AIRLINE INTERVIEW - 9 STEPS TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

Prior to and during an interview there are all kinds of unknowns facing an applicant. What EXACT questions will be asked? Will the interview be conducted in a friendly or aggressive manner? What am I going to do if a question is asked and I don't know the answer?

Add to these concerns the intense competition and stress during the interview, the atmosphere can be overwhelming. No matter how structured the process appears, the human element is always involved. Every candidate wants to know what to expect when they sit down in an interview chair. Every candidate wants to avoid the most commonly committed mistakes. Every candidate wants to feel comfortable discussing weaknesses while at the same time stressing individual strengths. Every candidate wants to walk out of the interview saying, "Well, I did my very best."

These are attainable goals! But, as with flight training, the learning process must be approached in a logical manner.

This logical process consists of nine basic steps. To be fully prepared for a pilot interview you must:
1. Understand the reasoning behind the pilot interviewing process
2. Become familiar with the roles of the people involved in the process
3. Gain an awareness of the most common interviewing mistakes
4. Determine what life experiences (both positive and negative) best describe your individual personality
5. Learn how to discuss your life experiences in a complete, yet concise manner
6. Practice your verbal delivery
7. Study for the technical side of the interview
8. Prepare your physical appearance to ensure a professional impression
9. Make sure all your paperwork is complete and accurate
Notice that nowhere have I listed "memorize the answers to the questions." Memorizing is NOT the best way to prepare for interview. (This statement, obviously, does not apply to technical questions which require memorization of certain facts, figures, and approaches to problem solving.)
There is a great deal of airline interviewing advice that suggests the best way to prepare for a pilot interview is to collect a list of all possible interview questions and memorize the answers that have received the most positive responses from interviewers. I suppose that might work if you were the first person to present these answers, but chances are you won't be. It is important to remember that although there are thousands of pilot applicants, there are a limited number of major carrier interviewers. This limited number of interviewers talk to the thousands of pilot applicants.

And, never forget that interviewers talk among themselves. It is only a matter of hearing the same answer to a specific question two or three times before the interviewers tag the answer as rote. It becomes obvious that the applicant is parroting an answer that someone else told them would work. No matter how good the answer is, the applicant is given negative marks for using it.

This "parroting" can sneak its way into your thinking even if you have made a sincere effort not to prepare in this manner.

It is important to debrief those pilots who have been through a specific airline interview process. It is helpful to discover the format of the interview and to learn the types of questions, both technical and personal, that are asked. You can learn a great deal just by listening to an applicant's overall impression of a specific airline's interview process.

Provided By: Jobs and Careers