For the most part it's spot on. The written job knowledge test is a tough one. I'm still not sure if I actually passed it. It seems there is always one really correct answer along with one mostly correct answer if that makes sense. One of my buddies said it best he stated"you'll never know how you did on any test you take at the interview you just hope for the best."

Watch the cog videos to learn the "rules." This will give you one more leg up when you actually take the cog test. The HR portion will be full of tough situational questions. Any interview prep should give you the tools on confronting and answering any situation they throw at you. More than everything be yourself and be honest. Everyone has some skeleton in their closet. Go in prepared to talk about it and state what you learned. These stories allow you to control the pace and how lively the interview is. This is not the time to be short and to the point. Expand on everything answer the question fully and they'll have no way of second guessing your decision.

 

I'm quite curious now that this has been brought up. Do you think negotiations could heavily impact the hiring rate? I realize anything is on the table when it comes to negotiations, but man I hope it doesn't slow things down too much.

Being on this side of the fence (eight years) and looking over trying to find a way in is hard enough. If anything slows it down again it's just that much more discouraging. I have all the apps filled out - I'm smarter than waging on one company, but Delta is #1 for me.

 

We would have to agree to anything that would significantly slow hiring, which, as gloopy has illustrated, isn't going to happen. There could be marginal changes one way or the other but it's not going to stop or even slow down hiring.

Delta isn't going to slow down hiring to punish pilots during negotiations; there are contractual minimums that must be observed and Delta likes...you know...making money, not canceling flights, running a functioning airline.

Bottom line, as an outsider looking in you don't need to worry about how contract negotiations will affect hiring. If you are interested in how negotiations are going or just enjoy witty banter I suggest following the "Latest and Greatest" and "C2015" threads.

 

I think we will hire agresively regardless. IMO the theoretical differential would likely be 100-200 a year max, and probably a bit lower anyway. Although its possible we could totally drop the ball. But to those people hoping to get a class date, that's certainlly a big deal. The biggest thing to watch out for, by far, is any attempt to redefine how block time is calculated.

That would effectively shave 5-10 minutes off of every single flight in the system. I'll let one of the Excel gurus plug and play those numbers but I'd suspect just that would be a couple hundred pilots worth. We could easily be hoodwinked by it and think we are getting more time/a raise by inking the waters with "door pay" but bottom line this will cost lots of jobs if we're dumb enough to fall for it.

Pay banding may or may not have much of an effect in reducing training churn; it depends on how its presented (and assuming we ratified it). Longer freezes would drive lower staffing needs for sure though. Larger "RJ's" and/or monitizing the AF/KLM scope grievance (assuming we push it that far) and a sudden change of heart from the Delta VP of West Coast Pilot Hiring (aka the Alaska CEO) could combine to effect a lot more than just a couple hundred pilots though.

My guess is we will see an outright assault on "productivity" that would drive the need for 500 or so less pilots but we will "compromise" and only give up a couple hundred or slightly less. I hope I'm wrong and we hold the line on everything when it comes to manning, as well as fix a few things that would drive the need for more manning (better vacation credit, scope recapture at ALL levels, increased long call, etc).

 

Oberon and gloopy,

Thanks for your replies. I Know what is done in negotiations is vital for all of us - me included when I get there. It's hard being on this side of the fence trying to figure out more of what I can do to be there, but ultimately when I'm there what happens in this next contract will affect us all. Thanks again.

 

Thx Lav, just studying and prepping.

 

With regard to the written is there anything you wish you studied more? From what I understand it's a huge test bank but just curious.

 

Knowledge test was hard! For me personally, there wasn't just one area I wish I would have studied more....it really encompasses everything (except weather). Of the 60 questions, I estimate 20 were from the gouge almost verbatim, 20 were close/same subject area, and the other 20 were elsewhere.

 

I agree that the knowledge test was hard. The good news is that I have never, ever heard of anyone not getting hired because they failed knowledge test.

All the failures I've ever heard of have been the panel interview, the cog test or the psych eval.

 

We had one fail the knowledge test in my group. There was a complete mix of responses during lunch with regards to what people saw on the test. Some saw up to half of their total questions from the gouge. While some saw none. My recommendation to people is study study guide from Delta and understand the concepts. If you see questions from the gouge, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise be ready to know the answer because you understand the topic or can deduce it. AK said the purpose of the test is to find out who really wants the job. He knows that the material on this test was learned and forgotten a long time ago. It is also to see if you can self study, as that is required for training. Again, I recommend going to the source publications and reading up on each of the bullets from the delta study guide. It is dated 2007, so the material has not changed. Some will say that is a complete waste of time because every question they got was from the gouge. However, some will say it saved them because none of the questions they were from the gouge.