British Airways DEP Selection - THE lowdown Part 1

[rhythm method]

Ham phisted, no not bitter. Just hate smugness, and people who are unwilling to help fellow professionals. Perhaps I'm a tad old fashioned... perhaps you had had a bad day?

As scroggs pointed out, the posting was merged from another part of pprune, so... more haste less speed? I rest my case.

from one of your other posts..

I have found pilots, as a breed, exceptionally helpful and I have been mentored and coached all the way through from PPL to Airbus type-rating

[VVI]

Meeting before the Interview

Hello to all!
If it is in any interest to meet up for the candidates going to the first Interview of BA on the 18th of October I suggest meeting close to Bath Rd. You name the address, place and time, if possible in the afternoon of the 17th….
All the best,
VVI

[120class]

Copied from a different thread.

Sim Test was on the 747-400. The sim was run by a Captain and SFO although not in our case from the 747 Fleet. In general the conduct was very friendly and straightforward.

Briefing - Covered basic aircraft systems, radios, navaids and autopilot use (not A/T). The brief also covered what was and was not being assessed (landing etc). Issued jetplans, weather & approach plates for the first leg;we were then allowed about 15 mins to plan the sortie choosing suitable divs etc.
Before each leg the respective PF was given an unassessed take-off, approach and landing prior to the Test.
Profile - Brussels to Heathrow (for me as PNF) followed by a break during which we recieved the next leg details which was Heathrow to Stansted as PF. We were expected to follow the relevent SID & STAR with of course timely interjections by ATC. We did not get a diversion on either leg. We had a few questions such as being asked to calculate ETAs etc.

At the end, we asked to debrief ourselves on the good and bad points. All in all the test took about 6 hours including briefs, breaks & chat.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

[DownloadDog]

Did the selection yesterday, nothing major has changed. Started off with being interviewed by the pilot, his first question was 'Why do you want to work for BA?'. Then went on to ask what Willie Walsh would be sat in his office worrying about. The rest of the questions were from previous threads. When they switched at half time to the HR person the tact changed with a real emphasis on touchy-feely questions. Was asked about when I had to implement a decision that the team didn't like and was then asked 5 other questions about that example. Same deal with the next question about when a team had broken down and what I did about it.

The Andrea Shavicks book really helped me for the Verbal Reasoning test.

The capacity test was a complete nightmare - probably blew it.

Anyone know how long you can be expected to wait?

[sarmonkey]

Anything from a few hours (in some cases on this thread) to 10 days (mine)! To reiterate the advice I was given on this very forum, assume nothing until you hear otherwise - try and forget about it, don't stew, maybe alleviate the boredom by applying for a few other jobs. It was worth it in my case!

[Baque Flip]

Okay chaps, just completed the selection day yesturday...and have finally collected my thoughts:

Extra interview questions - in no particular order (brain still spinning!):

- Give an example of when you motivated your team.
- In your current job, what really frustrates you? How do you deal with it?
- Would it annoy your if your 'team' didn't agree with one of your decisions?
- What problems (challenges) do you think you will face when you join BA?
- What has been your greatest challenge?
- Give an example of when you faced a crisis.
- Give an example of when you had to make a quick/ snap decision.
- What are the problems facing BA and where do you think they are going/ should be looking in the future?
- What have you got to offer BA?
- If you were my FO, how would I know that you were working at your max capacity? How would I know that you were under pressure? How do you deal with it?
- What are the challenges with dealing with cultural diversity? How would you deal with them?
- Give an example of when you made a big change - how did you cope?
- Give an example of when you deligated.
- Give an example of when you delivered sensitive information to 'your' team.
- How would you be able to improve customer service?

As you can see, they were 'both' really trying to get inside my head and find out what makes me tick. Apart from 'Why do you want to join BA, and define CRM, all my questions were as above.

We were briefed about no more 777 slots - only Airbus and 757/ 767 (DEP's likely go to LHR first), no sim slots till Nov, no jobs till mar '07 and finally, only 50-80 slots (total) available for '07!!

Hope this helps? Enjoy!!!!!

[Bertram37]

I have a selection upcoming at BA and am looking for someone(s) that I can form a study group with to prep for the process. It has always been my experience that you get much further working as a group than preparing for something solo. I already have some good prep material and am looking forward to getting things moving. Please PM me if this interests you.

[Bertram37]

BA Pilot Maths Test

I am likely to sit this at some point but no call up as yet so I do not have access to the materials BA send out. However I do have some quite comprehensive resources for other aspects of the selection - including verbal. Some people have made the comment that these materials are very good.

I am looking to get together with some others who may have a BA selection on horizon to join forces and share resources/materials. So if you think the team beats the individual please send me a PM.

[Tucker737800]

British Airways Recruitment

Dear All,

New to the site so hope I'm in the right area. Has anyone successfully completed the BA interview & sim assessment recently? Would really appreciate some info as am hoping to apply when they advertise again. Thanks in advance.

[walkertonio]

British Airways application form

Hi,
I'm currently filling my application form on BA website, and as I am not a UK CAA issued ATPL, I sometimes have difficulties to understand some words
What is performance A ?
What does this question mean: Do you have a MCC certificate or exemption?
I'm type rated on A320 so I have an MCC, is my licence a certificate for a MCC ?
Many thanks for your help. Bye

[Artificial Horizon]

First of all, good luck with the application. If you have a JAR CPL or ATPL with an A320 rating then that will mean that you have an MCC rating. Your licence will be evidence of this. Performance A was a subject that used to be required for the issue of an old British CPL, the new JAR Performance exam includes the requirement for Performance A, so once again if you have a JAR licence then you can answer 'yes' to this. Once again good luck.

Cheers

[walkertonio]

thanks a lot

[picton]

How do you access the BA application form? I thought it was currently closed for DEP ?

[StudentInDebt]

Open again for A320-series rated pilots.

[jet_jockey]

747 or BAC1-11

I was just wondering if the peeps who sat the assessments last Oct applied for DEP 747 crew? I'm just trying to gauge if the next round of sim checks for the DEP A320 will be in the 747 sim or the BAC1-11?

If anyone could let me know that would be great

[sarmonkey]

I did the sim in Oct and will be starting on the A320 in a couple of months. All the sim assessments are now done on a 747 sim.

[MorningGlory]

DEP started again..

[flying_lawnmower]

Hi,
Sent in my application again for Ba about a week ago. Anyone heard anything yet regarding interviews? Any idea how long it will be until they start to send out interview dates?

Second time lucky... I hope, wnt this job soooo much

FL

[MrBernoulli]

You need to be aware that BA is only expecting to recruit about 80 pilots this year, which is down on the previous couple of years, and then "vast majority" of places offered will be in shorthaul.

[Elixir]

For the DEP application currently need 1000 hours multi crew - anyone any ideas if we can use projected hours (after 3 months notice period) or if this requirement is likely to drop?

Thanks E