You don't need RST for AA, as AA does not have a knowledge test. There is somewhat of a cognitive test at AA, but it's nothing like the DL/FX test that RST preps you for.

 

Thank you flydc, appreciate the info. I was just wondering what RST stood for.

 

Ready Set Takeoff.

 

For what it’s worth I used ECIC and RST for my interviews at FedEx and Delta but wasn’t successful. I believe I failed the panel at both interviews. I found both to be extremely stressful events and high threat situations where they are looking for you to fail. Compare that to AA which was very welcoming and a pleasant experience. I felt valued, respected, and wanted. I still had to prove myself but it seemed like everyone is rooting for you to succeed.

Day 1 of the AA interview I looked at some test gouge for 30 minutes the morning of the testing and that’s it. You can’t really prepare for the tests so I didn’t try to overthink it. I just wanted a heads up of what I was going to be doing that day. The PowerPoints that I received from a friend were accurate and informative but didn’t help with the testing. Day 2 was great. I enjoyed speaking with everyone I met. They were all very friendly and I felt the process was mostly about getting to know me and whether they wanted to fly with me. I never felt like I was in the hot seat. I prepared with the aviation interviews website gouge and simply went over stories from my career to answer the questions. The biggest difference in interviews aside from how they treated me was that AA provides a pen and paper during the panel. Use it. I wrote down the question and bullet points for what I wanted to say before talking. This made it much easier for me to answer questions since I didn’t have to do this in my head. Then I’d occasionally glance at my notes while talking to make sure I hit the points I wanted. This was a huge help for staying on message and not putting my foot in my mouth. I spent $20 on prep fees for the gouge and landed the job of my dreams.

 

Thank you redbaronahp, I appreciate all the info, congratulations on your success. Just out of curiosity did you use what you learned from Emerald Coast for the video portion?

 

Are they really that much different?

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Another nod for ECIC. Used them for interviews with DAL, AAL and FDX. CJOs from the first two, awaiting the third.

Nothing cosmic about the framework ECIC teaches (the owner will tell you that) BUT they were absolutely invaluable in helping me structure my responses instead of just babbling. Money well spent, IMO. No matter what, be yourself and do not give canned responses. Every company I interviewed with stressed how important getting to know me was in the hiring decision. Canned answers undermine that objective and sets off warning alarms with your interviewers.

As previously mentioned, the Video questions are changing. They are still pretty easy, however. Use all of the time you are given to prepare, smile as you are delivering your response and stop the recording when you are done to eliminate the awkward silence.

Zero need for RST for the AAL test. In fact, I recommend NOT prepping for it at all beyond having an idea of the setup. The test is designed to fluster you. You are being evaluated on resiliency. RST is an absolute must for the DAL and FDX JKT.

FM

 

Emerald Coast. Worth. Every. Penny.


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I won’t say ECIC didn’t help because I try to learn from all life experiences but having failed more than once helped me to actually understand what ECIC taught. When asked a question a different way than I prepared for I didn’t see in the moment that what they wanted wasn’t what they were asking. Example: What do you know about the history of this company isn’t tell us chronologically about the history of the company. Interview prep will tell you that but for me no matter how much I paid someone and prepped I didn’t feel the same in the moment and didn’t figure out how best to answer the question until after the fact. Being in real interviews helped me learn to manage the stress and taught me how to put my best foot forward.

My preparation was different though for AA. I was so worried about the tests at FedEx and Delta that I spent far more time on passing the tests than just practicing sitting and talking. I prepped for 10 hours just for the video interview at AA. I sat at my laptop talking and watching my body language, facial expressions, and tone of my voice. I also sent the videos to fellow pilots and tweaked my presentation. As I went through my career stories for AA I started seeing how I could use just a few good stories for other related questions. I didn’t understand that when prep companies said it. AA asked me about times I had received good and bad crew briefings. I used that question to tell my leadership story while also answering their question. I didn’t do that at other interviews.

Pilots are usually taught that in a checkride only to answer the question that is asked so I had to learn the hard way not to do that in an interview. ECIC will certainly tell you that if you want to pay for their service.

 

I didn't do any paid interview prep but my experience was similar to Red Baron. I used my laptop to video my responses and watch my body language. I went through my logbook and pulled out the various scenarios/events I had written down in it over time, from kicking passengers off to first week of CA seat to an engine failure. I didn't even use note cards I was too cheap to even buy those, I ripped up paper into squares and wrote down sample questions and randomized them.

Going into it I was fairly confident and had a good amount of stories that could work for most any type of question even if it wasn't exactly asked like the gauge said. I had a few that were similar but most were a little different.