from aviationinterviews.com:
Pretty relaxing interview, the hard part is getting there. At the 3/29 interview there were 5 Midwest Interviewers: Laurie Poole (HR), Kim Bergeson (HR), Don McLean (CP), Mark Goldfischer (Dir of Flt Trng and Standards), and Jim Hamilton (MD80 Flt Mgr). They started by collecting your logbooks, disclosure form, copies of licenses and medical. You then are waiting for Laurie to come down an bring you up for the actual interviews. Use this time to get to know the other candidates. Laurie then brings you up to the room and she introduces the interviewers. Don then gave a brief explanation of Midwest's business model and what they were looking for. He then turned the floor over to Kim who then asked us to write a brief essay on "Why should Midwest hire me?". They then gave you 5 minutes to write it. Some other topics that have been asked in the past were "Why Midwest?" and "Why should Midwest hire the person seated next to you?" <-- hence the get to know the other candidates. The essay I imagine is a simple place to introduce yourself and a minor test on your basic writing ability and how you can express yourself. They then collect the essays and open up the floor for a 15 min. or so Q&A on Midwest. They talked about the AirTran situation, the MD80 leases, the future fleet replacement, and answered any questions others might have had. After the Q&A they gave us a 30 question ATP exam for which we had 30 minutes to complete it. Be careful when taking this exam as the booklet contains a hundred or so questions and you are only required to answer the listed questions on your answer sheet. A good review of NTSB 830, Part 91, Part 121 (domestic only), ATC, Weather, and Aeromedical Factors should more than adequately prepare you. The questions are straight from the Gleim except they have added another answer in there (they have 4 answers). After the written exam they passed out an interview schedule and told you where to go next. In our interview Don/Kim, Laurie/Mark, and Jim were the three scheduled interviews. They will schedule you with each group and also some free time in 30 min blocks. I was not scheduled for 30 minutes so I spoke with the other candidate who had the free time block. I first interviewed with Don and Kim. Very informal. Don is looking at your logbook and asking "flying" questions (TMA your flying career, What airplane did you fly hauling checks, How do you like your current employer, What would you change there) while Kim was asking more HR questions (Why Midwest, TMAAT you went above and beyond for a customer). The 30min. flew bye and I was off to Laurie/Mark. Laurie started off with some basic pilot Q's: No checkrides failed? no speeding tickets? ever fail a drug test? are you willing to take a drug test? They then asked more TMAAT stories (above and beyond for a customer, flew with a difficult crewmember, your flying skills were challenged). After that I had the free time block and used this to fill out the Thank You cards I had brought with me. They were also conducting a newhire class and during their break some of them stopped in and said hello. My final interview was with Jim and he was very laid back. TMAAT your flying skills were challenged? Who are your internal customers when you fly? What do you do to relieve stress? How do you handle training? That was it. Overall a great experience. They really want to simply get to know you and see that you would fit in there. They are really big on customer service and pride themselves in the product the offer. The company values are even written over the doorway in the East entrance (Service to the Customer, Honesty and Integrity, Responsiveness and Mutual respect). My essay answer simply showed how I met each of those values. They are looking for more people and expect to hire more throughout the year due to some growth (Don stated in the Q&A, AirTran or not they need people). Exciting future, both without and with AirTran. Good luck to all. Laurie called me the following week with the good news that I was in the pool and to expect a June 717 class.
Just be yourself. Great group of people. The most important thing they like to see is the highlighted area. The word on Howell Street is a small MD80 class in July and a 717 class in September.