Hey guys,
I see there's not much information about the DHL EAT assessment day in Hamburg with Interpersonal, so I wanted to contribute for those interested.
I attended the assessment and to warn you all it was far from easy, so be prepared.
I prepared myself by using
-the Skytest software,
-reading the Ace the Pilot Technical Interview book,
-reading the PilotsReference Guide,
-reading Getting to grips with aircraft performance,
-and lots of interview practice with friends and wife.
The assessment takes place at Interpersonal in Hamburg. It is divided in 2 days and normally you are allowed to proceed to day 2 if the first day is successful, this you know at the end of day 1.
Make sure you bring all your documents (Licence, Medical, Passport). If you forget those you won't be allowed to attend the assessment day.
Ab-initios and people with less than 500hrs must do their SIM check on an FNPT2-simulator (Piper Seneca). This check is done in-house at Interpersonal on day 1. Experienced and Type Rated pilots, if succesfull on day 2 will be invited to attend an assessment on the A300 Sim in Berlin. Be prepared to be flexible as this might be the next day.
Day 1.
- Welcome. Done by Interpersonal and DHL staff.
- German to English translation. This is for the native German speakers only. You have to translate a German text to English. You have 7 minutes to do it.
- English Test. Grammar, propositions, fill in the blanks, synonyms, text-reading and understanding. The answers are multiple choice.
- Mathematics. Head counting/calculus. Ex. 14X60 or 46X23. The question is shortly visible but for the answer you have time. A little tip, there's a scratch pad below the question, type in the numbers in there so you have it constantly in front of you. Once you have the answer erase it and type in your answer. ;-) But ssssss... don't tell anyone.
- Mathematical Reasoning. Text questions, Decimal counting, Divisions, Geometry. Skytest is good to practice this.
- Concentration Test. Again Skytest is good for this. Don't rush doing this exercise. They want precision rather than speed. Take your time.
- Memory Test. Skytest, level 2 and 3. This one is really hard. You get a series of different callsigns with different colors. They disappear and then you're asked which color were certain callsigns or even just parts of it.
- ATPL questions. 40 questions. What I suggest is reading the Ace the Pilot Technical Interview, but that's not enough. There are online databases and a read through those questions is time well spent. The subjects are mostly Meteorology, Principles of flight, Airlaw, Electricity, Performance, Human factors, Navigation, Engines and Hydraulics. All candidates get different questions.
- Psychometric test. This is pretty heavy and tiring and Skytest is very good for this. Keep the cross centered on a moving Artificial Horizon with your Mouse.
Next to the Artificial Horizon, you'll have 4 lights with a corresponding letter. When a light lights up red you have to press on your keyboard the corresponding letter. To add some distraction the lights light up yellow first, so pay attention.
At the right-hand side of those lights, you'll find 6 instrument gauges with moving needles in it. You also have a corresponding letter for each gauge. When a needle goes into the red zone you have to press on your keyboard the corresponding letter.
And below that you a screen where questions appear, it goes from calculations to text. and you need to answer the questions.
And yes, you have guessed it, it's all done simultaneously. So get that T-scan going!
For the guys with less than 500 hours, you'll do a SIM check on an FNPT2 sim. IFR Procedures. I guess something similar to your CPL exam.
Day2
The people assessing you will generally be Mr. Walter from Interpersonal, a psychologist, HR from DHL and a management pilot from DHL.
You'll have group exercise. Here they want to see how you work together and if you're a team player or not. There's no real solution to the exercise. After the group exercise, they'll ask questions. This is to see if you were involved or not and also to see if you were following what the other guys were doing.
After that, you'll be called individually for the interview. This is an enjoyable conversation about your history, your strengths, and weaknesses, your motivation, etc... But at some point it becomes serious. You'll get lots of questions thrown at you, they'll try to push you into a corner. Don't get aggressive or frustrated. It's part of the game. Mr. Walter is a very nice man but he's doing his job, he will push you into that corner and he won't stop. So be prepared for that. Experienced pilots, be ready to be criticised a lot, and have some scenarios thrown at you. My advice is to practice as much as you can.
If some of your tests from the previous day were not good enough, especially ATPL stuff, be prepared to have some questions thrown at you as well.
The interview takes 45-60 minutes.
For those that have less than 500 hours, you get an answer fairly quickly, around 3 days. For the experienced pilots, it takes around 2 weeks after the SIM in Berlin.
It's a phone call. Don't expect feedback though. It's just yes or no.
It was a hard three days for me but I honestly enjoyed it a lot and I got the positive call 2 weeks after the sim! ;-) So if I can do it, anyone can do it! Just prepare for it.
Make sure you're well rested, especially for day 1, it's very heavy and exhausting.
That's my 5 cents worth of info. I wish you all the best and good luck and hopefully see you on the line!