Recently, a number of captain interviewers, human re- source representatives, and recruiters at several regional airlines were consulted. Simple questions were put forth to each. "What burns your bridge? What ticks you off? What are the deal-breakers?" Speaking on condition of anonymity, most were willing to be candid in hopes that you would avoid the same mistakes when the airline comes a-calling.
Advance Prep
You must go through several steps before a job is offered. Most regional airlines will administer some sort of written test as the first order of business on interview day. At some airlines, the examination is a test of basic rules in parts 61 and 91 of the federal aviation regulations, along with a good sampling of questions from the Aeronautical Information Manual. At one of the most popular regionals headquartered in the West, you can expect questions right out of the ATP Knowledge Test, including FAR Part 121. "What is the service volume of an 'H' Class VOR? Give four situations requiring an alternate. What does that mean on a Jepp chart?" Huh?
"And, for goodness sakes," says one exasperated HR rep from an all-Beech 1900 operator, "Know the Jeppesen formats! I call it Excuse #1207. 'Gee! I have only used NOS charts.' Well, first of all, they are not NOS charts anymore. Secondly, every airline in the U.S. uses Jeppesen." Duh!
Captain Dave has spent more than a few years shepherding commuters into and out of Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas. As a member of the interviewing team for a regional carrier, he has turned thumbs up or down on applicants numerous times. "Many airlines like ours have the applicant demonstrate basic instrument skills in a simulator. Let's face it. A Frasca or AST flies a whole lot differently than a Cessna 182 or a [Beech] Baron. There are a handful of companies that specialize in simulator preparation targeted to specific airlines. Get to know where they are and practice in the box for a few hours. That is money well spent."
This wisdom comes from a former Dash-8 captain for an upper-Midwest carrier. "The best advice is to sit down with a pilot employee. Get the perspective. What's important to the company? Who are the big decision-makers? What are the growth plans? How did the stock do last week? Have there been any innovations attributed to the company? And read a good book on airline interviewing. Cheryl Cages' Checklist For Success is almost a must."
Just You And Them
Universally, all employment judges contacted emphasized that their processes are not intended to be adversarial. The panel generally concurred that the interview follows a similar guideline from company to company:
- Getting to know the prospect;
- Application verification;
- History, both good and bad; and
- Brain games.
Says an East Coast RJ captain who has regularly joined the captain's interviewing panel, "We truly want to make the applicant feel at home as best that we can. In fact, we normally interview two pilots at once. In this way, there is some comfort for both since they share the spotlight. We will ask generic, ice-breaker questions such as, 'What have you been doing in your career thus far? How did you get into flying?'
"But, there is another aspect of this arrangement. We can see how they might work together in a crew situation. Is one more dominant than the other? Sometime during the 45 minutes together, we will give them a situation. Let's say they are flying an arrival procedure together and, somewhere along the way, the flight loses all two-way communication with ATC. We are curious to see how the two of them would handle that. Does one merely take charge without consulting the other? How does the cockpit resource management thing work for those two?"
What puts an applicant on thin ice almost immediately?
"Maybe I'm too quick to judge," says one captain interviewer, "but a weak, pathetic handshake and poor eye contact are not good first impressions to me. Although we understand that the interview can be a fairly tense experience, I certainly believe that a captain should have sufficient self-confidence. If, after more questioning, some of that confidence does not shine through, that pilot is not going to make it.
"Also, at our company, we have an HR person interview the applicant with a captain. If that interviewee ignores the HR person and directs the conversation to the captain only, that is particularly annoying."
Says one participant, "Paperwork! Paperwork! Yes, the applications can be a real pain, but it needs to be completed accurately and neatly. My colleagues and I have a sense that if an applicant does not exercise care and vigilance in completing this admittedly complicated form, then how will they behave when filling out trip logs and duty time sheets? Along those lines, if we ask the applicant to bring [Department of Motor Vehicle] records, all logbooks, and college transcripts, but then [he or she] fails to bring those items to the interview, it certainly does put us in a bad frame of mind. That is just wasting our time."
"Basic courtesy and interview protocol," says another. "I still remember one guy who reeked of cologne. Then, there was the applicant who plopped his feet up, pulled out one of those round, red-and-white-striped mints that you usually get at a restaurant, peeled off the crinkly paper, and started crunching the thing in his mouth right during the interview. Hello? Is anybody home?"
Everyone contacted made specific references to logbooks and the tricks that people attempt to play.
Captain Chris over at ACA says, "The logbook must be correct and neat. Frankly, here is where we can catch an applicant in a very unpleasant trap.
"One applicant overstated his PIC time. Sure, he managed to get a quick and dirty Cessna Citation type rating. Now, although he had some time in the right seat of a Citation as SIC [second in command], he logged the time as PIC. I put him in a box when I spotted that and began pressing him with questions like, 'Did you sign for the airplane? Were you the captain of the ship responsible for the safety and outcome of the flight?' Of course, his interpretation was, because of his type rating, he was able to log PIC as a control manipulator from the right seat. That's not the way it works for us."
Says another, "The logbook is a legal document. This is not a personal diary for caricatures, cartoons, and intimate details on how that flying date went."
Another interviewer offered this. "If a person is not forthright about failing checkrides, we will find out by examining the logbook. When a person busts a practical test, a CFI must provide further training and an additional endorsement. We will see that as plain as day in the back of the book. That's a bad deal for the applicant."
You Screwed Up. Now What?
If you want to close the employment door permanently at that airline, come off as evasive and distrustful when asked tough questions about violations and other busts.
Above all else is the issue of honesty. Every airline representative cited it as one of an applicant's most important qualities.
The consensus is this. We are all human, and we all make mistakes. Own up to them and explain how you have benefited from the experience.
A captain's board member says, "We recently hired a guy who had not only three driving violations on his record, but a DWI. Now, normally a guy like that would not have had a chance. But, we all listened to his story and we understood. This pilot lost his wife and child in a divorce years ago and just went off the deep end for awhile. For a period of years after that, he was totally clean and put his life back together. He had a positive experience with a previous employer and we bought into his story. That was a good move on our part, and he is one of our finest pilots today."
The Brain Game
The brain game part of the process can take one of several forms. Some interviewers might launch into questions about the airplane with which the applicant has had recent experience. "What is the VMC on the twin that you've been flying? Explain that. How does the gear extension system work?"
Still, other interviewers will focus on practical procedures. At one United Express affiliate, the applicant is provided a typical weather package and is asked to interpret it and determine if takeoff or landing alternates are required. The applicant might be asked to explain holding speeds at various altitudes or define ALSF.
Almost all of our interrogators will pose situation-based scenarios such as this classic: You're the new first officer with a senior captain on one of your first flights. You're monitoring the approach while the captain is flying. At decision height you call, "Not in sight. Go missed!" The captain says, "Naw! I can make it," and proceeds to bust minimums. What do you do? (The answer? Check with the new hires - the answer can vary depending on the airline's culture. The one thing you do not do is wrestle the airplane from the captain.)
The Main Objective
There was unanimity in the group of interviewers as to their purpose: It is not to rattle the applicant or determine how much pressure he or she can take. That may have been true in the old days, but today's interviewing environment is more professional. ACA's Captain Chris sums it up best: "We want to find out if we can withstand sitting in a confined closet with this person day in and day out. Does the personality conform to our ideals and image? Is this person honorable and trustworthy? Is this pilot knowledgeable? That's it."
Not all of these attributes come as a function of time in a logbook or courses at an aviation college. The lesson learned from the pros is simply this: To succeed in an interview, one must possess not only knowledge and experience, but also rare personal commodities that your dad used to call "courtesy" and "character." Good luck!
Wayne Phillips is an airline transport pilot with a Boeing 737 typing rating and is a designated pilot examiner in Colorado. He is a speaker for the AOPA Air Safety Foundation.
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