aviationluver

I interviewed with Cathay over 10 years ago. Back then an initial written test and one-on-one interview took place in NYC. Then, a few weeks later, I did the complete interview in HK. Unfortunately, I didn't get hired.

I might be interviewing in a few months. The Cathay recruiter told me over the phone that the interview process has changed.

Now, there is no pre-interview. Just a flight to HK and the first order of business is sim eval in the B747-400. If you do well on the sim eval, then medical and group exercise and one-on-one. Is this correct?

Can anyone give me more information? Thanks.

Brown Nose

I believe the interview has changed.

Now they ask a few simple questions;

Have you got 2 arms and 2 legs?
Have you got a pulse?
Are you willing to sign a Sh!t contract?

Answer these correctly and you in!

Basil

BN, stick with the day job; stand-up is not for you

aviationluver

BN, do you work for Cathay?

broadband circuit

Either he works for Cathay or he's made a VERY lucky guess at the process.

Here's a precis of the process sourced from someone working for Cathay:

Have you got 2 arms and 2 legs?
Have you got a pulse?
Are you willing to sign a Sh!t contract?

Answer these correctly and you're in!

LongTimeInCX

Hey Basil,
Well I thought BN was correct,(&funny!), and that is such a terrible shame that if it wasn't so true it would have been really funny.
As for the OP, if you're another 10 years down the track, hopefully having accrued more useful and relevant experience, it begs the question why you'd now wish to come to a place where T&C's are in constant decline, and to live in a place where the pollution is woeful.
That said, the other crew we work with are almost always great people to be with, and for me, along with payday are the only 2 things that keep me here, and that's only for another 6-12 months.
Try the other CX forum on the wannabes section, as there's normally a lot of keen minded individuals who disperse the latest gen on their interview and selection process there.
Good luck, but due diligence is the key with this circus.
You may be having to deal with people who can compare an $8bn fuel hedging loss (by faceless individuals who still remain unaccountable) with a pilots hard landing. Unf@kn believable!

Will fly for Cash

If you interviewed in NYC 10 years ago, then presumably you are a US citizen? If so, considering the giant hiring wave and upswing in contracts in the USA, why even consider CX?

pfvspnf

Because 120k USD a year is better than 40k USD a year

pfvspnf

Yup HK sucks your lives are so miserable , even the constant sand and dust and lack of laws in the Middle East is better than the SAR. Nobody should move to HK , nobody should even consider it. Continue at $40k a year in the US. You are far better off.

Basil

ISTR that Cathay requires a high degree of competence, esp when being dicked around.
That being the case, why don't those competent but disaffected pilots who post on here leave and be welcomed in the ME or other parts?

McNugget

Quite.....

JayTee777300

Dear Aviationluver & pfvspnf et al,

Whilst BN's message was delivered with a certain amount of humor and derision please believe that there is a msg in there.

We are only trying to help. I am quite surprised when guys come on here trying to help out or share info only to be shot down by guys who have never spent a day in the company yet feel a need to defend a job they've never had... Telling the guys who are actually here that they have it wrong.

The company is full of young guys who have ignored this message, yet almost immediately after arriving have discovered they can't afford to live here, sending sorrowful letters to the president of the AOA claiming extreme hardship, and begging/threatening the union membership to role their package into contact compliance. Undoubtedly many of these guys came on here and ignored these posts.

Dear Aviationluver... I went through my recruiting roughly the same time as you went through last time. Please believe me when I say that the company, the morale, the lifestyle and roster, the benefits and the remuneration package (especially out of HK) are significantly less than what you would have seen last time around. If you are joining direct into a base... Maybe a different story...

For anybody else reading this please realise I am just trying to help. No need to tell me I'm wrong... Because I'm here. No need to justify your decision to me... That's yours to make... I can't stop you. When you ask why I don't go to the ME... It's because I joined on a different package... I personally would not have uprooted my family to come to HK to join on yours.
But please don't read this msg and then sit beside me on the flight deck in 2yrs and complain that the union needs to fix your package because you didn't realise you couldn't afford to live in HK. The information is here... Don't get locked into only one outcome and disregard good advice simply because it doesn't match the outcome you were looking for. You wouldn't do that in an aircraft would you?

Good luck with the interview aviationluver... Sorry I don't have updated info for you... The last time I set foot in recruiting finding out info for my friends was about 2009... When they reduced all the packages and my friends all withdrew their apps.

McNugget

What's wrong in trying to better your conditions? You seem to be taking it all a bit personally, JT. It isn't. It's just the game.

I will get what I can, though I will not sell the other demographics AOA out to do so.

If I see something better, I will go for that.

That's the way the world works nowadays.

swh

In the US there the Pilot Records Improvement Act mandates checks a number of federal databases and requires previous carriers to provide records.

If you work for an overseas airline, those FAA requirements need not be complied with, so if you had a DUI on the federal database, it might disqualify you from a job in the US, but not in HKG. Meanwhile while you work for an overseas airline, the time goes on and your old FAA get expunged after a period of time and are no longer reported under a Pilot Records Improvement Act process.

McNugget

To my knowledge, PRIA is for checkride records. It came into being after a Colgan skipper with literally a dozen checkride failures stalled a Dash 8 into some houses in upstate New York.

You still need to get an FBI check done, and list any conviction, expunged or otherwise. They still show on an FBI check, but show as expunged.

swh

The National Driver Registry and National Crime Information Center are also compared by the FAA every time you do a medical (which asks about your administrative actions or convictions on your driving record) it will show the discrepancy between medical questions and convictions of misdemeanors and felonies. Pilots who fail to declare everything on the medical are subject to enforcement by the FAA which stay on record for 5 years.

Work for an overseas airline for 5 years and then you have a clean FAA record.

JayTee777300

Agreed. Absolutely nothing wrong with bettering your conditions... But don't come here expecting to do so... And certainly don't come here pretending you didn't know and pressuring your colleagues to suffer so they can help you out.

As for taking it personally... I guess it kinda gets a bit personal when you commit your career, your family, and your whole life to a company.
A job in your home country... Sure... Give it a whirl, move on if you don't like it. But moving to HK. Its not a simple or cheap process, picking up family and moving to another country. Kids give up school, family and friends. Partners giving up jobs, family and friends. Try building a life for you and your family there when you've always got 1 foot out the door. Not really that much of a fun game I've gotta say.

Sure... It might be easy if you are single and don't plan on having family here... But some us have other people to think about, so we aren't as foot loose and fancy free.

mngmt mole

If you are single, you can take a job here and 'just' get by. You won't really save anything, but probably have a good time. If however you are married, or have ANY intention of establishing a real life, family, kids etc, coming here WILL most likely prove the worst decision you ever make. Your wife WILL be miserable, your kids insecure and unhappy. Don't say you haven't been warned.

McNugget

You may have a clean FAA record, so discrepancies when you do your medical may not be found, but you won't have a clean FBI record, and you never will. That's the one you need initially for employment.

People get turfed out regularly from new-hire classes for failing to disclose convictions from the dim & distant past. These are the ones brought up by the company mandated FBI checks, not discrepancies on the FAA database. At that point, your career (at least in the US) is over.

Equally, plenty of folk have got hired while being honest and listing DUIs etc from the past.

If they find the skeleton, you've had it.

McNugget

I didn't come here expecting to better my conditions. That would have been equally out of sync with the rest of the industry. I knew exactly what I signed up for, and I've pressured nobody. While I'd like to see various improvements in my contract, I'm here voluntarily.

I completely understand your point about the gravity of moving family to the other side of the world. I agree entirely. However, if you make the decision to come, then you take the territory therein. It's not for the feint of heart, and doesn't work for many. It's also a massive ordeal to move back again. However, if you want out, then go. Nothing wrong with that. If you view that as not an option, then effectively you're not here voluntarily. What's the alternative?