Interview : do they ask you, "which FTO ?"

[VNA Lotus]

Hello everyone,

I read a lot of thing on this forum about "which FTO is the best".
Of course we spend a lot of money so we do care about chosing our school for the CPL/IR.

Well, it is true that on our license, it is not written what school we did our course.

But during the interview, do they ask you ??

is it possible that they do not accept you because they do not know this school or maybe dislike it (very rare I presume).

I will do my course in France, so others europeans companies won't know my FTO certainly...

thank you very much.

[hollingworthp]

It is highly unlikely that you will encounter this with an interview you have arranged yourself. The only difference is that with most integrated courses, the FTO may recommend you to certain airlines towards the end of the course and the choice of FTO will influence the range of airlines you may be recommended to.

[potkettleblack]

Most people would have where they trained on their CV. If you find that you are not getting called to interviews then there are a myriad of reasons why. One of those could be that you went to a school which is no longer flavour of the month with whichever airline you applied to. You will never know the reason why you are not called, more so in todays climate of equal opportunities where employers have to be so careful not to be seen to discriminate.

Spend the money, go to a good school with high pass rates that has a history of its students getting jobs at REPUTABLE well respected airlines. There is no better advert for you when it comes to job hunting than those that have been there and done that and gotten into a job ahead of you.

If you go cheap and cheerful with rinky dink flight training in outer mongolia then prepare to act as a defacto marketing department for them. That assumes you get called for interview in the first place though.

[Mercenary Pilot]

I would also add to that, that my friends who fly for decent airlines (myself included) were all asked at interview where we had done our training.

If you have been asked for interview then i doubt that where you had trained was a factor anymore, it's usually a general topic of conversation.

Putting your FTO on your CV is expected and would look odd without, besides if you went to a well respected school then you will want people to know anyway. You don't have to go to outer Mongolia to find poor flight training. There are a few here in the UK and I can think of one airline that may think twice before hiring from one particular school that I know of.

Get the best training you can afford, that doesn't mean it has to be integrated. There are many well respected modular FTO's.

I'm presuming that your training in France because you are French. I don't see how this is a problem as I fly with pilots of all nationalities. I wonder if the swedes get asked at interview where they trained...just try pronouncing the name of some of the Scandinavian FTO's! :p

[buzzc152]

I'd disagree entirely with that. If you've got the relevant licenses it does not matter one jot where you got them (perhaps with a few exceptions like BA if you're a 200 hr newbie).

[potkettleblack]

Well you are entitled to your opinion, however, you are getting an insight into recruitment from 2 airline pilots who have been through two different airlines systems.

[buzzc152]

Well, now you have insight from a third. I've never been asked where I did my training.

[potkettleblack]

If your profile is correct then I am not sure how flying in a specialist area such as you do and mainstream airline flying can be compared. They are chalk and cheese. As is the screening, assessment and interview process at our outfits. Specialist jobs such as yours invariably involve knowing someone and a one on one interview with the chief pilot. Jobs like yours are often never even advertised.

Getting into an airline involves having the right sort of CV, saying the right things, timing it right and getting the CV onto the right persons desk. You might one day bump into the chief pilot if your lucky. The airlines will get thousands of applications, screen out the majority and call in those that meet set criteria which often includes where they trained. It is the sad reality of life that if you go to a low profile school then you may not pass go and you will never know why you did not get called.

[Parkbremse]

I attended selections of three different airlines and i can honestly say that at each of these selections the name of the school was no factor.

I trained modular at a very small school (around 15 students in total) and did my MCC on a B200 FNPTII... in most people's minds i would be the least employable person on the market. Well i wrote three applications, got three invitations to the selection programs and passed each of them up to the final stage. Blew the first one, passed the second and called of the third... At no point had the name of the school any relevance, neither at the selection i failed nor at the one i passed.

[haughtney1]

It is the sad reality of life that if you go to a low profile school then you may not pass go and you will never know why you did not get called.

Pot, either you work for a "reputable" FTO..or they are paying you:=

Guys and Girls, unless you are involved in some kind of cadet scheme, the FTO you trained at means three fifths of fuk all to an interviewer...sure they may ASK you your opinion of the training you received, but in 99% of the cases it doesn't even enter the equation.

:ok:

[Gingerbread Man]

The only thing I have experienced close to that question is "why CTC?" at a CTC interview. I think I really screwed up here as I didn't really have facts about the other schools that had put me off, so found it difficult to say what put CTC above them in my mind.