The interview was over before it began. I’d failed the personality tests a week before the interview (the interview had been scheduled before the personality tests), but they brought me in anyway and didn’t tell me there was a problem until the interview portion in the afternoon. That probably explains why in the morning they just took the paperwork without looking at it and didn’t take fingerprints. The gentleman who called to schedule the interview said the paperwork would take about a half an hour. For me it took less than five minutes.
The sim was in the morning, then I was released for a couple hours before the interview in the afternoon. I returned early, and they finally came to get me a half hour or so late. When they brought me in, they told me I‘d failed the personality test but that they’d still allowed me come in for the experience--as if they were doing me a favor. Then they proceeded to humiliate me. It was pretty obvious they hadn’t seriously looked at my application. They cut me off in one question and later asked a follow up question that showed they weren’t listening to my answer. 5000+ hours in a C-130 wasn’t any good: I needed a job with a regional to get jet time. They assumed I’d flown the T-6 and the Kingair in training when I’d flown the T-37 and T-1, which was shown in the application. They also didn’t like my technical background.
I was pretty flustered after they told me they wouldn’t have brought me in except that they’d already scheduled the interview. From what they said, I guess the number of good recommendations I had pulled a trigger of some sort, and someone screwed up by calling me early. In hindsight, I suppose it could have been some kind of game. I’d heard about the hostile interview and the disinterested interview, but I’d also heard UPS interviews were not like that anymore. This was both hostile and disinterested. Or maybe patronizing would be a better description. I have to admit I’d probably have had a hard time with this type of interview strategy even if I’d been expecting it; as it was, my performance was an unmitigated disaster.
My experience seems very odd in the context of everything I’d heard. It was clear that they had no intention of hiring me from the start, and it seems strange that a major company would waste its time like that. I don’t know why they’d do what they did except that I’m a member of an “under-represented” group; maybe they needed to make some quota for the types of people they interview.
The sim was in an MD-11 trainer with no-motion. The sim profile was straightforward, but the machine itself was tough. It was hard to trim and get stable. Here are the questions I remember:
Who sent in recommendations for me?
Tell them what I knew about UPS (Emphasis on the air operations; they didn’t care about the history or the rest of the company.)
Tell them about myself.
Qualities of a good captain.
Three qualities that make me a good pilot.
Where have I applied; where will I apply?
Did I think I’d have a problem adapting to a jet?
Tell them about an emergency I had.
Something about decisions.
Tell them about a conflict I had.