SWA March class?

[fletch1]

Anyone hear if SWA is having a class March 17th?

 

[chase]

Tentatively Yes

As always with SWA training nothing is guaranteed until you show up in DAL but the "plan" now is to have a class around that time frame. Of course phone calls won't go out for sometime and until that happens my drivel is exactly that...drivel. Hang in there and be patient (hard to do in these times for sure). As a help for those who are trying to get where the poolies are today, poolies consider doing the following for your fellow SWA wannabees.

1. Please reply with the toughest interview question you had at SWA.

2. What would you have done differently at the interview?

3. Were you surprised by anything?

4. What was the best thing you did to prepare for the interview?

Obviously this doesn't apply to the original thread & if it catches on I'll ask the moderator to start a separate thread.

Thanks to all those who are patiently waiting for SWA training, are attempting to keep current for the purposes of getting hired by SWA or getting a type.

In an effort to help those out there who are interested in learning more about SWA and putting a face with a name I'm offering the following. SWA goes to 58 cities. I certainly can't guarantee when I would get to all of them but many of the readers on this board may live near some of them. If you're interested I would be happy to purchase an adult beverage of your choice at the local watering hole in each of these cities when I get through there on an overnight. If you would care to take me up on the offer and be personally underwhelmed with Chase in person, simply PM me with your phone number & SWA city & I'll be happy to ring you up (under your callsign if so desired) when I get through. Always happy to meet folks & talk about SWA...I'd just be hitting the remote control in the hotel room otherwise!

Don't forget to answer the questions above!

 

[Yahtzee]

God Bless Chase!

And some people wonder why Southwest is such a great place...

Looking forward to seeing the variety of answers to Chase's questions.

To all the poolies who reply...thank you much for all the help....Even you Aplus9!


Yahtz

P.S. Chase...see you in Dallas on one of the many breaks from all the excitement three months in Altus, OK can bring.

 

[LiveFreeorDie]

The Interview

"1. Please reply with the toughest interview question you had at SWA."

Tell me about a time when you fought with someone in the cockpit?

I wasn't prepared for this. I had never been in a fight in the cockpit and I panicked. So I made up a story. I think the interviewer knew it too. He asked me at the end, "how did the rest of the flight go." And it took me by surprise, I said I guess it went well cause I didn't really remember.

2. What would you have done differently at the interview?

During the above question I started to ramble off subject. The interviewer interupted me and restated the question. It threw me a bit. So I started to answer the question asked with out rambling.

3. Were you surprised by anything?

Yes, the second interviewer was a gorgeous blonde lady with an incredible chest. She was one of the original pilots at SWA. The whole time I was talking to her I kept repeating to myself "don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts!" At the end of the interview I had no idea what she thought of how I answered. I really thought I blew the interview with her. But I never stared at her chest...it was a small victory.

4. What was the best thing you did to prepare for the interview?

I had my excellent wife drill me with all the SWA prep questions i got off "willflyforfood.com". Had a story picked out, written out and rehearsed out loud with her for every question at least three times. It helped me relax during the interview. But I was surprised with one question (see above).


I felt I had good report with the first interviewer-- he was an ex military pilot like me.

The second interviewer was nice, but I couldn't read how I had done with her.

The third interviewer was the one who threw me when he asked a question I hadn't rehearsed and then repeated the question in the middle of my answer. I thought I had blown it with him.


After the interview I was sure I was getting the dreaded letter, but I got a call in August. Too bad my term leave was denied in Aug and in Sep I was stop lossed!!

All I can say is get your types early.

Good luck, wear a cool tie, and relax.

 

[firstthird]

1 - toughest question - for me it was "how do you build rapport with a student?" I was a RAG instructor at the time so I presume that is why it came up. I hadn't seen it on any of the gouge websites or trip reports or in the interview books either. None of my 10 or 11 main stories really fit either, but I just took a breath, gave the interviewer my 'student relationship philosphy' in about 2 sentences and then illustrated with a little story. Not my best answer but good enough I guess.

2 - done differently - Not much for the interviewing part, I can't remember much that I completely tanked, thanks to extensive prep, see #4. What I would do though is take my luggage from the hotel. I had a morning interview and the security guy at the front desk was really helpful so that the guys who brought their overnight bags were able to stick them in a room there and then later take the shuttle right to the airport whereas those of us without that foresight had to go back through the hotel. Not a big deal but could mean the difference between getting home that night or not.

3 - surprised by anything - How super friendly all the People department people were. I knew to expect it having read NUTS and Hard Landing but still, knowing something intellectually and believing it emotionally are not always the same. I expected to be super nervous (and was) since it was my first (and turns out only) interview. Every single hiring person did their darnest(my saltier first attempt there got censored) to put us at ease at every turn though. It was a great experience.

4 - best thing to prepare - without a doubt it was using Rob Beeks for a prep service. I think it cost 250, but don't quote me on that since it has been almost 2 years and that might have changed. Here is his conact info.
Rob ‘Mozam’ Beeks for prep
[email protected]
(480)575-9310
I think he spent close to 4 hours on the phone with, his literature says it usually takes 3 hours, but I guess he was worried about me and gave me some extra time. He didn't reinvent the wheel or anything, seeing as I had read 3 or 4 interview books, perused a bunch of gouge, and talked with lots of guys from my squadron that had interviewed. What he did though was to focus my efforts and to really point out what was important and what was fluff. Best 250 I ever spent.
Besides that, there was one other piece of advice I got from a squadron mate that had been successful and that was to "stay up for the 3rd interview." After the first 2, you'll naturally be tired but you need to keep the smile on and put your best effort out there.

 

[DHPope93]

1. Please reply with the toughest interview question you had at SWA.
-- TMAAT you made a split second decision, and were wrong. I was prepared for positive answers, not negative ones. Who likes to admit that they were wrong during a job interview? How wrong do I have to be? As a result, didn't really answer the question well, and he had to ask a follow-up for me to finish my friggin' thought.

2. What would you have done differently at the interview?
-- I should have passed on the above question and asked for either a different question or to come back to that question later. I frankly forgot I had that option in my nervousosity (this was the 2nd question in the 1st interview). All's well that ends well, though.

3. Were you surprised by anything?
Not by the process, thanks to Rob Beeks. I was surprised by how mentally tired I was after the interviews. Luckily, I kept myself fed and watered throughout the process which made things a lot easier.

4. What was the best thing you did to prepare for the interview?
-- Pray and remind myself of the confidence I and my family had in myself to successfully complete the interview process. Helped keep things in perspective. 2nd best: Rob Beeks. Did a lot to reduce the 'ping factor.'

Peace,
DP

 

[Falconjet]

SWA Interview

1. The hardest question for me was the first one because I was expecting a brief get to know you session perhaps leading off with "Tell me a little bit about yourself and why do yo want to fly for Southwest Airlines". I had rehearsed my answer dozens of times and although I wasn't exactly sure of what I would say I had at least figured out the highlights to mention. The interviewer pretty much just sat me down and gave me a quick overview of the process (they ask a question, you start talking and they put their head down and start writing furiously, which can be a little disconcerting) and led off with a TMAT question, no prologue. If you don't cover the issues they are looking for with a particular question they will ask you for more info or even a different story - I had to completely shift gears once because my story really didn't apply and I had to tell a different one. No big deal.

2. I would have tried to have relaxed and gotten more sleep the night before the interview. I was frantically trying to find a news channel on the hotel TV with the latest stock price for LUV. Had to call a buddy to get the price. Turns out the first thing I saw when I walked into the building that morning was a little sign with the current stock price prominently displayed. Lesson learned: relax and sleep! Prepare enough before you get there to have the confidence to put your stuff away at a decent hour and get some sleep.

3. Was anything different than I expected? Yes, the first question as stated above. I never felt like I really rcovered from that with the first interviewer. In fact, we seemed to finish pretty quickly and then as kind of a follow up to fill up a little more time I was asked what did I do before my curent job (military). As kind of a joke I said I was in High School (which is true) but I didn't realize that they couldn't be that familiar with every candidate's resume. I felt that the "joke" wasn't exactly appreciated and felt like a dufus for saying it. I then figured I was doomed from the start. Several of the other pilots in my group felt that they weren't on their best game for the first interview, but mostly it was a matter of connecting with that particular person.

4. What I did for prep was read Nuts! about 4 times, take notes, and research the company so I'd know a little bit about it. I also used index cards to summarize my flight experiences and tried to spin my stories toward the customer service angle as much as I could. I also read all the reports on aviationinterviews.com and those were VERY helpful. I also read a couple of books about interviewing which were also helpful. In a nutshell they recommend to attempt to make the interviewer talk about themselves and find a mutual interest if possible. Just general stuff but helpful anyway. I didn't take advantage of any of the interview prep services. I tried to dress as comfortably as I could and like DHPope said drink lots of water (but not too much!, don't want to be in the bathroom when they call your name!) and try to eat something, it is a long morning (or afternoon).

Try to relax and DO believe that they are great people there and they are doing their best to make you feel comfortable and be yourself so they can get to know you as well as possible in just a couple of hours.

Good Luck to future poolies!

 

[ivauir]

my experience

1. Please reply with the toughest interview question you had at SWA.

There were a couple, but what threw me was when I asked the interviewer if I could use a ground story instead of a flying one (ex conflict in the cockpit) he said "no". And he wasn't even nice about it!

2. What would you have done differently at the interview?

Not a darn thing - they hired me!!!!! But I got water at every chance and went to the john at every chance - I was the last person out of there that day - and I think refusing to rush helped me. Force yourself to relax and take your time - you may not get another chance for years.

3. Were you surprised by anything?

The biggest thing was that not everybody was warm and friendly - don't get me wrong, everybody was great - but after reading Nutz and hearing all of these stories I half expected everbody to break into song. People at SWA are like everybody else; no two are alike. My first interviewer was professional, quite, and almost cold - I swear he wrote down every word I said and usually cut me off near the end. I thought maybe I was going long and started to panic. Thanks to great prep (Rob Beeks) I chilled and just figured this was the way he is, professional and a little terse and I focused on being myself. The second guy was what I expected - really warm and friendly. The third interviewer was quiet and bookish, he freaked me out because he wrote almost nothing down.
The bottom line here is that people at SWA are encouraged to be themselves and not everybody is Herb. Don't have any fixed expectations, you are going to talk to three real people, just like you.

4. What was the best thing you did to prepare for the interview?

I used Beeks too and it saved my skin.

 

[chase]

keep it coming...thanks guys!

Great effort. I'm sure there are more helpful hints. Just got in from a late meeting but once again FI.com folks are helping others. I'll say it for all the lurkers, THANKS!!!

 

[Bally]

Toughest Question:

Give an example of breaking a company procedure of policy to get the job done.

Suggestion:

Get the names of everyone you interviewed with and send a thank you note. Including the guy who give the tour of the training center.