If you have a pilot interview coming up
Preparation is key and whether it's the first pilot job interview of your career or what you hope will be the last one in
Aviation that tips in this video will help
coming up the
963 heavy sliding 100/0 maintain 1-0 10,000 runway 20 left clear for takeoff
Hey crew, what's going on? Welcome back. If you're new to the channel, my name is Kelsey. I'm a
747 pilot this channel is all about aviation
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I'm going to talk about everything that you need to do in order to prepare for your pilot interview that's coming up
Let's get into it. All right, let's do this
So the first thing that I want to establish is the difference between a normal job interview and a pilot interview
Normally when you go to an interview
What they're looking to do is see if you're qualified to fit that role that they're that they're interviewing for
When you go an interview for a pilot job, you've already met all their qualifications
You're basically showing up and you have the job. So assuming that you do the interview portion
Well, you're going to get to keep the job
so there's a big difference between you're looking at a normal job interview that you've ever gone on and a pilot in an interview is
That again when you go in for a pilot interview, you already met the qualifications of what they need
So all you got to do is be prepared and keep that job
Luckily for me every pilot interview that I've gotten to on a face to face level
I've been hired and a lot of that is due to the level of preparation that I did prior to going in there now
I've applied to a lot of places and didn't even get all the way to the interview stage because I did meet their
qualifications or or whatever
Once you've made it to that face-to-face interview, you basically have the job
That's why it's really important to prepare before you go in there because you already have the job and you're basically looking to avoid uncomfortable
Situations like this. I can do that. What am I gonna carry your naked ass into the tub?
I'll drag you there, but I'm not gonna cradle you like a newborn. Okay, I'm not gonna do that
So just grab me and get it over with Thanks
So we're gonna go over a few things that you can do in order to prepare to make things go a lot smoother and
You're gonna be a lot more comfortable and it should make the interview process go a lot easier
So you wouldn't go out and fly without looking at the weather, right?
So that's the same thing that you're gonna want to do for this interview. There's something called a gouge and the gouge generally has
Information just like when you did for your check rides
It's going to have the same type of information of what the interview process is gonna be like
So you can ask other people that have already interviewed there. You can look at forums
You can find a lot of different resources to find people who've already been through this process and you want to kind of know
what is this interview going to go like just like what is your check rides gonna go like so the first tip is
get out and either find some people that have already been through the process that have been hired or
Look online and try to get some gouges from people who've already gone through and know
What are what is the process gonna be like on the interview?
So next you want to make sure that you know your current
Operation what will happen generally in these interviews is they may start asking technical questions
It'll they'll ask you something like alright in this scenario
What are the fuel requirements or whatever it might be now, you may have done enough research
So, you know what, their operational requirements will be
But if you haven't or if they ask you something you don't know it's very important
You can rely on your current operators rules and this is how that would go
They're gonna ask you a situation
and if you don't know the way that they want things done your answer could be something along the line of
I'm not sure the way you guys do it in my current operation our
Requirements would require me to do a B and C
Obviously you guys may have different rules
Which if I get offered the position?
I'll obviously learn but at my current carrier my operations require me to do a B and C that gives you a chance to
Answer the question that they're asking and it shows that
For your current carrier, you know what it is that that they expect from you
So from the perspective of the person doing the hiring during the interview
They're gonna say well this individual knows what he needs to do for his current operator
Which means in their mind that you will be doing the same thing if you get hired and start working for them
so the next thing is is a lot of larger carriers have a
Human Resources element that has been introduced recently
they're gonna ask you a question that that's phrase something like tell me about a time when and
They'll say something you didn't get along with the captain. Tell me about a time when you didn't get along with that captain
Tell me about a time when?
You had a crew member where you got into an argument or a passenger that was causing a scene
Anything like that now anytime they start asking you in that phrasing tell me about a time when
There's a specific format that they want you to reply and and what that format is is the situation
What you did and what the result was as an example
Tell me about a time you had a captain who tried to do something illegal here would be an example of a reply. I
showed up to the plane
The logbook hadn't been signed over from maintenance and we were doing an out and back and the captain said hey
Let's just go and come back. We'll just have him sign it when we get back
What I said to him was captain, I don't feel comfortable with this situation
Let's just call maintenance real quick. We'll get him over here
It'll take a couple of minutes and we'll try to make up the time on the turn and we'll get we'll get there and get
Back on time and he said all right, that's fine
So I called maintenance really quickly and got him to come out there. We ended up blocking out five minutes late
We arrived to our destination on time and got back and finished and then it was a great day something along that line
but it's the situation what you did and then what the result was obviously you're gonna want to pick scenarios in which
You did something that ended in a good result
You obviously don't want to do something like I showed up in the log book was that the captain said let's go
Anyways, I said no, we're not doing that. I'm gonna run this thing. I'm the man up in his peace and
Then you guys got into an argument and then the maintenance came and they told us oh
Yeah, you were right first officer Kelsey
You shouldn't have done that and then we were arguing and then the whole flight was silent
You don't want to do that. You want to come up with scenarios in which?
Hey, this is the situation. This was the thing that I did and the result you want it to be a good result
so it that's where that gouge is important because you're gonna find out some of the things that they're gonna ask you about some of
The questions they may ask and you're gonna want to write those questions down and formulate your own answers for those questions
So that'll give you some time to start thinking about these questions and answers that you can give to those questions
So that way you can have not a not a robot answer but a story
Attached to that to answer that specific question that they may ask you
All right. Next you want to know the operation of the airline that you're interviewing with?
You're gonna want to know the aircraft type that they have that they're currently flying their bases
You're gonna want to have a preference on the plane that you're gonna fly
but at the end of the day your answer is gonna be you'll take whatever aircraft they give you because when you're there interviewing
You're you're basically interviewing for that airline. You're not interviewing for a plane or for a base. You're interviewing for everything. So
initially, you're gonna want to be willing to take any any base in any plane that that airline has but you're gonna want to know
All the bases you're gonna want to know all the aircraft and the number of the aircraft
You're gonna know want to know their customers who they're dealing with all those types of operational things about that airline
Because they're going to want to know
Why is it that you want to work at that airline, you know, obviously if you've seen some of my earlier videos
You know that there's a lot of airlines hiring right now. So they know that you have options
So you want to go in there?
Selling them that this is why it's a perfect fit for you and your family if you have a family
Hey this airline fits XY and Z for me
knowing that history of that airline and the aircraft that they have and the basis that they have in a type of
Operations that they have that will show that the people who you're interviewing with. Hey, this guy's really done his research
So if we offer him the job that he comes here
He'll stay it's very important that you know
The history of that company and the current operations that they have
So next thing that you want to start doing is practicing out loud
Answering the questions that they're going to ask
If you did the research and got the gouge information and found out that types of questions are going to ask
What I do is I write down all the questions that I got from the gouge thing
you know HRH are questions that they're going to be asking I write all those questions down then I formulate my own answers and
Sometimes it takes me a couple days and I just you know
I'm thinking about that question
and then I think of the answer that I won or the story that I want that will go to that and
I'll write that down and I just do it on my computer
Then I start practicing it's just like everything in aviation when you chair fly
You know you that video I talked about on passing your check ride that talked about repetition and chair flying
It's the exact same thing for this. It's gonna take practice in order to be able to show up and not look stupid
Are you stupid or something?
Stupid is as stupid does sir when you go into the interview because it just looks awkward
you show up and they're asking you questions and you're staring at them like
You don't want to do that you want to show up and be
Overly prepared that because again everything that happens in that interview
They're looking at it. They're saying hey, this guy showed up for the interview really prepared. He's gonna prepare for training
He's gonna prepare for flying and it's gonna be the same if you show up unprepared
So you show up unprepared? They're gonna say well if the guys not willing to prepare for the interview
Why is he gonna prepare for training?
Is he gonna prepare when he goes out flying and they're gonna assume no writing down everything and then practicing out loud
either
Videotaping yourself to a mirror to a friend to your girlfriend or your boyfriend
practicing answering those questions
So you can have pranked us getting out of your mouth. It's a his chair flying practice
What I did is I recorded myself and I talked to myself in the mirror
It's weird, but that's what I do to prepare
Next thing is you want to sell yourself on why this job is good for you
And the reason that you want to sell yourself on it is because you want to go in excited
This is the job for you that you really want it
if
You cannot sell yourself on why this is a good job for you and you shouldn't go to the interview a few years ago
I had done an interview. It was like a three phase interview
it was first a quick phone call interview and then it was a Skype interview and then it was a face-to-face which was basically a
formality
So we did the phone interview and it was good and it was you know
relatively quick then we did the Skype interview and it was the chief pilot and an HR person and
Director of Operations or somebody like that?
And we did that whole interview and during that I was starting to see some things about this company that I thought
You know what?
I don't think this is gonna be a good fit for me, but I continued the interview and they said hey
What would you be able to come down for the the final face to face interview?
It's gonna be more of a formality
They had some dates that I couldn't do and they said alright
We'll get back to you with some other options so over that next couple of days
I was thinking about it and kind of talking with a few friends and I couldn't get excited at all about this job
Now some of my friends said go to the interview anyways and use it as practice. I
Personally don't agree with that because I think you're you're wasting your time. You're wasting their time. I think it's bad
karma personally
I know some guys say go and interview and and and do that even if you don't want the job and I
Disagree with that personally. I think that that is not cool to waste their time
They're running a business and waste your time
If you want to if you want to go waste your time running around interviewing a place that you don't want to go to fine
but I think it's better to spend your time wisely and
practice and
prepare
yourself on some of these things that I'm talking about and go in and just crush the interview that you have you don't need to
Do a bunch of fake interviews because you're not going to care
So you're not gonna put the effort into it sell yourself on that airline
So it when you show up you're excited and you know why it is that you want to be there
So the last thing is I want you I want to tell
Even though I've gotten hired at all the places that I've interviewed at
I haven't interviewed at tons of places as a pilot. Don't feel bad if it doesn't work out
It's not the end of the world sometimes it doesn't happen
If you fail to check ride
you know that you can put all the
Preparation and really want it but it just doesn't work out
The most important thing is that you're out there and you're making the effort and you're trying
I'd rather meet a guy who's failed three interviews in a row than the guy has who's done none
Every time that you failed an interview, hopefully you learned something to make it better a good friend of mine. She's a flight attendant
I remember she had failed an interview and the face to face interview
She had made it through everything and failed that face-to-face interview and I can see kind of let the wind out of her sails
I was really pushing her to keep going and applying to other places
I'm the type of person that if I have a goal that I want to meet I will just kick down and ram into doors
Until I break through and get in. I'm an Aries
so I guess that's why but
It's it's important that if you go in and you've prepared it, you did everything that you needed to do to get that job
But it didn't work out. Don't worry about it use that as a learning experience and
You'll have that experience plus all the stuff in this video to hopefully prepare and pass that next pilot interview that you have
All right crew that wraps up my tips on what you need to do in order to prepare for your next
pilot interview in the comments section below
Let me know what the next pilot job interview you have coming up is I look forward to hearing from you
Until then keep the blue side up