opposite. Those who went to the sim in the morning did not have Bill. They said the guy was super easy. I went in the afternoon and I had Bill. He was super cool and is crazy thorough with the briefing. You'll get a picture of what you're doing before you do it. Both groups did the same thing. Take off, join a radial, do a hold, vector for an ILS, do it with the fd, go missed, repositioned back on the ILS and do it without the fd. The morning group all got the same hold. Something like they were already on the 265 radial and the hold was to hold on the 265 radial. They all had to fly the approach. Our group was all given a different hold. You've got time, think it through. Brief the hold, how you will enter it, what you will turn to, etc. Several of us got asked a question about the hold that made no sense. I couldn't tell if he was asking what my inbound heading was or my outbound heading or what I was going to turn to to enter the hold. As opposed to asking him to clarify what he wanted, I just gave him an answer. He was like, are you sure? At that point I was like, I know how to do this hold, so I answered with the reciprocal. He was like, are you sure? I was said yes. He then asked me when I wanted him to start the time, making me think we were going to actually fly it. Nope, I didn't fly it. None of us did. If I could change one thing about how I did on the entire interview I would go back and ask him to clarify the question. I knew what I was doing. I should have just stated everything about the hold that I could. Several of us were confused by his question, I think I was the only one who gave the wrong answer initially. Whatever, he eventually realized I knew what I was talking about. I was then given vectors to the ILS right away. The flight was actually really fun. Just enjoy it. I think half of us had landings that would have broken the plane. We watched other people do their ride from the outside. Good times! Good thing you're not judged on the landing. Try to stay on the runway.
It was a great experience! Everyone was so nice and fantastic and I can't wait to work for this company! Thanks everyone!
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