Interview Questions That Drive Me Crazy

I guess the format for interviews is just really frustrating to me. Basically when you go to an interview you go in knowing that you will meet with a few people, the whole time everything about you will be under their microscopes, they will gang up on you with random questions that you have probably never thought about, and if you don't do well with the answers then they will throw your hopes away with your resume.

That's just not an environment that I thrive in. I've dealt with in flight pressures before, including engine failure, equipment failure, student pilot failure, and tough decisions, so I know I have what it takes. But the pressure of an interview is different somehow. I don't handle it nearly as well, and it makes me doubt myself.
 
FL900 said:
Later I realized maybe I should have gone with "never!"
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In having read reports of airline interviews over the last 6-9 years (NOTE: take this with the grain of salt with which it is offered, as I've never once interviewed for a commercial airline job, but having been on the hunt for such an interview in the past I did as much homework as I could on the subject), it's been obvious that none of the airlines are expecting their applicant to be 100% pure-white-as-snow perfect pilots who have never even had a bad thought.

Saying you've "never" violated a reg is like saying you've never sped on the freeway. Now, intentionally vs unintentionally...that's a legitimate question. Most pilots have likely at least accidentally bumped up against doing something wrong (at worst, against the FARs, or to a lesser extent maybe against your own company policies), even if you absolutely had no intent to or it was simply an accident while you were trying to do the right thing.

From what I've heard, many interviewers are looking for a pilot to be able to admit that he's not perfect, but that he's always looking for ways to learn and improve from those mistakes. That, and they're looking to make sure those mistakes aren't too significant or too frequent in a pilot's experience.

A similar question, apparently, has to do with asking if your logbook is "100% correct and error-free".
 
Pilotdude3407 said:
Now, if you would mind not continueing to put words in my mouth and make me seem like a worthless pilot who just warms a seat I would certainly appreciate it.
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Wasn't my intent, so I'll just say good luck in your future endevours and add that if the questions really bother you that badly, please don't apply. If you don't like how the company constructs their interview process, you definitely are not going to like how they run the Flight Ops department.

The whole process is designed to see who is comfortable with the interview. That person will fit in.
 
BobDDuck said:
A lot of people are visual people and it's tough for them to do it in their head.
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I heard this same excuse from countless students when I was instructing. I managed to teach every last one of them how to do it without ever lifting a pencil or a piece of paper, and they didn't even really need to think about it. It became second nature.

When I'm bouncing around in the soup getting holding instructions, I don't want the flying pilot to be someone who needs to transfer the controls to me so he can pull out his pen and paper to draw the holding pattern. Sorry, but I expect better from a professional pilot. I'd rather have an FO that has never pushed a wheelchair for a passenger in his life than an FO that can't fly a frickin' holding pattern without drawing a pretty picture. Airlines focus on the wrong things in interviews. Hire the better pilot, not the better customer service agent.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
When I'm bouncing around in the soup getting holding instructions, I don't want the flying pilot to be someone who needs to transfer the controls to me so he can pull out his pen and paper to draw the holding pattern. Sorry, but I expect better from a professional pilot.
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Me, too. I'd rather have a guy that knows which buttons to push in the FMS so the FMS can draw the pretty picture. ;)

-mini
 
Those are all some pretty softball questions.

Remember, part of the interview is watching you react to the stress of a conundrum.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
When I'm bouncing around in the soup getting holding instructions, I don't want the flying pilot to be someone who needs to transfer the controls to me so he can pull out his pen and paper to draw the holding pattern.
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For one, why can't he draw the holding pattern while still flying? Last time I checked, we have two hands (and I somehow doubt there are a huge number of one-armed airline pilots out there).

I don't draw the pattern, personally, but I'll often write the holding instructions down, and have no problem doing that while still maintaining full aircraft control.
 
FL900 said:
I guess the format for interviews is just really frustrating to me. Basically when you go to an interview you go in knowing that you will meet with a few people, the whole time everything about you will be under their microscopes, they will gang up on you with random questions that you have probably never thought about, and if you don't do well with the answers then they will throw your hopes away with your resume.

That's just not an environment that I thrive in. I've dealt with in flight pressures before, including engine failure, equipment failure, student pilot failure, and tough decisions, so I know I have what it takes. But the pressure of an interview is different somehow. I don't handle it nearly as well, and it makes me doubt myself.
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I feel the exact same way I have never been great at the canned HR questions. I can fly an airplane like no ones business but the ole saying holds true I do great in the air its on the ground I generally screw up. I usually just come out up front and tell them that I really want the job and I may be a bit nervous with the HR questions. Then try some light humor so that YOU can control the atmosphere in the interview.
Then show them you are the person that they should hire for the position.
 
Hacker15e said:
From what I've heard, many interviewers are looking for a pilot to be able to admit that he's not perfect, but that he's always looking for ways to learn and improve from those mistakes. That, and they're looking to make sure those mistakes aren't too significant or too frequent in a pilot's experience.
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This helps a lot. I never knew if those questions were a chance to show honesty and humility, or a chance to hang yourself. By your description it's the former, and I actually kind of like that.
 
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