daytonaflyer

I interviewed there a couple months ago. Here is my NetJets interview experience. Maybe this will give you an indication of what to expect.

I interviewed with around 2700+TT, 1300 turbine, 900 jet, prior 121 passenger and 135 cargo experience. I didn't have any turbine PIC. I am flying Lear 24s, 25s, and Falcon 20s in my current job. I also had an internal recommendation from one of the assistant chief pilots on the Citation X.

I was by far the least qualified person in my interview class! Even with well over 1000 turbine, I felt inexperienced compared to the other candidates.
The second least qualified person was either a 38 year old guy who just retired from the military after 20 years of service flying Gulfstreams for generals all over the world, or a 6000 hour female Dash-8 regional captain.
Everybody else had between 5000 and 9000 hours with a lot of jet PIC in my interview class.
My interview went well, I only missed two questions. My simulator went well too; even my sim partner who was PIC on a Falcon 20 with 8500+ hours said I flew the simulator better than he did.
Unfortunately I still didn't get the job. It's too bad since NetJets is what I have wanted to do for a couple years now. Some of the guys in my interview class that got hired didn't even really want the job...they were just looking for a better job until Southwest or FedEx called them.

I'm guessing that the few guys who got hired in the past without turbine time were hired before the word got out that NetJets was a good place to work. Now it's extremely competitive there. I know they prefer airline guys, they told me so. I also know they prefer passenger charter to cargo guys. It said right in a handout they gave me that "someone with 2000 hours flying passengers might be considered more experienced than someone with 5000 hours flying freight".

I hope this doesn't discourage you, but realize that you really need to have some passenger jet experience (preferably as PIC) to be competitive with all the competition at NetJets these days. The regionals suck, but NetJets prefers those guys. One of the interviewers told me 80% of their pilots are from the airlines. When I asked why they don't hire more 135 guys since they're used to the kind of flying, schedule, and airplanes that NetJets has, he replied: "Frankly, we don't think they can pass our groundschool".

FlyerJosh

No offense to any NJA pilots, but uhhh... anybody with half a brain and a pulse can pass ground school at FSI, provided that they are willing to put in one or two hours of effort outside of the school house each day.

Stratapilot

Wow Daytonaflyer! Thanks for the awesome info, that was a really great read. Don't worry, I've learned that one doesnt make it long in aviation if they get easily discouraged. For many people, its an uphill battle since logged hour 1, as it has been for me. People lucking out in this business are more the exception then the rule. Since I insure corporate aircraft as my day job, I have acess to TONS of part 91 and 135 businses out there. Example, I worked on a few aircraft that were coming off the Clay Lacy fleet over here at SMO yesterday. So networking opportunites are ample for me. Although I still really like Netjets for many reasons, I've learned to be patient, and wait until the time is right. Who knows, buy the time I'm ready to apply, the market might have changed in my favor, or not. But in any case, It's a goal, and they take time and persevereance(sp)

Best regards,

AP

dudemize

Sorry to hear it didn't work out this time, daytonaflyer. You seem like a good dude.

Keep at it!

Adolphus Coors

It has been a while since I interviewed, but I can tell you that 85% of my 2 on 1 interview was HR questions on customer service. I felt like they knew everyone there could fly, but they wanted people persons. Think of ways you can deliver 5 star service without compromising safety. You should also be aware that you have almost unlimited resources available to you and multiple ways to communicate from the cockpit. They want to see you are willing to do the dirty work any time you are on duty to give your customer the best experience possible. If you have ever had direct contact with customers in previous jobs figure out ways to highlight things you did to show you have good CS skills.

Huggy Bear

Do those mins put me in the need not apply category?

I have:
1700 TT
1400 PIC

I realize my time is low, but its almost all PIC and Multi-engine Jet. I flew FA-18s for most of the last 10 years. Are NetJets mins higher than the majors; I more than meet the mins for the majors.

daytonaflyer

Yes,
NetJets posted mins are 2500TT, 500 ME, 250 instrument (actual or simulated) no flight simulator.

They do not post a conversion factor for military guys on their website, so I'm guessing it's not allowed.

http://www.netjets.com/footer_conten...ers_pilots.asp

arjanssen

They do a .2x military factor. They asked for it when I put in my app.

dudemize

Straight from the auto response e-mail I received when I submitted my resume:

"Military Pilots may apply a 1.2 conversion factor to total military time
(TT * 1.2) to meet the 2500 minimum."

Based on that I think you'll need around 2100 TT before you meet the mins.

Huggy Bear

That's too bad since NJA sounds like a great place to work. I'm surprised the mins are so high, not just here, but for a lot of operations that fly business jets. It seems like the majors generally like military pilots, and even adjust their minimums so that fighter guys have an equal shot with the transport types. Please don't take this as if I think 121 operators are better than bizjet fliers; but to my simple mind the more passengers I carry the higher the mins should be. In other words, I'm trusted and qualified to carry 130 passengers in a 737, why can't I fly 8 customers in a bizjet? I'm probably oversimplifying, but from what I am finding the fractional world is not conducive to fighter backgrounds.