Nice Riga sightseeing...
I was invited for the interview a couple of months ago - so I decided to check the whole thing out.
Arrived there a day before and checked into the Hotel Islande, top floor room, which was quite alright - (just breakfast was quite under par so I skipped it completely after the second night). Went for a walk into town and found it personally quite interesting - great to hear so much live music all around, however the longer I roamed, the more doubts surfaced, that I could ever call such a place "home". Tried the local cuisine for dinner and it was quite tasty. On the subject of beautiful women, I expected to see a lot more - now I can say: in public the majority truly weren't even worth a second glance - no different to most other average places on the planet.
Next day, it was off to the assessment in the impressive relatively newly built Air Baltic training center - 5 of us in total (one young Russian chap arriving 3 hours late...). We waited almost an hour before lady D. took us upstairs to a lounge area right in the far corner, where we would be filling out the psychological questionnaire and other personal questions. There were only 2 chairs around the table, so 3 of us had to fill out from our laps on the couch. I do not know where they got these questions from - but it certainly made us feel like they were questioning latent criminal delinquents e.g.: "Did you ever have the urge to hit someone?", "Do you love your father?" followed by "Do you love your mother?" 180 questions later. In all honesty, after a while you would just feel like the whole thing is a bad joke - candid camera. Probably it is based on a common psychological pattern that mirrors the average Eastern European populations' mentality.
While filling out these forms, we were interrupted to make our way into the conference room, where we took the ATP exam. Pretty simple questions, but also some that might catch you out, if you are unsure. After this it was back to the "waiting lounge" to continue with the question forms. At about 11h30 we were introduced to the training captain, who would interview us on our professional history and skills. He asked questions and had the habit of interrupting me constantly, before I had even spoken halfway through my sentence. I seriously started questioning this attitude. Seems like he did not like it at all, that I voiced that I was still seeking options with other operators other than Air Baltic, after being asked that question directly. I replied, that that is what they should expect, if they are only recruiting pilots for their holding pool, with no guarantees. Well my final conclusion was that he came across a pretty patronizing and also pretty rude - probably did it on purpose just to test my reaction.
After all the others were finished, one chap was sent home, due to the lack of English skills... funnily, the training captains English was not so much better though... (maybe they sent him home, to have an even number of people for the Simulator later on...).
Now we were supposed to go into the Level D 737 Sim - but the training captain had some other obligations and postponed that for another 2 hrs, but in fact eventually appeared 4 hours later. Nobody actually informed us of what was happening. When he finally came back there was a short briefing in the briefing room. He was certainly a lot friendlier now - what a joy!
The Sim was pretty disappointing - except for initial take-off, the prep-handout they give you, was worth "jack". No procedures - just a lot of cowboy maneuvers, to check how you would deal with non-standard situations - especially VFR circuits at LOWI with wingtips a few meters from the mountains. Felt like kiddies playing with Microsoft Flightsim. Me and my sim-colleague even received very positive feedback for that.
By the time we where finished, all the office staff including Lady D. had disappeared. We actually all expected an interview with her, also so we would have a chance to ask our own questions - not a chance. So we just left the building, unimpressed.
To sum up the whole long story short: this whole interview was a joke, extremely unprofessional and it sure did not shed a good light on Air Baltic. They treated us like crap. There was no way, that after this, I would even consider moving to Riga, no matter what job they would offer me. If it weren't for the sightseeing of the town, this whole trip would have been such a waste of time. I am more than happy, that they did not choose to invite me again - once was quite enough.
After having a few more other "real" interviews with other companies and also finally landing a real top-job in "first world Europe" in these difficult times, I feel that I am sort of in a position to compare the experience and share it with you, after letting a few weeks go by - my opinion about them has not changed: they want young guys that have nothing to say, will swallow anything that could be thrown at them, that don't dare speak up or voice a stance or opinion. If Air Baltic was my only option, I would honestly rather quit flying.