Hi Everyone,
Went for my preliminary interview this month, and would like to share with you guys.
A bit about myself, local Singaporean currently studying overseas. I've failed another airline's cadet pilot program at its final stage, hopefully this program can fulfil my dreams of being a pilot. I think a lot of people are worried about the questions they will ask, hopefully what I'll share will help. Keep in mind that every interview is different even though the interviewers might be the same.
In terms of questions, they're the same. Whatever that has been mentioned in the forums online, those are the questions that will be asked. I've looked through hundreds of pages online and have never been asked questions not found on the internet be it in this recent interview or the previous ones that I went. The worry I had before I went for the interviews was simply, how will they ask it? My preliminary interview was purely technical. No HR questions, "why do you wanna be a pilot?" or even "Why do you want to join SQ". The questions are straight forward. Here's an example:
Question: How does an ILS work?
Ans: 1) Localiser
2) Glide slope
3) DME
While I gave my answers, I included a short description of what they were. The question that followed next was, what degree is the glide slope? 3 degrees.
Something I'd suggest is to study your answers a little more in depth. Try to guess what could be a possible question in relation to your answer. If you mention about fleet, expect to know the number of aircraft, different variants, engine types and even configuration (2/3/4 class configs with how many seats). Do not mention anything that you're unsure of, such as meteorology cause then they might start asking questions about the different types of clouds, which altitude can you find them, how will they affect your route planning etc. Remember, the interview isn't only for SQ, it's also for MI and Sing Cargo. If the interviewers find that you're comfortable with talking about SQ's fleet for an example, they might just turn their attention to MI. What engines are on their A319/A320 (IAE)? how about Sing Cargo? What fleet do they operate and what's the average age? (744F, 14 years and 4 months as of annual report, 31st mar 2018). I had a friend who went in with no knowledge of MI and blatantly told the interviewers he "thinks" that MI operates a fleet of more than 100 aircraft.
My mistake in my previous interview was I went unprepared. My technical knowledge was poor, and I got thrown off by simple tech questions which affected my confidence. The whole interview went downwards from there and I got my rejection letter less than 48 hours after that.
Lastly, always try to answer questions even if you don't know the answer. They're not looking for cadets who know everything before they enter the program. They're looking for potential cadets who can think logically and use proper reasoning to come up with an answer to questions they're not sure about.
All the best and good luck!
Last edited by s909049; 19th Aug 2018 at 16:06.