Phase III
I have recently gone through, and passed the CTC Wings selection process, doing my phase IV simulator assessment on Thursday 8th June. I ship out to NZ in the next couple of months.
Quite a few people pm'd me after a previous post to ask about Phase III of the process and what it entails. Rather than replying to all of those people individually I thought it was probably easier to post in the main forum, so apologies to all those who didn't receive a personal reply to their message.
The day begins (obscenely early!) with what is termed a "selection briefing". Basically, this is just the group sitting round introducing themselves in the "Hi I'm X and I'm an alcoholic" style. I'm not sure if this part of the proceedings is assessed. Don't be put off by the copious notes that the four assessors will be taking; it's all very informal and most people keep it quite light.
After the selection briefing, you will do the group exercises. You will be split into two groups (probably with 4-5 people in each) and will be taken off to different areas of the building by the assessors (two to each group). I won't give away what the actual exercises are. I will say that it's important to play an effective role in the team. This means that you should not sit back saying nothing and equally you should not talk all the time; listen to what your teammates say, and take it on board. However, do not be afraid to put your point across. Your ideas will be valuable and worth hearing. Don't talk over anyone else, don't interrupt and you will be fine. A couple of final points; listen to the instructions, and try to reach a decision as a group at the end of each exercise. Effective communication is not just important; it is crucial!
One final point on the group exercise: You will have to complete a self assessment questionnaire. Just make sure that you write an honest assessment of how you performed in the exercises. Don't worry if anyone writes more or less than you do; only you know how much you need to say.
After the group exercises, which will probably take around two hours, you will be able to take lunch. You should take the opportunity to talk to the numerous CTC cadets who will be wandering around, and the whole day will be quite informal in this respect. If you have a question you want to ask to any assessor, whether during lunch or the break between the two group exercises, just ask it! The impression I got was that they will be more than happy to talk about any aspect of flying with you.
I found the interview quite good fun. There will be two interviewers: an HR specialist and a very experienced (think 20k+ hours) pilot. The HR will ask more general questions, while the pilot will probably ask technical questions. The best advice that I can give is to substantiate your answers to all of the questions. You can probably guess that you will get the standard questions such as "Why do you want to be a pilot?" and "When have you been an effective member of a team?" These questions are just inviting you to take control of the interview, and say what you want the assessors to hear. Tell them anything you think backs up your credentials; anything you think makes you a more attractive candidate should be mentioned. Give examples to back up your responses; in other words, if you say "I am an effective team player" give them an example of the time when you were a member of a committee, or sports team or whatever. This is all just simple interview technique; if you're unsure on this, there will be plenty of information on this website (use the search function), and there are numerous books on the subject available. Just read around!
The technical questions will depend entirely on your prior experience. However, don't worry about them!! If you have an interest in aviation, you shouldn't have any problems. Just make sure than you have some idea about the background of the various partner airlines and CTC itself; people have failed because they have displayed absolutely no knowledge of the industry. Even reading one of the main flight magazines for a few weeks will give you a good basic knowledge of the major comings and goings in this complicated industry.
None of what I have written above should be taken as gospel. I might, of course, have misrepresented or misunderstood what they're looking for at this stage. However, this post shows you how I approached this stage of the process. The best advice I received before doing phase III was to be myself. Don't try and be someone that you're not, because it's very easy to see through a fake.
Good luck to anyone undergoing selection. I am convinced that it will all be worth it!
Jamie
Last edited by akindofmagic; 10th Jun 2006 at 22:22.