Rejected!!!

[Mooseflyer]

Just in time for the holiday weekend, I received my rejection letter from AirTran - about 3.5 weeks after my interview. I can't say it wasn't expected, as we had 6 folks interview on a Wednesday, and on Friday 3 of our 6 were called to start training the following week. Where did I go wrong? Not sure - I did the sim prep the day before, studied the gouge on aviationinterviews, had a bag full of stories, had one internal rec, and overall thought my 3 interviews went well - obviously the interviewers thought otherwise. I can't point to any time when I KNOW I stepped on my lanyard, so I guess I'll never know what went wrong. I went in and did my best to "be myself" - maybe I should have tried to be someone else. Or maybe I'm an a$$hole and no one has ever told me. Or maybe those poppy seed bagels showed up in my pee test. Or maybe........ah, f*^k it. $1000 airfare/hotel/sim prep down the tubes - chalk it up to experience I guess. I'll post my experience on aviationinterviews in the next few days for those with upcoming interviews, but for now I'm gonna go blow some stuff up (don't worry, I mean fireworks ).

Happy Independence Day to all, and please remember our warriors currently overseas who are making the continued celebration of this holiday possible....

 

[falcon20driver]

You're not the only one, I haven't flown in a year, I've been to a couple of interviews and don't have a job, the competition is fierce right now.
I never thought I would have to find a new career, but I think that's what it has come down to.

 

[crashpad]

$1000 airfare/hotel/sim prep down the tubes - chalk it up to experience I guess. ....

NOT SO!!! You'll get it back when the company that you're right for employs you.
HR and pilots that interview you are looking for one thing when you come through the door- a good fit. If you did'nt pass the interview, all it means is they know their company best and could tell you would not be happy there. It all comes down to that.
Don't give up. Apply everywhere and when it clicks, you'll look back and be glad they did'nt hire you.
Happy 4th., and thank you for your service to our country.

 

[Ty Webb]

Moose:

Don't take it too seriously . . . . who knows what they are looking for these days? We seem to be turning away a lot of great people. Personally, I find it kind of embarassing.

All I can tell you is don't take it personally . . . . interviewing well is a skill that takes practice. Hopefully, this experience will help you get on with an even better carrier.

Regards,

TW

 

[flyhard]

Moose,

Sorry to hear the bad news. I can say that I know how you feel after the same exact experience. Came out of the interview feeling the best I ever had.

The one thing I would not recommend doing is dwelling on it. Just know that you did your best and that is all you could do.

In my case, I thought I had blown my chance after being laid off for almost a year. Three weeks later ATA called, four months after that I was driving a 757 all over the world. Things happen for reasons, it is just hard to see sometimes.

Ty,

Rode you guys the other day on a ticket that I had purchased. Flight attendants, from two different crews, pulled me up front in business and treated me like a king. Classy group of people over there, even though I could not get hired over there. HAHA.

Take care

 

[Heavy Set]

Surprising given your background. Flying a C-17 worldwide will always be more demanding than flying a 717 or a 737-700. You never know how these things pan out - so many factors. Don't feel too bad - there are other great airlines out there. I would focus hard on SWA and Jet Blue if I were you. You have great qualifications - stay positive.

 

[AlbieF15]

MD,

I recently helped a rock solid retired fighter pilot who gooned up the sim at AirTran. As you can imagine, he was embarrassed, frustrated, and out of sorts.

Roll the tape forward--he got offers with both jetBlue and Southwest. Keep drivin' on, learn from your setbacks, and trust better options are ahead. You have some great quals....maybe you are just meant to join us here at FedEX.

PS--takes a he11 of a guy to say "I didn't get it" and share that here. Something better must be around the corner for you, because you certainly do not lack character.

 

[Ponchus pilot]

Do you feel you should have been hired over the others since you are ex. military?

 

[sleepy]

Don't they require 500 hours of Part 121 PIC flight time? I guess that would be pretty hard to get in the military, or do they make some kind of exception for you?


We have had 7 guys hired from ASA (a lowly regional airline) by AirTran recently. It can't be that difficult to get a job their can it?

 

[iflyhigh]

mooseflyer:

AirTran will interview you if you have over 500 hours of 121 PIC time or the military equivalent.

Last year at the Atlantic Air Inc conference, the Jill stated that flying as a Captain under Part 121 or military was alot harder than flying as a captain in corporate or Part 135.

iflyhigh

 

[johnny taliban]

mooseflyer:

AirTran will interview you if you have over 500 hours of 121 PIC time or the military equivalent.

Last year at the Atlantic Air Inc conference, the Jill stated that flying as a Captain under Part 121 or military was alot harder than flying as a captain in corporate or Part 135.

iflyhigh

Yea, I can attest to ease of flying Part 135 as Captain. The easiest part is when you have to fly to Central and South America in the middle of the night on a moments notice with no sleep, do all of the flight planning , and deal with customs, thunderstorms, and the best part is the controllers who speak broken english. Gotta admitt, it sure is easy but hey, not everyone is good enough to have a dispatcher do all that work for you !!

p.s. could someone define "military equivalent" for me, Im kinda slow you know, Part 135 and all.

Thanks ,
Johnny

 

[Ih8AFYesmen]

For what it's worth, I feel your pain. Like many of the previous posts, things do happen for the better; WHEN you get that dream job, you will realize this moment. This whole airline interview is a mystery to many of us. I know a great dude who didn't get picked up by three different airlines. He was more than qualified and was just a great dude overall. He eventually got hired at a major airline and turned out to be a dream job. Keep your head up and keep pluggin' away!

 

[KingAirKiddo]

Yea, I can attest to ease of flying Part 135 as Captain. The easiest part is when you have to fly to Central and South America in the middle of the night on a moments notice with no sleep, do all of the flight planning , and deal with customs, thunderstorms, and the best part is the controllers who speak broken english. Gotta admitt, it sure is easy but hey, not everyone is good enough to have a dispatcher do all that work for you !!

p.s. could someone define "military equivalent" for me, Im kinda slow you know, Part 135 and all.

Thanks ,
Johnny

You get back to your room right now, young man, and let the grown ups talk!

 

[herewego again]

Moose,
I'm very sorry to hear the news. Things happen for a reason, and you will figure this one out one day.
To everyone else, I recently posted on here asking for some advice on the AirTran sim profile, and I would like to acknowledge that Mooseflyer was the first person to write back to me, with a detailed debrief on his sim and interview, and a lot of encouragement for me - someone he didn't know from Adam. As Albie said, he is showing his true, wonderful person and character, and I'm here to attest to that. Thank you Moose.
I'm sorry things didn't work out, but time and time again, I've seen people stumble and then and its always their attitude that picked them back up, and before you know it, that better opportunity/job/house/spouse whatever, comes along. Keep looking, its out there my friend.

 

[Falconjet]

Hang in there Moose!

Moose: Sorry to hear the news, it is certainly just a sign that you are destined for a different carrier. I would like to add my thanks to crashpad's for your service to our country.

Keep plugging, keep the faith, and press on. Remember what is really important in life (your family) and like flyhard said, don't dwell on the negative.

Best of luck to you.

FJ

 

[Huck]

Nothing will help much right now, but I'll tell you this: I got chlorinated after 6 months in the DAL pool back in '98. Was one of the worst feelings in my life. Good ole' Plato told me I could never ever reapply. I didn't know whether to s##t or go blind.

Of course, I'd be stacking lumber at Home Depot now. But instead, I'm flying. Best damm thing that ever happened to me. If I ever see good ole' Plato I'm going to kiss him.

Probably don't make you feel better, but anyway, I feel your pain.

 

[Tycer]

What do you mean by chlorinated?

 

[holmie]

I feel your pain. I believe that I am currently in the process of getting shot down at SWA. Been furloughed now for 2.5 years currently flying for a scarey 135 operation and now no prospects .It really sucks looking for work these days. Lots of qualified people looking and they can't hire everyone. Oh well the world needs ditch diggers too! Keep the faith, flying for a living is a good gig at the right company.

 

[Standby 1]

Sorry to hear that....there are a lot of us out here who know precisely what you're going through. It's a bit (just a bit) easier when you can pinpoint what they didn't like, but I know how tough it is when you walk out of the interview feeling like you did so well and then --- blam, the dreaded letter.

Just keep the faith. After all, what else are we going to do? Quit the biz and find another career? ha! I don't know about you, but I'm not qualified to do anything but fly airplanes (and according to the last airline I interviewed with, I'm not even good enough to do that, LOL). Shrug it off and keep going. Trust me, it's gonna be great....some of us just have to jump through a few more hoops than others.


..

 

[WhiteCloud]

While it's always good to be introspective for the purpose of improving yourself, it's not so good to put your sense of accomplishment and worth as a pilot in the hands of some interview committee at an airline. It would be great to be a fly on the wall during these panel discussions on who to hire after the interviews are done. You might find that they liked everybody but had to make a call based on their needs at the time. Rather than being "rejected" it may be they just "accepted" others for whatever reason. Be careful before you change anything.