We used to have a 7 min CRM exercise in front of a paper tiger with a moving MFD for location. 2 interviewers would sit in and be your FO/jumpseater. You had a scenario and had 7 min to figure it out.

Fairly easy for those in a 121 background. In my interview group we had a MIL C-17 guy. His scenario was a pax having a heart attack at FL370. He decided he was gonna spiral down to the airport he was directly above and land. Made that decision in about 20 sec. No input from anyone…”here’s what we’re gonna do”. Interviewers asked if he wanted to look at alternates, etc. “Nope”. Didn’t get hired.

During training we had MIL guys asking how to commute, pack for a 4 day, etc. I showed up for IOE and the CKA takes a look at my beat up bag and says, “oh thank god, you’re a regional guy, yeah?” I lol’d.

121 isn’t hard. It’s just different. Just like if you were using MIL terms to talk about a bombing run or aerial refueling or your training…I’d have a deer in the headlights look. Just use the resources given, be open to direction without taking it the wrong way, and have a good attitude….that’s all they’re looking for. You can train a monkey to fly a 737…you can’t train attitude.