Toughest Interview Question?

[Dprime]

What non technical interview question threw you for the biggest loop?

Also did you take an interview prep and how did you handle the "Did you take an interview prep" question?

 

[Way2Broke]

I hate the question "why should we hire you instead of the next guy?"

I think you should hire us both, if we are qualified and good people. It seems like they want me to say something bad about the "next guy" that I do not even know. Heck, maybe he is more qualified than me and you should hire him, who knows, I don't know that applicant. I know they are looking for the, "I want it more" answer, but I just hate any answer that begs a scripted answer like that.

 

[CrewDawg]

-Worst Question-
What's your worst quality? WTF kind of question is that. Well sir, I drink to much, am late to work every day and rarely ever get anything accomplished!


-Most Unique Qustion I was asked was during my interivew for a pilot slot with the military. Looking back it was actually the easiest to answer (is that bad?)!

How do you feel about killing people?

 

[dojetdriver]

At my current job, I was asked all the usual Hr type q's. Drunk CA, sexual harrassmemt. Whatever.

It was a male and a female doing the interview. The male was the D.O., the female an offline pilot who was incharge of pilot hiring at the time.

The last question she asked me; "If you could take anybody in the world to dinner, who would it be?" WTF?

Since it was a woman, I felt like snapping the fingers on both hands and then pointing at her and saying "You, baby! What time should I pick you up?"

What was I gonna say, "Ron Jeremy"?

 

[CA1900]

The a-hole who used to run Continental Express' interviews, John D., picked up my resume with two fingers like it was a cat turd, looked at it, looked at me, and said, "Why the hell are you even wasting my time coming here?" Very first interview question, no joke.

Yeah, you guys sent me a space-available ticket so I could rot in the airport for 11 hours until I got the last seat on the last flight of the night to IAH, then had me take a shuttle to a hotel that was 45 minutes away from the airport (and on my own dime), and have the nerve to ask me "how my flight down was" during the interview? And I'm wasting their time?

 

[southernpilot]

These airlines make it as hard as possible to get on with them just to see if you really want it. To fly for an airline these days, you really have to want to do it.
I had the same bad experience at Cont. Express,"what are you doing here, I hear Horizon is hiring"? There were wasting my time.
Southwest Airlines has a question on their app.,"check here if you do not want us to contact your present employer". I checked it, they still contacted present employer, and I got fired for looking for work. Be very, very careful about how you go about looking for work. Keep everything, and I mean everything a secret. The job hunting industry, and not aviation only is full of back stabbing jerks who would sell their grandmother so they can go to work for free.
Never, ever tell your present employer you are looking for work, until you have everything wrapped up and are actually giving notice. I could go on and on about lessons learned.

 

[CrewDawg]

Southwest Airlines has a question on their app.,"check here if you do not want us to contact your present employer". I checked it, they still contacted present employer, and I got fired for looking for work.

Is this even legal? I know they can probably come up with some reason but that seems a bit shady! Sounds like a shady company, proabably better off with someone else anyway.

 

[Mercury]

The a-hole who used to run Continental Express' interviews, John D., picked up my resume with two fingers like it was a cat turd, looked at it, looked at me, and said, "Why the hell are you even wasting my time coming here?" Very first interview question, no joke.

Ah yes the J.D. treatment at CoEx, one of the "finer" interview experiences. One-on-one with J.D, His first comment to me is "Why did you send us a resume that was addressed to American Eagle?" Of course it wasnt, but his whole goal or game was to get your frazzled and put you on the defensive to see if you would react calmly or get upset with him. I literally laughed out loud when he asked me if I carried a teddy bear in my overnight bag. Ah the memories.......

 

[CrewDawg]

Ah yes the J.D. treatment at CoEx, one of the "finer" interview experiences. One-on-one with J.D, His first comment to me is "Why did you send us a resume that was addressed to American Eagle?" Of course it wasnt, but his whole goal or game was to get your frazzled and put you on the defensive to see if you would react calmly or get upset with him. I literally laughed out loud when he asked me if I carried a teddy bear in my overnight bag. Ah the memories.......

Answer to Question #1: In the madness to send out a resume to anyone who is hiring I must have f&cked up and sent the wrong one to you guys! Glad you didn't get my GoJet one! :laugh:

Answer to Question #2: Ya his name is freddy. I never go anywhere without him! He helps me pick up chicks in my pilot uniform!

If he doesn't see the humor in that tell him to go f#&k himself!

 

[imacdog]

These airlines make it as hard as possible to get on with them just to see if you really want it. To fly for an airline these days, you really have to want to do it.
I had the same bad experience at Cont. Express,"what are you doing here, I hear Horizon is hiring"? There were wasting my time.
Southwest Airlines has a question on their app.,"check here if you do not want us to contact your present employer". I checked it, they still contacted present employer, and I got fired for looking for work. Be very, very careful about how you go about looking for work. Keep everything, and I mean everything a secret. The job hunting industry, and not aviation only is full of back stabbing jerks who would sell their grandmother so they can go to work for free.
Never, ever tell your present employer you are looking for work, until you have everything wrapped up and are actually giving notice. I could go on and on about lessons learned.

Did you have union protection?

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

The question that was toughest for me was: What is your biggest weakness?

I was actually honest and told him 18 yr old girls in bathing suits. It was 2 guys interviewing me and they got a big laugh out of it and I did get the job. After I said that I told them I was just joking and my biggest weakness was remembering peoples names.

 

[SLFLYHI]

Ah yes the J.D. treatment at CoEx, one of the "finer" interview experiences. One-on-one with J.D, His first comment to me is "Why did you send us a resume that was addressed to American Eagle?" Of course it wasnt, but his whole goal or game was to get your frazzled and put you on the defensive to see if you would react calmly or get upset with him. I literally laughed out loud when he asked me if I carried a teddy bear in my overnight bag. Ah the memories.......

JD was awesome.... I had a recommendation from a check airman at XJT who used to do hiring with JD... 2 seconds into the interview, JD lunges across the table and SCREAMS "so I see you have a letter of recommendation from ___ _________, I HOPE YOU DON"T THINK THAT COUNTS FOR ANYTHING!!!"

I laughed and said, "well, actually, Mr. Dresser, his wife and I wrote that recommendation last night at the kitchen table. {So and so} was passed out drunk on the couch."

I got the job.


Good times.
T2S

 

[kilroy]

These airlines make it as hard as possible to get on with them just to see if you really want it. To fly for an airline these days, you really have to want to do it.
I had the same bad experience at Cont. Express,"what are you doing here, I hear Horizon is hiring"? There were wasting my time.
Southwest Airlines has a question on their app.,"check here if you do not want us to contact your present employer". I checked it, they still contacted present employer, and I got fired for looking for work. Be very, very careful about how you go about looking for work. Keep everything, and I mean everything a secret. The job hunting industry, and not aviation only is full of back stabbing jerks who would sell their grandmother so they can go to work for free.
Never, ever tell your present employer you are looking for work, until you have everything wrapped up and are actually giving notice. I could go on and on about lessons learned.[/quot

Similiar situation here bottom line I got fired beacause e I was looking for woa job. So if ever I'm in the position to be looking for a job I am going to treat it like Vegas what happens here stays here I ain't telling anyone ********************.

 

[avbug]

These airlines make it as hard as possible to get on with them just to see if you really want it. To fly for an airline these days, you really have to want to do it.

The only thing that makes hiring on with an airline difficult is accepting the wage. Beyond that, if you think the airlines making hiring difficult, you may be in for a nasty surprise when seeking work elsewhere.

 

[QuasarZ]

a question my dad got way back in the day was, "if you had to kill one of your parents, which one would it be?"

 

[DMP]

I got the queston, "Do you fish?"
Answer- OF COURSE I DO!
But the toughest was when I got asked the ops limits for a cessna 172. It had been years since I'd flown one. HA! I answer the question with, "I think its............" The interviewer had no clue either and had just run out of questions.

 

[LDavid]

Tell me what you would do if you had just passed V1 and a half full plastic bottle of VO fell out of your captains coat? What if you didn't smell VO on his breath? What if his seatbelt wasn't fastned, but you DID smell VO on his breath? True story.

 

[bacardi]

The a-hole who used to run Continental Express' interviews, John D., picked up my resume with two fingers like it was a cat turd, looked at it, looked at me, and said, "Why the hell are you even wasting my time coming here?" Very first interview question, no joke.

Yeah, you guys sent me a space-available ticket so I could rot in the airport for 11 hours until I got the last seat on the last flight of the night to IAH, then had me take a shuttle to a hotel that was 45 minutes away from the airport (and on my own dime), and have the nerve to ask me "how my flight down was" during the interview? And I'm wasting their time?

That S>O>B was a f-ing idiot he did the same crap to me. It was my first interview also, back it was 1999 I had about 3 hours sleep and the interview was in a hotel room. That was so strange.

 

[Resume Writer]

As a former interviewer and current interview coach, I would say there are four questions that people have the toughest time with:

1. Tell us about yourself
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses
3. What do you like most and least about your current job
4. Why do you want to work for (insert airline name here).

The "tell us about yourself" question is not a personal statement about your wife, kids, dogs, etc. I should be a synopsis of why you became a pilot and your career progression.

The strengths and weaknesses question is tough. For the strengths - use actual good qualities and back them up. If you say you are a "team player," back it up with an example.

For the weakness (and you should only use one), make it something in the past that you have worked on and corrected through a very methodical approach. Think of it like going through a checklist - detailing how you worked on the issue.

On the "what you like most and least about your current job," be honest about what you like. On the least-like part, cover something VERY benign. Then talk about how you have been part of the solution for that problem.

The "why do you want to work for (airline name) question," is a little tougher. I hear many of my clients answer with things like pay, schedule, commuting opportunities, stability, etc. While those may be your REAL reasons for wanting to work for that company, those answers do not belong here.

You need to do research on the company and align yourself with their core values. Then formulate your answers accordingly. This approach does two things: it shows you know something about their company and lets them know you would be a good fit for their operation.

 

[QuasarZ]

very good post Kathy, Thank you!

 

[Shrek]

Have you EVER busted an FAR?

 

[dollacrackho]

The a-hole who used to run Continental Express' interviews, John D., picked up my resume with two fingers like it was a cat turd, looked at it, looked at me, and said, "Why the hell are you even wasting my time coming here?" Very first interview question, no joke.

Yeah, you guys sent me a space-available ticket so I could rot in the airport for 11 hours until I got the last seat on the last flight of the night to IAH, then had me take a shuttle to a hotel that was 45 minutes away from the airport (and on my own dime), and have the nerve to ask me "how my flight down was" during the interview? And I'm wasting their time?

where is this guy now? What a load of ********************e. This guy sounds like someone who got his as$ kicked every day in high school and was taking out years of pent up anger on interviewees. I think all you guys who went through this should arrange to meet this guy in a dark alley with baseball bats. Then when he is bloody and broken grab him by the hair and ask him how your resume looks now.

 

[phishn@daves]

Have you EVER busted an FAR?

I think I remember............

"I have never knowingly violated an FAR"

PM me with your progress.

 

[Buckeye]

Most unique question I ever got was "How would you describe a successful Aviation Career". As far as the knowingly breaking a reg, well this one time I went two-hundred fifty-one knots below 10K.

 

[avl_pilot]

I can't stand the "where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years" question. Unless I'm applying to become a fortune teller(which I should have know that question was coming if I was any good) why even ask me that, and I know that most of the time they want to hear about how I've got plans to be there during that time frame and climb the corp. ladder, but give me a break.

 

[ACT700]

Ah yes the J.D. treatment at CoEx, one of the "finer" interview experiences. One-on-one with J.D, His first comment to me is "Why did you send us a resume that was addressed to American Eagle?" Of course it wasnt, but his whole goal or game was to get your frazzled and put you on the defensive to see if you would react calmly or get upset with him. I literally laughed out loud when he asked me if I carried a teddy bear in my overnight bag. Ah the memories.......

It's $hit like that, that made me decide that the regionals weren't for me; at least not on the pathetic salary they paid.
Now, I do look back at a couple of interviews with joy when I told them why the f..k they were wasting my time. Priceless.
I should send out a couple of resumes...

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Here's something that get's asked occasionally. Not that this is a tough question but just recently I began looking at the answer in a more intuitive way so it's easier to recall.

Here it goes:

How much runway is remaining when you see yellow runway edge lights?

How much runway is remaining when you see red centerline lights?



Runway edge lights: White changes to yellow the last 2000' or half the distance. What ever is less.

Runway centerline lights: Last 3000' change from white to red & White. Last 1000' of this 3000' distance becomes red.

Okay. We;ve established that and if meorized rotely, that's fine. But I think this could mor eeasily be ingrained in memory by looking at it in a logical sense.



There are 2 runway edges or "lines" - extends 2000'

The centerline stripe is like a 3rd "line" - extends 3000'

The centerline stripe changes from alternating Red/White to red the last 1,000'.

So you can think of it as "1-2-3"


Anyway, got bored and started thinking too much about runway edges and centerlines.....

 

[Taildraggaah]

Personal favorite...

"tell me about a time that you interacted with a coworker and you thought they felt someone else could be feeling something that no one else felt but somehow they understood the harassment policy?"

"V-dub in da house Yah!"

 

[wingslevl]

"Where were the overnights on your last trip?"

Sh!t, I dunno, they all were 8 hours in the middle of nowhere. The minute I walked out the door of the hotel I already had forgotten the whole city. SWA asked that one.

 

[mamba20]

"Who would you rather beat, your mother or your father"

"What do you do if your captain shows up for dinner on your layover wearing a dress"

Those are 2 questions I got at an interview years ago.