G4,
You raise valid concerns, and a wise job-seeker needs to consider his ability to answer questions such as the ones you pose, but it can be done.
"So, tell me again why you want to work at DAL" is not all that much different with a type rating than the same question following after "So, where else have you applied?" In the best of times, I think it was generally understood that the vast majority of guys applied to several places rather than putting all their eggs in one basket. Just the prudent thing to do. In bad times, getting a type to be more competitive at one of the few airlines that is hiring makes even more sense, and an interviewer should understand "I want most to work for Delta, but when there wasn't much hiring, I got the type so I could be competitive to fly for a major. But, now that you're hiring, I'd go to you without hesitation if Delta & SWA both gave me offer's. Here's why..."
"Care to explain why you didn't get hired?" Well, a thoughtful interviewee SHOULD have a good explanation for all such things! Examine what you did wrong in the interview (unless every answer was pure perfection, of course). Were your hours competitive? Did you make mistakes in the background check part of the app? Did you try to get by with only the minimum number of letters of recommendation? What else could you have done better? AND, DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKE? Did you come to realize that ___ is a better type of operation & really where you'd rather be? Are you able to say with sincerity, "yeah, seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wouldn't have been a good fit, and they saw it before I did. Now I realize that ___ is where I belong, and here's why I say that..."
"Will you leave if they call?" The same question can be asked without the type rating immediately after "so, where else have you applied?" Same idea as the above, tempered with a large dose of honesty. If you're interviewing with a place that expects you to work there for the rest of your career, and you can honestly say "I honor my commitments, and I'm not a job-hopper... if I can work here for the rest of my career, I'll be happy to do that & not look back at the coulda-beens and mighta-beens. If they'd called me back when, I'd have gone with them, but once I get on with you, that door is, in my mind, closed." On the other hand, if you're interviewing with a regional, that sort of answer may not fly, but they're kidding themselves if they expect every young guy who gets on there to stay to age 60! At that point, your obviously honest answer is to say that you'd have to evaluate everything & possibly go, or not, but such a call would be quite a ways off at best, seeing as how SWA has 300+ guys in the pool who've been waiting for 2 years now, etc etc, so even if I do eventually get called for an interview & then for class, I'll be here for at least ___ years, and I'm ready to give my all, fly hard, charge that hill, etc etc etc.
Guys (pilot interviewers, anyway) can respect a desire to move up, and for most pilots it's disingenuous (with or without a type rating) to claim that you'd happily fly an RJ for 20 years instead of going to a major at some point in the future. The type simply says "my eye is on SWA" instead of whatever other major your eye might be on. If the interviewer wants an absolute loyalty check, he can ask EVERY applicant: "so, suppose you've been here 5 years, you're an RJ captain with 1200 hours PIC, and AA/UAL/FedEx/whoever sends you a letter asking you to apply -- what would you do?" If "I'd blow off a job at a major to happily fly my RJ forever" is the answer he's looking for, he's either an idiot (yes, they're out there, though rare), or it's an integrity check question (are you really going to try to snow me with a line of bull), or maybe you're one of the few who WOULD rather fly an RJ to age 60 -- but you need to have a GOOD explanation why!
As I said, answers to questions like this absolutely have to be considered, and there are times & places that a 737 type will do more harm than good (say, if you have very little turbine PIC but are looking to apply to corporate jobs that expect long service from those they hire). But for many guys, there are good answers to such questions that can be delivered with sincerity & honesty. A healthy dose of introspection is necessary, but it isn't necessary (or productive, usually) to try to "snow" the interviewer -- just present yourself in a positive & enthusiastic light, and let your credentials & attitude speak for themselves.
You raise valid concerns, and a wise job-seeker needs to consider his ability to answer questions such as the ones you pose, but it can be done.
"So, tell me again why you want to work at DAL" is not all that much different with a type rating than the same question following after "So, where else have you applied?" In the best of times, I think it was generally understood that the vast majority of guys applied to several places rather than putting all their eggs in one basket. Just the prudent thing to do. In bad times, getting a type to be more competitive at one of the few airlines that is hiring makes even more sense, and an interviewer should understand "I want most to work for Delta, but when there wasn't much hiring, I got the type so I could be competitive to fly for a major. But, now that you're hiring, I'd go to you without hesitation if Delta & SWA both gave me offer's. Here's why..."
"Care to explain why you didn't get hired?" Well, a thoughtful interviewee SHOULD have a good explanation for all such things! Examine what you did wrong in the interview (unless every answer was pure perfection, of course). Were your hours competitive? Did you make mistakes in the background check part of the app? Did you try to get by with only the minimum number of letters of recommendation? What else could you have done better? AND, DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKE? Did you come to realize that ___ is a better type of operation & really where you'd rather be? Are you able to say with sincerity, "yeah, seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wouldn't have been a good fit, and they saw it before I did. Now I realize that ___ is where I belong, and here's why I say that..."
"Will you leave if they call?" The same question can be asked without the type rating immediately after "so, where else have you applied?" Same idea as the above, tempered with a large dose of honesty. If you're interviewing with a place that expects you to work there for the rest of your career, and you can honestly say "I honor my commitments, and I'm not a job-hopper... if I can work here for the rest of my career, I'll be happy to do that & not look back at the coulda-beens and mighta-beens. If they'd called me back when, I'd have gone with them, but once I get on with you, that door is, in my mind, closed." On the other hand, if you're interviewing with a regional, that sort of answer may not fly, but they're kidding themselves if they expect every young guy who gets on there to stay to age 60! At that point, your obviously honest answer is to say that you'd have to evaluate everything & possibly go, or not, but such a call would be quite a ways off at best, seeing as how SWA has 300+ guys in the pool who've been waiting for 2 years now, etc etc, so even if I do eventually get called for an interview & then for class, I'll be here for at least ___ years, and I'm ready to give my all, fly hard, charge that hill, etc etc etc.
Guys (pilot interviewers, anyway) can respect a desire to move up, and for most pilots it's disingenuous (with or without a type rating) to claim that you'd happily fly an RJ for 20 years instead of going to a major at some point in the future. The type simply says "my eye is on SWA" instead of whatever other major your eye might be on. If the interviewer wants an absolute loyalty check, he can ask EVERY applicant: "so, suppose you've been here 5 years, you're an RJ captain with 1200 hours PIC, and AA/UAL/FedEx/whoever sends you a letter asking you to apply -- what would you do?" If "I'd blow off a job at a major to happily fly my RJ forever" is the answer he's looking for, he's either an idiot (yes, they're out there, though rare), or it's an integrity check question (are you really going to try to snow me with a line of bull), or maybe you're one of the few who WOULD rather fly an RJ to age 60 -- but you need to have a GOOD explanation why!
As I said, answers to questions like this absolutely have to be considered, and there are times & places that a 737 type will do more harm than good (say, if you have very little turbine PIC but are looking to apply to corporate jobs that expect long service from those they hire). But for many guys, there are good answers to such questions that can be delivered with sincerity & honesty. A healthy dose of introspection is necessary, but it isn't necessary (or productive, usually) to try to "snow" the interviewer -- just present yourself in a positive & enthusiastic light, and let your credentials & attitude speak for themselves.
