Interview feedback
 

Lori -

There have been threads lately with people saying that they get the 'No Thank You' e-mail and others often ask "What went wrong?" Often the person thought the interview went well and technically they are well qualified.

It doesn't seem that the companies give any reason for their decision or constructive criticism to help the applicant, leaving open the possibility that the person will continue to have the same mistake on the resume or continue to present themselves poorly in the interview for instance.

Of course sometimes there are just better qualified applicants for the job and maybe in this case the standard 'No Thank You' letter is appropriate.

Do prospective employers ever give some constructive criticism to help job searchers?

USMCFLYR

I have had this happen to me and its very frustrating. I interviewed with a big regional back in March and was told on the spot that I had gotten the job and done well on the whole interview. I was told that I would receive a call in a week or two with a class date. Two days later I got a letter in the mail saying try again in 6 months.

I called the company to ask if there had been a mistake and they got mad at me for even attempting to find out what happened. I was very polite and am at a loss for why they would act like this. Any thoughts?

I went through a very lengthy interview process at one company. After meeting 'the panel', the 30 or so interviewees were split into groups, and from there they were put through individual testing (wwyd, technical, etc), and then rejoined with the group for excersises in problem solving. It took all afternoon and into the evening. At the end of the process, I was interviewed one on one, this time by the department manager (guessing I had passed yet another screen-out element). He asked me if I had any further questions concerning the company or their expectations. I said I had one very important question. One that would make this entire experience worth while, no matter what the outcome was. He looked at me with a puzzled face. Really? What would that be? He asked.

I asked him for an honest and serious critique of my interview, and what pointers he could lend me for my next interview. I was quite serious, after seeing the lengths and depth to their interview process. He told me with as much sincerity, that if I was not offered the job, he would personally coach me for my next interview.

I got the job. He was off the hook.

I wish that there were more opportunities for feedback. Problem is there is such a wide variety of interview styles and what each are looking for as 'red flags', I wonder how effective it would be.

I guess if a guy totally stepped on his d!k, it'd be good to know. Otherwise, I figure each interview would give you a totally different laundry list of gripes to work on.

Any thoughts, you professional type HR folks?

Good luck to us all,

Ronin

Unfortunately 99% of the time you will not receive any feedback on your interview "performance." This isn't because the interviewers don't want to or don't like you, it's because they have been counseled by their legal department not to. If they were to provide any feedback that could be misconstrued it opens the company to lawsuit.

I know, I know....you're going to say that all you are looking for is some constructive criticism. But let's face it, interviews are emotionally charged and some, although asking for quality critique, just won't take it that way. It's hard to hear negatives, especially if you want the job.

The other side of the coin is that they can opt not to hire you simply because they don't like you - very real fact. But they can't exactly disclose that can they?

This is not anything unusual in any interview situation, pilot or not. So it isn't exclusively reserved for pilot interviews - it happens everywhere. It's just that pilot interviews are a pivotal point in your career (and few and far between) so this subject is magnified.

When you've gone through an interview that you thought went well reflect back on the interview - what questions did you feel uncomfortable with? This is probably where you fell down.

I hope this helps!!
Lori

Good Lord! 5:28am on a saturday? That's dedication!

My first aviation interview was with a European major coming out of flight school. After passing a rather intense day of psych evaluation I waited for over a year to do the face to face interview and sim ride. Things felt a bit so so and I was not surprised to receive a standard "thanks but no thanks" letter.
My dad recommended me to not accept such a non descriptive NO and I called one of the CP's. I was surprised to how friendly he was taking his time to dig out my file and look into it. Turned out I had passed the criteria for the FO part and I had all the qualities and experiences they were looking for, but I was just below the future captain criteria due to lack of leader ship skills. Coming out of flight school with very little experience it kind of surprised me to be rejecteed due to this since it would be at least 10 years before I would ever see the left seat.

A friend of mine interviewed with the same airline and brought up his lack of leadership skills himself, but that he was working on it. He was offered the job.

Lesson to be learned: Don't be afraid of bringing up your own flaws, as long as you let them know you are aware of them and trying to correct them.

This was 2001 and my friend was never called to class and they haven't hired a single guy since, so looking back I'm not sorry for not making it.

SS

Everything happens for a reason... I really believe that. Sounds like it's a good thing you didn't get that job!

Some good feedback from that employer - keep in mind that it was from a European employer and they have different laws than we do. Here in the US we are a lot more "sue happy" than other countries so employers protect themselves by not disclosing anything.

You do bring up a very good point - don't be afraid of your own weaknesses. Everybody's got them and many interviewers will ask you point blank "what are your weaknesses?" Hit it head-on - how do you strive to overcome those weaknesses?

Thanks swedespeed - great post!