and, at the risk of sounding like a nerd, I love flying
That is another curious thing about interviewing.
Over the years, I have been confused, bemused and frustrated by the number of people who we want to employ but who convince us not to because of a professed lack of passion for aviation. There is nothing uncool about loving what you do. It is what drives a career wanting to be better at our craft and noone on the interview panel is Chuck Yeager. Most pilots have to work to maintain a good standard.
What is important to us above almost everything else is, are you the type of person who will still be engaged enough by what you do to still be putting in the effort required to achieve well in 5, 10, 20 years time?
What sort of Captain will you make and what impression will you leave on your subordinate crew at the end of a trip and career?
This strikes at the cultural core of any airline. Be surrounded by people who want to be good at what they do and you will find yourself in that mind set as well.
One final thought. No recruitment protocol is infallible. We all know people who got the job that should have gone to some one else. That is not right nor is it fair but that is life. Sometimes a persons best attribute is their ability to sell themselves and the employer gets to wear that mistake for 30 + years. Don't waste any energy worrying about why that guy got the job. Just do what DDAO did and get on with it.
One final, final thought. I wonder how many people have tried to enlist the advice of DDAO. She is recently successful not once but twice in applications for Cadetship. I would have expected a raft of questions directed to her about all manner of things and maybe that happened on a PM platform out of view. I hope so. She was gracious enough to share her experience here and that makes her a resource prime for plucking.
(I hope you don't mind the reference, DDAO)
Good Luck to you all.