Are You Prepared for Your Next Interview?

Pilots Share Their Success Stories

By Kevin Cuddihy, Contributing Writer

For many fee-for-departure (FFD) pilots, career progression is on their mind. How can I move from first officer to captain? When do I move up the seniority list enough to get the schedules I want? How do I get to my preferred airline?

For these ALPA pilots, the Association offers free of charge FFD application and interview workshops, along other products and information, to assist in their career-progression plans. Begun in 2015, the workshops are hosted by the FFD Committee and led by Cage Marshall Consulting, a firm that specializes in pilot career needs.

“It’s a competitive marketplace, and pilots need to do everything they can to help set themselves apart from the crowd,” explained Capt. Paul Ryder (ExpressJet), ALPA’s national resource coordinator and FFD Committee chairman. “Our goal is to make sure that ALPA pilots are the best-prepared pilots in the market. These workshops help our members prepare their paperwork and ready themselves for the interview questions they’re going to get—at no cost to them.”

The workshops arm pilots with the information and knowledge they need for the application and interview process—from what to include on the application and proper wording to tips and suggestions for a successful interview (see “ALPA@Work: Fee-for-Departure, Membership Committees Reach Out at NGPA Annual Conference”). “There’s no magic pill,” said Angie Marshall of Cage Marshall. “Our goal is to empower pilots to understand why the interview is the way it is and to help them navigate the process and realize what it is they need to do to succeed.”

Topics during the daylong sessions include how to optimize a résumé and cover letter, advice for compiling a logbook so it’s ready for review, and information on gathering all the paperwork necessary to complete an application. The consultants spend time with individual pilots, coaching them on how to best present themselves when interviewing. “It’s about showing you’re a leader,” said Marshall. “Your answers to their questions are less about the story you tell and more about how you tell it—and what they can learn from that story about you.”

Success stories

F/O Daniel Ramseyer took the course while working for Trans States Airlines and now flies for United Airlines. “As soon as I got back from the workshop, I went through the application meticulously,” he said. “I found errors and updated things they told me to update. I really felt like the workshop helped me a lot.

F/O Daniel Ramseyer (United)

“You hear a lot of conflicting information about how the application should be filled out,” Ramseyer noted. “It was nice to hear from people who actually knew the right way and gave some insight into the process.” He remarked that the workshop helped with basic advice, such as writing answers on the application in full sentences, to more detailed recommendations, including how to list airline-related jobs he took while on furlough to offset gaps in employment.

F/O David Birch had no specific plans to leave ExpressJet at the time he participated in the interview workshop, but attended so he’d be prepared when he was ready to make the move. And he’s glad he did. “When I went to the seminar, I realized that as much as I was doing, as much as I felt like I was prepared—when it came to the actual interview process, I really wasn’t,” he acknowledged. “It was a kick in the rear to say, ‘Okay, if this is coming up—you better get ready.’”

F/O David Birch (United)

When Birch got an interview with United, he said the workshop had him prepared for what to expect and what the airline was looking for. “With United, they didn’t ask many technical questions at all,” he explained. “It’s HR driven, and they want to get to know you. They expect that you have the technical expertise—they want to find out about you on a personal level.”

Part of his interview included questions like “Tell me about a time when you.…” Birch said the workshop provided great advice on preparing for these questions. “The workshop helped me better understand what types of questions to expect and to be prepared so I could gear my stories toward their question.” Birch also acknowledged that “the workshop was very motivating. While it showed me that I wasn’t prepared, it also showed me the steps I needed to take to get prepared.”

Frontier Airlines F/O Colton Daum was with ExpressJet when he attended the workshop in 2015 and couldn’t pass up the free advice. “I don’t know if I would have been quite as motivated if I had had to pay,” he admitted. “But with it being a free resource, it would have been crazy to pass up.” He noted that he learned more about Frontier Airlines at the workshop as well, which led to him target the company for his next position.

F/O Colton Daum (Frontier)

The main lesson Daum learned was that how you present yourself at all times matters. “The airlines pay attention to the work you put into the application, the neatness and tidiness—sometimes it’s the difference in getting an interview,” he said. “Just filling out the application can be a vital, vital part, so it was important to learn more about it. And they’re evaluating you on how you conduct yourself during the interview. A lot of pilots are lacking in that, because they don’t expect that’s the focus of so much of the interview. I thought these were two of the most important things I learned about how to get hired at a major.”

And he’d recommend the workshop to others in a heartbeat. “The interview workshops are a great resource ALPA is providing free of charge—you won’t go there and not benefit from them,” Daum promised. “In today’s hiring environment, you need every leg up you can get. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t take advantage of the workshops!”

The Next Class

F/Os Brandon Vath (PSA) and Carolyn Robinson (Atlantic Southeast) attended a recent Fee-for-Departure application and interview workshop, hoping to follow in the footsteps of F/Os Daniel Ramseyer, David Birch, and Colton Daum.

“A friend of mine attended a previous interview workshop and told me it was extremely worthwhile,” said Vath, who participated in a workshop to clear up a few confusing aspects of the application and interview process. He noted that the workshop “provided me insight into things I never even thought of” while helping him align his application and résumé with what airlines are looking for and teaching him to be more thorough when checking his documents. Most of all, he said, “the workshop taught me what I don’t know—and how to address that.”

For Robinson, the workshop was perfect timing. “I recently got an e-mail about a phase 1 interview, and this workshop will help me take advantage of this opportunity.” She called the workshop “very informative.” In addition to receiving a helpful refresher on things she already knew, Robinson learned some new information and tips. “Everything was excellent,” she said. “It’s mostly common sense, but you can put that out of mind sometimes. This was a great reminder of what it takes to succeed.”


Workshop Feedback

If you attended a Fee-for-Departure (FFD) application and interview workshop and moved on to a mainline, we want to hear from you. E-mail Communications@alpa.org and tell us how the workshop helped you in the application and interview process.

Want to Sign Up for an Interview Workshop?

Visit ffd.alpa.org for the current schedule, plus a variety of resources for FFD pilots—hiring schedules, job fair information, and more.

This article was originally published in the March 2017 issue of Air Line Pilot.

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