I was at the assessment in Dublin but unfortunately they declined me.
What bothers me like hell ! is what the criteria of their choice are.. During the assessment I was wearing a suit, kept a head up pose all the time, I was talkative and enthusiastic, smiling all the time, seconds after having arrived at the hotel I started talking with bunch of guys who were also waiting for the assessment, I am fluent in English - however, it's my second language so undoubtedly I made some linguistic mistakes during the interview - I was very active during the group part and I mentioned couple of things that, from what I noticed, the HR guys wrote down, I was talkative and smiling during the personal interview, I answered all of their questions such as 'what is fly by wire' or 'what is the aer lingus' fleet', I believe I made an intelligent answer to the question 'what is special about Aer Lingus', when they asked me if I had a question I asked a very intelligent, I think, question 'it is wonderful that you are giving such a marvellous opportunity for people like me to fulfill their dreams of becoming an airliner pilot, but considering there are multitude of already trained pilots on the market why do you organise a cadet programme instead of acquiring pilots through direct entry?', I talked and had a laugh with these 2 nice ladies that dealt with organisation of the assessment, I have a bachelor degree in Aviaton Management, I passed the International Baccalaureate, I completed an internship in Credit Control Department in Pratt & Whitney, I have certificates in English, German and Spanish, I hold a Private Pilot License and have 58 hours logged...
So here is my question - what are the criteria?! Who are they looking for? I am not stating I am a perfect candidate because it simply appears I am not, otherwise I would be in Jerez at the moment drinking beer with our fellow applicants, but I would love to know what the successful ones must have done to stand out from the rest..
Regarding the assessment - on the other hand - I am only 23, I am of Polish nationality, I have long hair (but during the assessment I had them neatly pinned in a bun), I feel I did pretty much mediocre during the written part.
Maybe my experience (58 hours flight time) is too little? Or maybe is it too much???? Maybe they didn't want to hire a non-British citizen??
Do you think they might have been looking for an older and more mature person? A person with a better education, from a better university?