Toughest Interview Question?

[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.