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Old 8th Oct 2018, 17:49
  #435 (permalink)  
Rottweiler22
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: UK
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I applied a few months ago as a newly graduated low-hours pilot. The whole process was very quick.

As far as I can remember the video interview was three questions of around 3 minutes each. You have a batch of practice questions that you can use to get warmed up, as the whole process of a video interview is quite strange at first. There are unlimited attempts for this, so you can keep on practicing until you're comfortable. The real questions were typical interview classics, such as "Why do you want to be a pilot", "What's your greatest achievement?", and "Why do you want to work for Jet2?". I think you could have one retake per question if you thought your answer was really bad, but I just fired and forgot my first attempts. On the same day I received an email to say I was through to the next stage, being the aptitude tests.

I did the aptitude tests a couple of days later, and they were in the same format as the Ryanair CutE tests. As far as I can remember there was: Monitoring (counting moving balls); Reaction Time (self explanatory); Spacial Awareness (reading RMIs); Multi-Tasking (again, self explanatory); and Hand-Eye Coordination (guiding a ball through moving holes). Then there was a basic maths, physics and logic test, consisting of around 20 questions.

I received a phone call the day after to say I was invited to a sim assessment, group task and interview day the following week. I was sent some material with the sim profile, pitch/power settings, etc, and was told to prepare for departures and approaches from and into Manchester. On the day there were four others, all of varying ages, and all applying for their first job. The head of pilot recruitment was there, as well as three current pilots who did the interviews. The day started with a short presentation about Jet2, and what to expect as a pilot apprentice. The group assessment followed, and was the classic "sinking ship" scenario. It lasted around 40 minutes, was quite good fun, and everyone worked together well.

Then it was the interview, with two current pilots. It was a fairly standard airline competency interview, with a "Tell us about yourself" starter, followed by vanilla questions such as "What do you know about Jet2?", "Why do you want to work for Jet2?", and then into the motivational stuff. "Why do you want to become a pilot?", "What makes a good pilot", that sort of stuff. The competency questions were customer service based, so I had questions regarding examples of when I provided good customer service, persuaded somebody, led a team, and dealt with conflict. It lasted about 45 minutes.

Everyone had a 1-1 meeting with the recruitment manager after their interview for the verdict. If you passed the group task and interview, you would go down the road for the sim assessment. Unfortunately, I fell short on the interview, and the recruitment manager told me that the interviewers weren't happy with some of my competency answers. I wouldn't be going any further, and it was sent off for an early bath. Obviously I was gutted, even more so because I thought I had a really good interview. I must admit that I felt uncomfortable from the start, and couldn't really relax on the day. It felt a bit like I didn't belong, and the other applicants and Jet2 staff were on a different wavelength to me. So it wasn't the end of the world, as I wasn't right for Jet2, and Jet2 weren't right for me. Whether the others passed, I don't know. Still, credit to the Jet2 team, at least they give you feedback to your face and tell you what they didn't like. At least you can dust yourself down and learn from your mistakes, rather than just being given a PFO e-mail like some airlines do. I wasn't happy with their decision, but I respect them for telling it to your face, on the day. More airlines should do that.

I have zero malice against Jet2, as I believe things are meant to be and my face didn't fit anyway. A couple of weeks later I was offered a FO job for another British airline which is where I am now, and loving it. My personal advice would be to do as much as you possibly can to get a flying job in this current recruitment peak, as the chances of getting in the right-hand seat are at their highest. The apprentice scheme is good, but it's 10-12 months on the ground before you start a type rating. Dip your bread, that's what I say.

Hope this has helped, and good luck to anyone thinking of applying!
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