Originally Posted by
flensr
Sorry to dispute your experience but that just about summarizes my Delta interview... Hey lets spend 20 minutes looking at all your high school and college transcripts except your 3.87 GPA for your MBA because that was correspondence and actually counts against you. Hmm you also say that you might have failed a daily sortie in military UPT but don't have your UPT gradebook to prove it? That's a red flag for sure, there's the door don't come back.
Seriously. 2 topics in the interview, my high school grades and the fact that I honestly stated that while I never failed any checkride of any sort, I probably failed *something* in UPT but don't have my gradebook for details. 1 year re-apply, which for an ex-USAF fighter pilot who was a stan-eval chief means don't come back.
They've got a hiring system that works for them, and it's got a few landmines in there. Step on one and you don't need to reapply. I've got a bunch of friends at Delta who say it's a great place to work but the interview team was clearly triggered by my high school grades before I walked into the room and it went downhill from there. They didn't ask a single question about my flying experience. Not one. The hardball question - "So, what do you think about education NOW?"
Spirit and SWA interviews were polar opposites of Delta. Half an hour chatting about flying, then go over the logbook to find some more flying stories to chat about. When can you start? Totally different approach.
I had a 2.7 college GPA (in philosophy, minor in geology) and 3.8 high school GPA and was somehow the first person hired at Delta post 2001. White dude and civilian with a retired regular line pilot recommendation. Every one of those so called preferred people on here got hired after me.
The interview looks a lot at how you react to things. Get defensive and close up? You're not gonna do well. They are looking a tremendous amount at how you arrive at the answers. I noticed they were not reacting favorably to my FE exam wondering if FDX was a priority (it was) and addressed that in their "anything to add?" at the end. I could have said nothing more, or addressed it on the nose and owned it. It was a bit of a Will Ferrell moment in old school, but I told them yep and laid it all out. I made my case very clear, which that communication method (while recognizing the audience) has also paid off in spades in my 12 years at DL.