Another one got the job :-)

This is a nice post to be able to make however it started with a bit of a panic.

The panic was from an ab initio student who suddenly got the chance of his life to start a job with a big low cost carrier. Typerating all paid for (bonding).

As you all know there are not many openings like this at the moment for ab initio students, so of course this opportunity was one not to be missed.

What do you do, when time is short?

In the email we got there was a cry for help. The assessment was only about a week away, and the individual felt the preparation for the assessment was overwhelming. Where should he start.

This is our advice.

First, you grab a calender.

You look at how many days you have available. Let say you have 6 days before the assessment.

You then look at what areas you could potentially brush up. It could well be things like

• Technical knowledge (ATPL related)
• Various airline tests (cognitive and IQ)
• Interview

If this is your list of things (there could of course be more), you then look at the 6 days you have available.

First thing is to cancel all non-essential agreements to make as much room as possible for your training.

The next thing is to book hotels, flights for the assessment. When you book these make sure you don’t take a last minute flight, and make sure your hotel is near the assessment center and that you will be able to get a good nights sleep (again no arrivals 2300 for an interview at 0800, its risky if the flight is late or cancelled).

You then need to figure out what time of the day are you “most sharp”. Some work best in the morning, others best in the late evening. Most would probably find that technical revision is what requires most of them, so place this module during the time of the day where you are most sharp. Let us say the technical revision is what you find hardest and that you are most sharp in the morning. Then you make a schedule for yourself like this

Up 0700

Breakfast 0700- 0800

Study block 1 0800- 1200, Technical knowledge (and then highlight the areas you think you need to brush up, could be performance, airlaw, metrology, communication etc. )

Lunch 1200- 1300

Study block 2 1300- 1700, Interview preparation

Dinner and relax 1700- 2000

Study block 3 2000- 2200 Revision and various Airline Tests

Now you have a rough study plan and it gives you the feeling of being in control, something to follow.

You need to accept that you have only got x amount of days, and you also need to accept that over-studying is most likely not going to help you. You need to give your brain a break from the intense studying. You need food, you need sleep. Make sure that you are also kind to yourself during the preparation stage. Do something you like – give yourself a little reward after a good day of studying. Have a positive inner-talk.

Interview preparation

Just be yourself is the typical advice we hear. This is true, but there is more to it. The interview is a score-able event. Behind the scenes (after you have left the interview) the interviewer has to look at the evidence you provided and score you. Usually there are 4- 5 main areas that you are scored within. Depending on airline specific scoring sheets, you get a score, some use 1- 5 others 1-10, again it varies but you do get a score. How you have performed within the 4- 5 main areas is then summarised into a final score. A final number. Let us say there are 5 main areas, the airline uses 1- 5 to score (5 being top mark), so the top score achievable is 25 (5×5).  There could be a minimum pass marks for the 5 main areas, let us say it is 3.  You end up getting 3, 4, 4, 3, 3 a total of 17. This combined score of 17 is what ranks you against other candidates. If there are 80 candidates for 20 positions (which could well be the normal ratio 1:4), your “17” might be good enough to pass the interview, but too low to be among top 20, which is why interviews must be looked at with care. It is not just about passing the interview, it is also about passing with a high score.

The common errors

Not making it clear what YOU did, what actions were yours, how did YOU impact the situation

Talking about something very aviation specific not realising that the assessor is not a pilot

Not using structure in your answer (STAR)

Not being able to answer the question – for example unable to describe 5 positive and 5 negative sides of your person. Usually the 5 postive is no problems, it is the negative sides that often gets people.

Not having very strong examples of how you have dealt with a conflict, teamwork, motivation and leadership.

Struggling to find the words

Having non-matching non-verbal and verbal communication (this tells the assessor that something is not right and we may start digging or think you are lying)

Being too nervous to actually think (this is when you say something that is really not that smart)

/ However the above are just examples based on recent mock-up interviews.

Practicing for the interview is key if you want to do well, but how do you practice?

Practicing with a friend can be a great idea, but often your friend will tell you lots of postive things (your friends rarely like to say negative things). Also your friend might not have the knowledge or skills to work with you making you better. What is a good answer and what is a weak answer?

Someone that doesn’t really know you, but who has experience with conducting interviews might actually be a better person to help you. The challenge you may find though, is that if you are running on a tight schedule (the 6 days to prepare), finding someone might be very difficult.

Don’t get caught out

When you get the invitation for the assessment, time might be short to prepare. This is why we recommend not leaving the preparation until you get the invite. You can easily prepare for airline interviews as they are not that different. Imagine for example you go for a RYR interview/ assessment. You can find lots of information online about what others have said about the process (just be aware that what you can find on the internet, the RYR recruiters can see too). Don’t base your preparation solely on what you can find, as the finer details of the recruitment can be changed last minute. But at least reading about what other people have experienced might give you an idea of what to expect. The key thing is that you don’t leave you preparation to last minute. As soon as you have got your licence, or maybe even 2- 3 months before you get your licence it would be a good idea to start planning and preparing for an assessment.

What is the most difficult part of the assessment?

It is hard to say, as people are of course different but from our experience one of the most difficult parts to be good at is the interview. People often underestimate the interview. Either they underestimate what the interview is all about or they underestimate how good they are (often people think they are better than they are).

If you are going for airlines that use extensive testing tools (like DLR tests), you may want to look at the Skytest preparation software. The Skytest software is one of the best tools we have seen for preparing for these kind of tests. It may take you a few months to get comfortable with these sort of tests, so make sure you start early. If you go for a smaller regional airline, you might never need this kind of preparation, but the thing is, it is hard to predict what kind of opportunities you will get.

Another part that you may want to take responsibility for is your mental strength/ health. Now we know that sounds a bit deep, but think about it. In your life, has anyone ever told you or taught you how to focus, how to relax your stress levels, how you can cope with pressure? For many pilots these techniques are not known, but if we turn our attention to the field of elite athletes, there are plenty of tools you can learn to master and apply in your pilot life. Of course you need to believe in the basic principles that the brain and your mind has a huge impact on your performance, otherwise performance psychology is most likely not something you will buy into. Building a strong mind is pretty much like boulding muscles in the gym. It takes time and you need to practice regularly. If you want some introduction to performance psychology we are happy to help.

Some real life examples of interview questions that you can use to prepare

• Why did you want to be a pilot?
• Why our airline?
• What makes a good pilot?
• What kind of qualities should a good pilot have?
• Tell me about yourself? What are your main 5 postive and 5 negative sides of your personality?
• Is safety important?
• Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
• Examples in which you demonstrated leadership qualities?
• How do you react in stressful situations?
• Give an example of something you did in your past career where you solved a problem?
• Give an example of where you have helped others?
• What will you do if you are not successful with this application?
• What is the typical work schedule for one of our pilots?
• What challenges might you face in your training/ career?
• What is the role of a co-pilot?
• What challenges do yo see for our company in the coming years?
• What can you bring to our airline?
• What will be your challenges as a FO in your first days?
• Tell me about a situation where you had to manage a conflict?
• Tell me about a situation in which you had to lead a team, and one of the team members dit not want to collaborate. How did you act?
• Tell me a time in which you lost situational awareness?
• Describe commercial thinking?
• Who are our biggest competitors?
• Why do you want to be a leader?
• Tell me about a time when you have had to take control although you weren’t in charge?
• Tell me about growth mindset?

So how did it go?

How did what go? Well the headline kind of gives it away that he got the job. But what did we manage to do? We had a quick call where were helped the individuel make a study plan, and then we managed to squeeze in 3 interview sessions before the big day. As expected the first interview was not very good performance wise, but it was good in a way that it was clear what areas needed practice. The second time we had interview-practice, it was clear that the candidate had practised a lot, but also evident that new areas of improvement presented themselves. The third time, it was much much better. The candidate later wrote to us that the interview had gone very well and that he had received a lot of positive energy back from the interviewer as the interview had progressed. The candidate had felt well prepared and was able to relax during the interview and focus on delivering the prepared answers in a confident and relaxed way. Some unexpected variants of questions came up or some probing of answers happened during the interview, but the candidate was able to provide some sound answers. Of course an outstanding results as he got the job and he is starting the typerating with the airline. Out of his 8 classmates that were invited for the assessment only 3 got the job offer. We only worked with 1 out of the 8 and we are happy that we were able to make a difference. Would he had got the job without our help? Hard to say, but if he had delivered (interview wise) what we saw on the first practice interview, our view is that he would not have passed with a high score, and therefor not have got the job.

Happy landings

Soren,