Hi All, just a few words about the Group Exercises as this seems to be the most discussed subject when talking about the selection process.
This process is used in various employment processes around the world and by many airlines to assess how you interact in a group and therefore how you would probably interact as a crew member.
NB : If you do not talk and do not contribute, the assessors have nothing to mark you on and you will not get through the process successfully.
These are my thoughts from what I have experienced and in no way have any professional basis.
You will do 2 Group Exercises. It doesn't matter if the scenario is about a shipwreck/survival exercise or a discussion about an airline's expansion plans, the answer to the question posed or the presentation given at the end is not really that relevant. What is very relevant is the way it gets done and how each person in the group interacts and contributes.
The assessors want to see HOW you contribute and more importantly WHAT you contribute :
HOW - do you talk coherently, do you talk over other people and not allow others to speak. Do you support other ideas or do you run everyone else's comments down, do you you keep punting only the 1 point you want discussed. Do you try guide the conversation or do you dominate it. Do you try incorporate the quiet person in the corner who is trying to get a word in.
WHAT - Do you contribute value to the discussion, do you just say yes or just say no and contribute nothing else. Does what you are saying make sense and does it add value to someone else's point or is it a additional point that no one else has suggested. Do you provide some form of structure/guidance to the discussions if it seems to be going nowhere.
Think of being in the flight deck and having a discussion about an issue you experience during the flight. You need to listen to what is being said or open a discussion. Then either build on any suggestions (if it is a good proposal) or come up with a counter proposal if you feel the current proposal lacks substance or is flawed.
In the flight deck we do not run down other people's ideas, we critique them and either improve them where its needed (suggest fixes), or we come up with another proposal and "sell it" to the group. Its all about CRM - how you communicate.
When you open your mouth in the group discussions, it should be constructive even if you are disagreeing - "I like your suggestion but do you think that doing it this way ............ would have a better result?"
DO NOT :
- have your head down making notes and not listen to other contributions,
- keep interrupting everyone about the time running down, rather use that moment to contribute value to the discussion (if you are going to make any comments about the time - use the last minute to suggest summarising),
- keep interrupting just so your 1 point can be accepted,
- talk quietly or mumble. If you want to make a point talk clearly so the assessors can hear.
- if you are a fairly quiet person, DON'T volunteer to make notes of the discussion as this will distract you from contributing and you will end up going home early.
There is a lot of good info on group exercises online so do some research and most importantly - relax and contribute.
Many people say that this is a numbers game and that you can be awesome but they only want a certain number of people so once the quota is full, you go home. No, it doesn't work like that. FD need pilots, the right type of pilots. There are so many cultures in the cockpit at FD and if you are not going to fit in, the group exercises are the place to see this and the right time to make the cut.
Good luck