Quick thank you to all those over the past couple of years who took the time to post on this thread about their experiences and knowledge of the BA selection process. Especially a big thank you to Localiser and Von S H.
For those of you applying at the moment, there really is some excellent information on this thread, so my advice to you all is to read this thread from start to finish and pay proper attention to what people say.
Day 1:
Group exercise - Interview - Verbal/Maths tests - Pilapt
Firstly, when choosing a date for your day 1 assessments, make sure its a date that will give you plenty of time to prepare before hand; you will gain nothing by booking the first available date to try and speed up the selection process. Preparation is key!
Nothing to add to the advice already offered about the pilapt tests. I seem to remember minor differences but they really were minor compared to what Localiser posted originally.
My main advice for day 1 is to write out all the examples of interview questions given in various posts in this thread and spend a good few weeks thinking over these questions, and possible answers you could give. However, I would warn against scripting your answers because they will no doubt come across as such in the interview and you will not give a warm, friendly, personal vibe to the interviewers. You also need to make sure you answer the question which the interviewers have just asked, and not the one which you have prepared an answer for; so having a loose idea in your mind and a framework on which you can build on the day as each question is asked is definitely the way forward; as opposed to scripting answers and learning them off by heart. Doing this sort of preparation will also boost your confidence as you will feel thoroughly prepared for the type of questions they will ask, and it will help avoid possible moments of panic in the interview because you can't think of a situation when you did x, y or z.
It is also important to have an indepth knowledge about everything BA - from the share price, to the Directors' names, to T5, to the fleet and recent orders, current market overview and so on. A great starting point for all this information is (unsurprisingly)
www.ba.com - there is a company information link at the bottom of the home page.
www.bashares.com is also very helpful, but these really are just starting points.
Also, I suggest getting hold of a couple of the type of books people have mentioned previously (i.e. How to Pass Graduate Selection Tests etc). I wouldn't so much say it is essential to practice maths questions identical to those you will receive on the day, more a case of getting the old brain matter working again; get your mental arthimetic going again, working on your accuracy and speed without the use of a calculator just good old scrap paper.
It is also worth looking at the practice papers on the SHL website (BA even tell you of this website in the letter that accompanies the practice material they send you by Royal Mail a few weeks prior to day 1).
As said elsewhere, its a very long day and trying to stay focused and on the ball by the end is a mammouth task. A good nights sleep the night before is essential, and I would strongly suggest staying at a local hotel to ease the stress the morning of the assessment day. (Jury's Inn is ideally located hotel for the Rivers - it's not the Ritz, just your standard airport hotel.) I would also suggest having the day off work the day before as well.
As others have already said (and BA tell you on the day) a phone call will mean success because it is easier to speak in person in order to arrange a date for a sim assessment, an email is normally bad news (though I think if they try phoning you numerous times without success they might try emailing you instead).
Day 2:
Sim assessment
Firstly to clarify from earlier posts - there are
NO pilapt tests on this day, it is purely the sim assessment. The sim assessment used to take place the day after your day 1 but it seems that this is generally no longer the case, though they do sometimes have sim slots at short notice and will ask if you might be available tomorrow for a sim ride. I think they used to do the days back-to-back when they first re-started recruitment back in 2004 to reduce the time it took to get candidates through the entire selection process; I think they were very short crewed and wanted to get people on courses as fast as possible - not so much the case now!
A couple of weeks before your sim you will receive an email confirming your sim date/time and providing you with pitch and power settings for the 747-400, along with speeds to be flown during climb, cruise, holding and approach. The checklist you will use on the day is also attached, so you are fully briefed well in advance. Stating the obvious again but, you
MUST learn these settings before you turn up; these pitch and power settings are spot on and really do work perfectly, so knowing them inside out takes care of the basics of flying the 747 before you even set foot in the sim. The last thing you need whilst trying to hand fly an NDB hold entry is to be desperately trying to recall what pitch and power setting you need at this speed and flap.
Again, a good nights sleep is strongly recommended so a local hotel is probably wise. The assessment begins with a thorough brief about how to use the equipment in the 747-400 flight deck. i.e. how to tune navaids, set the course bar, select the ils, use the radios, select vor/adf needles. The briefing is more than adaquate but to help you prepare better for the day, go to
www.airliners.net and search for 747-400 flight deck photos so you can see where things are laid out in the flight deck in advance and so it won't all be quite as alien on the day. You are allowed to use the basic a/p functions once above the transition altitude, but not the auto-throttle.
As for the sim assessment itself. One leg as PF, one as PNF (this is not the same for SSP selection as I understand it), and I really have no further advice to that already offered in preceding posts. CRM is key - its a passenger flights so ATC, cabin crew, passengers, ops dept all to be considered. Practise your raw data-hand flying, in the weeks leading up to the sim assessment, this will help give you spare mental capacity on the day to focus on the other tasks beside flying the aircraft. As with all flights, anticipation and spacial awareness are vital - it probably wouldn't be the best idea to arrive at the hold 50kts too fast, still in the decent, with no flap selected. Think ahead of the aircraft and take your time; be methodical about it all.
As said elsewhere, you can expect to be asked questions whilst you are PF. Our assessor had a great knack of knowing exactly when you were deep in thought or about to tell the PNF something important and he would interject with a question. The questions aren't rocket science (i.e. you are flying at 360kts ground speed, how long will it take you to cover 63 nm?) but are aimed to distract you from the task at hand and assess how well you are coping with the task. Are you completely snowed under or are you on top of the situation and have some spare mental capacity for some basic arithmetic?
Any mistakes you make along the way, or areas you feel like you have just let yourself down in, forget them immediately and move on. Don't dwell on them because we all make mistakes but its how we recover that matters. Its multi-crew so use the other guy to help you out, and when you are that other guy do everything you can to be a good PNF and help.
The assessor is not allowed to debrief the candidates, but will probably ask you how you think it all went. Then thats it all over and done with. As you are told on the day and in the email, expect it to take 7 days minimum before you hear a result, so try to put it to the back of your mind for that time at least.
Again, a phone call means success because they need to discuss a few things before placing you in the hold pool.
Final thought ...
So as you can see, very little has changed since Localisers first post. Listen to the advice offered throughout this thread; you will need to spend lots of time preparing for the 2 assessment days if you want to succeed.
All in all from submitting my application through to being offered a place in the hold pool was 4 months, so as you can see its not a quick route through the entire selection process. (And that is excluding the 2 weeks I spent perfecting my application form before I submitted it.)
One final word; everyone I met at the selection days was extremely friendly and welcoming. The BA recruitment team go out of their way to try and make the candidates as relaxed as possible in the given circumstances, they come across as highly professional and as though they genuinely want to see you perform your best and succeed.
Good luck to those of you applying in the future, and thanks again to all the previous posters for their sound advice.