How to answer negative interview questions

wheelsup

wheelsup

Well-Known Member
How do you guys come up with answers for negative interview questions? I know we can all say a cop out, ie what is your weakness and you can say "I'm too methodical" or "I have extremely high expectations".

For those who have been successful, did you use cop-out answers or did you somewhat tell the truth? Example, FAA says there are 5 hazardous attitudes, do you mention yours? Is it safe to if you spin it correctly? I am aware of mine, personally I would find that refreshing if someone actually told the truth on an interview but you never know. I would think that would make a great answer showing you understand your weakness and can counter it but you never know how it will be interpreted.

Also this is at the major level not commuters (not that it should make a difference, but stakes are certainly higher)
 
The people interviewing you know that that nobody is perfect. I actually had to redo part of my psych eval when I interviewed out here because my results were "inconclusive" due to me (apparently) answering too many questions that made me out to be a good person. Things like "I've never broken the law" and "I've never done something I've regretted" (which I answered no to some of). Also, because I don't drink I answered all "I've never woken up thinking I drank too much" questions in the negative. A combination of those two things pushed my validity score over the edge and my entire test results were invalid. So, I had to fly 10 hours back out to take a 2 hour test and then fly 10 hours home.

I was asked two followup questions via phone interview a few weeks later as to what I meant when I said I get frustrated easily (response: "I have little patience when people don't see the obvious answer to things as quickly as I do sometimes and over the years I've had to learn to slow down and let people find the answer in their own way and time. Being a captain with brand new FOs made me get very good at this in a hurry") and what I meant when I answered yes to "I have a bad habit I try to hide" (I bite my nails when I'm nervous... the doc was kind of sad about this answer... I think he was hoping I was a cannibal or at least had a drug habit or something).

Moral of the story: Be truthful but be able to explain how you recognize the bad habit and how you are working (successfully) to minimize/correct it.
 
wheelsup said:
What sort of things do they go over in that course? How much $$?
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All the major airlines used the 'performance based interview' technique. Emerald Coast walks you through the process of answering these types of questions truthfully and but the way the interviewers expect the question to be answered. I think the course is about $375.00. Sign up for it and do it.

If you don't you are hurting yourself badly.
 
Maybe we should start a thread on it...a tips and tricks if you will...in the spirit of the web site...

This sounds stupid but I am taping myself and watching myself. I look pretty, well, not polished. Do they help with polishing you up? I fear it's more of a personal thing, ie some people can pull it off and others cannot.
 
Quick 10 min Youtube video (you can learn anything on there)



If anything this will be good prep for the regular interview prep

Let's keep it going?
 
wheelsup said:
Maybe we should start a thread on it...a tips and tricks if you will...in the spirit of the web site...

This sounds stupid but I am taping myself and watching myself. I look pretty, well, not polished. Do they help with polishing you up? I fear it's more of a personal thing, ie some people can pull it off and others cannot.
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Stop.

Pick up the phone....call Emerald Coast....

...they will get you where you need to be....

They also guarantee that if you don't get hired, you get your money back.
 
Seggy said:
Stop.

Pick up the phone....call Emerald Coast....

...they will get you where you need to be....

They also guarantee that if you don't get hired, you get your money back.
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This. I called Seggy the second I found out I had an interview and he told me to call emerald coast the next day. They tell u EVERYTHING u need to know for these questions. Then I practiced in front of @amorris311 while eating Lebanese food.
 
wheelsup said:
Maybe we should start a thread on it...a tips and tricks if you will...in the spirit of the web site...

This sounds stupid but I am taping myself and watching myself. I look pretty, well, not polished. Do they help with polishing you up? I fear it's more of a personal thing, ie some people can pull it off and others cannot.
Click to expand...

In the spirit of the website, here is an excellent tip..... Call Emerald Coast. A $375 investment for a multi million dollar career is a sound investment any day of the week:-)

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 
Trip7 said:
In the spirit of the website, here is an excellent tip..... Call Emerald Coast. A $375 investment for a multi million dollar career is a sound investment any day of the week:)

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
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Is it good to call them as soon as you know you have an interview, or should you do it while you wait for a call?
 
WestIndian425 said:
Is it good to call them as soon as you know you have an interview, or should you do it while you wait for a call?
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Most wait until they have an interview and then it's like an emergency not enough time to get prepped. If you do it before you have one not only can you start working on your stories and answers sooner, you don't have a time constraint.

And once you do have an interview call emerald coast back they'll fine tune you for free I believe. For however many interviews you have in your career.
 
Woodreau+1 They are already getting very busy and the hiring wave hasn't come close to hitting it's peak yet. I would call now.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 
Word of caution on those interview prep courses...

Up north, Air Canada was running interviews non-stop for a good while. One company offered an AC prep interview course. Some people really liked it and swore by it. But after a while, the folks at AC began to get frustrated because they noticed people were giving the same type of "canned" answers. When I did my interview, the interviewers asked me about my weakness, then they said "and don't say____, everyone is giving us that answer". Even in the interview-invite email they put out a disclaimer saying "please do not sign up for the XXX interview prep course...."

If you're gonna talk about a negative, follow up with how you're changing it. For example, for my weakness, I talked about how I sometimes have difficulty keeping things simple. I gave an example of how during my university I had trouble keeping my essays within the word limit and how during my instructor course my instructor always told me my lesson plans were way too long. I followed up with how I was currently working on improving this by working on the side at my old flight school and improving my teaching skills. I added that I really want to join the training/CRM department down the road as well.
 
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