Alright cheers. Can we use a calculator by the way?

historyftw,

How relevant was the preparation material they sent us, was there alot of stuff on that they tested you on?

Greyb33

It wouldn't be fair on the other candidates to reveal anymore than what you have been given. How often do you go in for a test having known the questions before? Maybe sounding to some extent selfish but you already have an advantage of extra days to prepare and since essentially I am in competition with you /all of the other candidates I am not going to give you some inside information. Would find it strange/ slightly unfair if anyone did.

Besides they explain on the day theres no point cheating your way through the test having known the questions etc... because you'll be wasting both yours and their time at FTE when you struggle with all the exams that they thought you would be able to pass.

I don't think anyone was asking for the questions, just whether they are covered in the material which is fair enough! Greyb33 from what I remember last time the maths was pretty well covered but there was more physics than I expected, this was a while ago though so could be a different story this time around. Anyone else for Tuesday? :)

I disagree completely. At the top of the document it says this information is a guide only further study may be required - or words to that effect. That's the information I got why should any else be privy to more information. If I was to say only information in the document is required then you'll have an edge as you can devote 100% of your time to those 20or so pages likewise if I said more was required you have an advantage in knowing so and can use your time accordingly.

I don't think it's 'fair enough' to give someone else a competitive edge in what essentially is a competition at this stage. Info, no matter how small, is power. I don't blame anyone for asking I would do the same anything helps to gain an edge.

teawhite and none,

I am also down for Tuesday morning thanks for the advice, where abouts are you staying??

Greyb33

I only found out yesterday afternoon so I'm just trying to sort out travel/accommodation, looks like the holiday inn! What about you? I'm stressing, it's been so long since I've done any of this maths and physics - looks like I'm back to the days of last minute cramming :eek: lol.

haha I know that feeling I did Physics at Alevel, but somehow found myself having to go back over how to do long division!! Managed to get a Travel lodge for £35 about 4 miles from the place. Use this KO60131G discount code on travel lodge wesbite and you give £15 off.

Greyb33

Driving over i think only four miles from the travel lodge.

Hi guys,

I completed the assessment day on Friday afternoon after staying overnight in Peterborough.

I've got no advice for the assesments themeselves but just as a general note - there are facilities for food and drink on site (a Costa Coffee and a cafeteria style area) so make sure you take some money with you as it is a long day otherwise!

Good luck to all.

Richw626

Richard: Good to see you made it back to Cornwall ok! Please post on here if you make it through to S4!

There is not a huge team of people handling the applications like may happen at other large training companies, so writing back to everyone may have been difficult to administer. FTE believe it is the largest response ever to an advert.

historyftw,

A bit of advice mate before you throw your, non-career as of yet, down the toilet. Airlines want team players, it is HUGE, as you may or may not find out with the endless crm courses one does with an airline.

Your posts smack of a one man band and your 'info is power' quote is bullsh!t. Work with your colleagues not against them otherwise you'll be washed out before you know what's hit you. I've been flying in the airlines for 11 years now, and if I can spot you, then you can be damn sure the trainers will.

Just a helping hand for you mate. Take it or leave it.

dustyprops - Now I have a lot of respect for your 11year + career. However, I think you totally miss understand where I am coming from. I am 100% a team player. I've played sports, coached sport etc... thats all a team game. I've been in situations where I've had to work as a team or could end up dead. At my current place of work if I wasn't a team player I'd be out the door pretty quickly.

What I fail to see, in regards to this application, is what team am i in at the moment?

"FTE believe it is the largest response ever to an advert." - So I know that I face a lot of competition? So a team player would give away what was on the paper to those being interviewed at a later date? At this stage surely knowledge is power. I could quite easily tell everyone that X Y was on the paper, Z was not. All the other candidates interviewed so far could do that. Just doesn't make sense AT THIS STAGE to be helping each other as we are all competing for a very small number of places.

I see it as the qualifications to make the relay team. I am in competition with everyone until I've made the team. When I'm on the team i'll do anything to help.

You say about the endless CRM courses well the people on them with you I'm sure are your "team mates" at this stage I have no team mates so I don't understand where your coming from?

"Work with your colleagues not against them otherwise you'll be washed out before you know what's hit you" - They are not my colleagues YET. When/ if they are my colleagues I'll treat them as I have any other member of a team which I've been on. With respect, help them if they need help, ask them for help if I need it etc.. et...

Also, as aforementioned at the assessment centre we were told not to take wild guesses at answers in the hope of fluking the exam as they use this as a base of knowledge anda aptitude. If they think you have got 100% on the exam and take you to Jerez and find out you could only manage 20% and fail. Then you have wasted ALOT of money and they have given a place to someone not deserving it. All in all not a good situation. I liken this to me giving any tips away as to the assessment day.

Now sporting metaphors may not be your thing but that is an easy example to use. I've captained teams, coached teams and been a member of teams. If I was to choose to work on my own or in a team it would be the later. Any member of teams I've been on would (hopefully!) tell you what a team player I am and I'm proud of this.

My point being is that I am a team player. I will work with my colleagues. However, I haven't got any colleagues yet. If I was to help people now I would end up with the wrong colleagues and it would be unfair to those that were deserving. And in doing that I am not being much of a team player am i?


Just to clarify all of the above seems like I have a massive ego. For what its worth those on my assessment day were very able and I'm sure all the others are to. Whilst I would love to get on a scheme like this I realise my chances are slim and that it may be viewed that other candidates are better. Don't buy a ticket don't win the raffle! But I'd like to stress at no point do I believe I am not a team player.

To be honest, its pretty simple really; If you do not want to discuss the content of the tests, don't. No need to clog up the thread with rants or ego-boosting posts.

Gladly!

Just incase no one asked the question. I asked as I left on Friday when the earliest we could expect to hear back was. Basically the earliest will be this Friday but likely to be some point next week. I didn't quite follow everything that was said but once the reports are written by Lisa and Ally then it is out of there hands when we hear about the next stage.

All the notes and results have to be organised, sent to the head of training in Jerez, then a shortlist sent to the airline, who will then invite people, so it might be pretty tight again time-wise for the next stage too. But everyone will hear either way this time :)

historyftw,

Like I said, it's friendly advice that you can take or leave. Don't be the one that stands out for the wrong reason, and yes they are most certainly your colleagues, you all share a common goal. The sooner you get onboard with that the better.

Anyway, good luck with it, see you on the line.

Dustyprops - Fair enough I appreciate the advice! Have to agree to disagree. I just don't see how helping someone with an exam is of beneficial to anyone at this stage. We share a common goal yes, but that doesn't make us colleagues until we are past the finish line. I'll leave it there for now. I understand where your coming from through in terms of standing out for the wrong reasons hopefully I didn't at interview and as people have said a forum as well known as this one there is always someone watching!

Just to say, advice like PGSingularity has given is fair enough as I didn't fully understand when they explained how long it would take to hear back.

i have to agree with history on this one. i got knocked out already but at the end of the day everyones compitition until such times as you are through with a place. why put yourself at a disadvantage by letting others know. would you feel great when the guy you told the questions scores higher and puts you out????? common sense

Yes, I have to agree with historyftw as well.

There is competition for these placements, and it is generally unhelpful to the assessors if the details employed in the process are disseminated on internet bulletin boards. Obviously it is accepted that over a period of time the specific assessment details will need to be modified to maintain the effectiveness of what they are trying to achieve, however it is quite normal for people attending an assessment to be asked not to pass on the specific details to others who may be attending (or hoping to attend) later.

Teamwork is an intrinsic part of the job, and is assessed as part of these programmes by virtue of what is contained in the programme. It should also be remembered that confidentiality is also a part of the job and despite the realities of these things, is something that the assesors would hope the attendees would maintain.

It is human nature that candidates would want to arm themselves with as much advance information and possible advantage as possible, and everybody accepts that. However those charged with making the assessments want (as much as possible) to see the real individual before them rather than a cribbed interpretation of a former applicant.

So nothing wrong with the question being asked, but also nothing wrong with the answer that was given either. Passing on the specific details has nothing whatsoever to do with teamwork, nor is it what the assessors would hope to see (even though that is likely to happen over time,) and in a competitive process it hands a potential advantage to those with whom you are competing.

Candidates for these positions are not "colleagues" or "team mates" save as to specific situations where that type of co-operation is being assessed through role play scenarios or interview.

Are a lot of you still waiting to hear back

i work in thomascook and im getting more and more frustrated with the no replies now

sent an email on the 26th, and she read the email this morning and AGAIN decided not to reply

now im not trying to sound superior to all of you... but as im internal and work in the company i wudnt of expecte to be ignored 3 times now.

i got the stage 2 questions when i was on holiday, i sent an email straight back off my phone asking if i could complete them on my return, received no response, sent another email...no response...sent my answers back and said is this still ok...no reply...sent an email asking for an update...no reply!

argh!

Do you seriously wonder why they may be ignoring you?

I'd start by fixing your keyboard as I think the 'shift' key, apostrophe key, letters d and o appear not to be working.

I know this is a forum, but if you want to be taken seriously here or in the airlines, I'd just take a few minutes to review your work.

Sorry, but it just irritates me. The team at TCX are probably busy working on those for the next round and the sad truth is that they won't be overly concerned spending days ensuring that those that didn't make stages 2 or 3 are treated with special gloves.

Please wake up to the word 'commercial'. Like any airline they are a business. When you understand that, then you'll understand why they may not respond in a hurry. What is their commercial interest in writing to each applicant explaining why they didn't get to the x, y or z stage?

I see you point colourblindgeek, and in some ways I agree - but I also agree with those that did not receive any communication after Stage 2.

Many companies I have applied to (and worked for) such as Exxon, BP, British Airways and others will always let candidates know whether they have progressed to the next stage or not - though they may not always give a reason (and that I can completely understand!)

I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to have expected at least a BCC email with "Thanks but no thanks ..." or maybe just a disclaimer to all applicants, advising them that no response means the same. All the companies I have worked for or applied to, do this.

Can understand that TCX were most probably inundated with responses - perhaps more than they could reasonably process with the resources they had available.

I didn't get an invite to Stage 2 - fair enough, and best of luck to those still in the game. :ok:

Are a lot of you still waiting to hear back

i work in thomascook and im getting more and more frustrated with the no replies now

sent an email on the 26th, and she read the email this morning and AGAIN decided not to reply

now im not trying to sound superior to all of you... but as im internal and work in the company i wudnt of expecte to be ignored 3 times now.

i got the stage 2 questions when i was on holiday, i sent an email straight back off my phone asking if i could complete them on my return, received no response, sent another email...no response...sent my answers back and said is this still ok...no reply...sent an email asking for an update...no reply!

argh!

If i was internal, i would have shown my communication skills and picked up the phone, not added to the backlog of mail the admin team are no doubt inundated with... Just because someone opened the mail, does not mean an immediate response is required, in fact the reason your mail was probably opened is because it looked like an internal communication and perhaps part of BAU.

You have likely been moved to an appropriate folder and will be dealt with according to the order of priority, thats what I would have done anyway.

EGNH19 - I find your post ruder than any of the others. I have found that a lot of companies never reply to job applications and understandably due to the amount of applicants they must have in the current economic climate. I do find this some what annoying and can understand where people might get angry. However, to call them 'ars..oles' maybe a bit too far. There is a more tactful way to say 'well actually I got a reply'...

Thats by the by I am posting to ask if anyone has heard back about Stage 4 yet... If EGNH19 has got his reply about stage 3 they must be starting to process the applications. So good luck to everyone and if anyone hears back about Stage 4 yet please post on here! I will do the same. Good luck to everyone now that we have done all we can just have to wait and hear!

Historyftw x

Hi,

My status was updated today and i received a reply from TCX which explained they didn't progress my application.

So they answer.

Thomas1984 - Do you mind if I ask what stage you did reach?

Well done Richard! Bet it was the crisps and drink you brought for Lisa! Betting if you heard today everyone else did! I'll wait for my polite rejection email. Not too fussed though don't buy a ticket don't win the raffle! Good luck for stage 4!

Well done guys! Best of luck

Well dine I imagine if you got an answer phone message it was positive what time did she leave it? What interview session where you in chromeo? what time did she leave the message?

I'll expect all the phone calls were made today and they'll send out let down emails end of the week

I reached phase 2 (with questionnaire) but not phase 3.

Interview with Thomas Cook's Chief Pilot
 

Have a listen to this podcast interview with Paul Hutchings, Chief Pilot at Thomas Cook. An interesting discussion about what they look for in new pilots and a brief overview of the cadet training scheme.
www.flyingpodcast.co.uk

Hi,

Didn't make it to stage 3 here but just wondering how the guys/girls that did are getting on? Anybody on here still involved with this scheme?

H.

I got to stage 3 but was not selected to stage 4. Stage 3 consisted in a pilot aptitude test, an interview and a physical/maths/reasoning test in Peterborough.
From what I have heard, only 8 cadets where eventually selected to work for TCX after stage 4. We were approximately 2500 to attend the selection at the first stage. :8


No regrets.

In the last TCX flight ops newsletter published a couple of weeks ago, the 8 successful candidates were named and are starting at Jerez on November 12th. Congratulations to them, and comiserations to those who didn't make it....

The scheme is to be run again next year, and may even ramp up to several intakes a year.

Flaperon, thanks for the update. Encouraging to hear the scheme will run again.

does anyone know if the course has started? and are they doing some sort of blog on it?

It started in November.

Blog is here

Cadet Pilots