Emerald Airways operations interviews?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 45
Likes: 1
From: NW
Emerald Airways operations interviews?
Hi
I’m just seeking any info, hints or tips etc off anyone as I have just received a letter inviting me for an interview with emerald airways as an operations assistant. The interview is a week today and I would like to know what you ops guys do and what do I need to know to shine through the interview. Do I need to know the company history in depth? What exactly do operations assistants specifically do as operations covers everything from crew rostering to Navigation and flight planning? My hope is to eventually get into flight planning etc but do you start out right at the bottom. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I’m just seeking any info, hints or tips etc off anyone as I have just received a letter inviting me for an interview with emerald airways as an operations assistant. The interview is a week today and I would like to know what you ops guys do and what do I need to know to shine through the interview. Do I need to know the company history in depth? What exactly do operations assistants specifically do as operations covers everything from crew rostering to Navigation and flight planning? My hope is to eventually get into flight planning etc but do you start out right at the bottom. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
From: UK
Looking at some of the other current threads about Emerald and the points being made about ops and the person they work under, my advice to you would be to stay at home on the day of the interview and forget all about it.
If, on the other hand, you do take the interview some of the qualities they will be looking for are things like, the ability to be manipulated by management, the ability to disregard CAP 371 as much as possible, the ability to take being sworn at by pilots when you harass them on their days off, holidays, and at stupid hours of the morning when they're asleep, the ability to salvage situations that arise when you run out of crew and/or aircraft, and generally to be able to put up with what is a very stressful, underpaid and complicated job within a very under resourced department. There seem to be only a few battle hardened ops staff that have been there for any longer than six months or a year, the rest tend to pass through quite quickly.
Now before any one replies to tell me off for slagging down the ops staff and the work they do, that's not what I'm doing and I'll reiterate,- it's not the people in the department that are responsible for it's short fallings, it's merely the insufficient resources they are given to work with.
If you get the job, good luck, I hope it works for you.
If, on the other hand, you do take the interview some of the qualities they will be looking for are things like, the ability to be manipulated by management, the ability to disregard CAP 371 as much as possible, the ability to take being sworn at by pilots when you harass them on their days off, holidays, and at stupid hours of the morning when they're asleep, the ability to salvage situations that arise when you run out of crew and/or aircraft, and generally to be able to put up with what is a very stressful, underpaid and complicated job within a very under resourced department. There seem to be only a few battle hardened ops staff that have been there for any longer than six months or a year, the rest tend to pass through quite quickly.
Now before any one replies to tell me off for slagging down the ops staff and the work they do, that's not what I'm doing and I'll reiterate,- it's not the people in the department that are responsible for it's short fallings, it's merely the insufficient resources they are given to work with.
If you get the job, good luck, I hope it works for you.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: here
DO?
you mean I'm supposed to be doing something
basically tell the captain "its character building" or "they didn't used to complain like this during the war and they were not allowed to land to offload".
Seriously though I guess an assistant at Emerald would be expected to be keen and willing to learn how Emerald want you to work.
cheers
nobby
now back to sleepzzzzzzzzzzzz
you mean I'm supposed to be doing something
basically tell the captain "its character building" or "they didn't used to complain like this during the war and they were not allowed to land to offload".
Seriously though I guess an assistant at Emerald would be expected to be keen and willing to learn how Emerald want you to work.
cheers
nobby
now back to sleepzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 45
Likes: 1
From: NW
Thanks for the replies, very much appreciated. It seems to be very hard to get into Airline Ops without any experience (catch 22 eh, where do you get the experience!) after running a search it seems that many of you ops guys come from flight dispatch backgrounds (or internal vacancies within the company), but I feel that Emerald is giving people the opportunity to train and work in the ops dept from day one so more power to them. Again though the replies are appreciated. 
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 88
Likes: 0
From: All over
For an entry level opening such as ops assistant for a freight operator, you will need to show an interest in the industry and the company. When was the last time you read Flight International or a similar industry journo? Could you tell me a recent news story in the industry?
Obvious company questions - how it all started, present contracts, routes, fleet. They could ask you basic world geography (match city with country) or some basic maths questions. (speed, distance, time and fuel calculation perhaps given two of the three numerics). Also the usual interview questions - personal qualities, etc. Perhaps the hardest question of the interview - why do you wish to work for Emerald?!
OR the interviewer may just talk for an hour!
Considering you live near MANchester, will you be able to commute easily to LiverPooL on an ops ass. salary?
Finally, based on everyone elses postings, you could view a job with Emerald in two ways. Get your 6+ months experience and move on in the industry, or the experience itself could put you off aviation for life! I have nothing to do with Emerald, but if you are absolutely keen on getting into the industry...
Obvious company questions - how it all started, present contracts, routes, fleet. They could ask you basic world geography (match city with country) or some basic maths questions. (speed, distance, time and fuel calculation perhaps given two of the three numerics). Also the usual interview questions - personal qualities, etc. Perhaps the hardest question of the interview - why do you wish to work for Emerald?!
OR the interviewer may just talk for an hour!
Considering you live near MANchester, will you be able to commute easily to LiverPooL on an ops ass. salary?
Finally, based on everyone elses postings, you could view a job with Emerald in two ways. Get your 6+ months experience and move on in the industry, or the experience itself could put you off aviation for life! I have nothing to do with Emerald, but if you are absolutely keen on getting into the industry...
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
From: the old shed next to the runway...
Give the guy a chance!!!
Cambell83 - When I joined airline ops 9 years ago, I needed "a foot in the door".... Sadly this means working for a smaller independent company...
Ive heard all the stories about people etc. at emerald, but i would get 6 months under your belt then try banging on the door of the majors up north i.e. MYT/AMM/DUO/BACX etc..
Best of luck..
p.s. one piece of advise, if you go to emerald - remember the industry is very small and it is best not to get a bad name try and get to know as many people as you can...
Cambell83 - When I joined airline ops 9 years ago, I needed "a foot in the door".... Sadly this means working for a smaller independent company...
Ive heard all the stories about people etc. at emerald, but i would get 6 months under your belt then try banging on the door of the majors up north i.e. MYT/AMM/DUO/BACX etc..
Best of luck..
p.s. one piece of advise, if you go to emerald - remember the industry is very small and it is best not to get a bad name try and get to know as many people as you can...
