XOJET Interview
 

Hey Guys,
Just arrived back from my XO interview, here are some details!

Interviewee experience breakdown

5-Interviewees
1- Charter 135 / Management
1- Furloughed National Airline
1- unemployed Corporate Pilot
1- Regional Pilot
1- Fractional

Good news for no internal rec wannabee's, I had no internal rec...Everyone else had an internal Rec.

Icebreaker dinner with management and HR the night before ( I enjoyed a beer, along with 3 other inerviewees)
Next Morning
Interview was approx 5 hours
Tour of the Facility
5 interview boards (2-3 interviewers per board) approx 30min each
questions varied from personal to professinal to technical, Very comprehensive. If you read and airline interview book and study up on 135 regs and aim, you will have no problem with the inteview.
I can tell you if you do come unprepared they will eat you up.

I really liked everyone I met! Considering how young the company is, its very well put together. We were told that we would most likely be in the 300 class, however its not set in stone.

I interviewed last thurs and I have not heard anything. I have a slight hunch I might not get an offer because of some home economic problems.
However, from what I know about the company, employees"s, and marketing model I truly beleive this place will be a huge success!
Hope this helps everyone,
Good Luck!

Good Post.

What are your times and do you have a X or 300 type?

When did you get a call? Good luck with the rest of it....

Times

11000+ half of that is Middle east time


However, my interview partners ages ranged from 30's to low 40's
sorry have no idea of their times...

By last Thrusday, you mean on the 16th? I know they are pretty quick getting back with a call but I wouldn't give up just yet. At least give them the weekend.

Best of luck..

Thanks for the informative post jetjockee.
Good luck.

USMCFLYR

I received a call about 3 weeks ago and it was a phone interview/prescreen. I then recieved a email to fill out another application and a link for a personality test...

Hope that helps!

Yes, last thurs. Oct 16th.
They also interviewed 3 more on Friday the 17th.

Jetjockee -

When it came to 135 regs and AIM - how indepth was it?
Also - what type of technical questions? Could you give a general description? Coming from the military side of the fence I have to admit that I(we) are weak in that area.

USMCFLYR

I think this info is very much desired by many of us, I know it goes for me at least.

Please share..

Hey Guys,

I strongly believe if I spoon feed you the interview it will only hurt your chances of doing well.

All the tech questions were stuff you need to know as a professional airmen.
If you dont have 135 experience I would tell them. Do not guess!

If you know the ATP written and basic AIM info, you will be prepared.

I spent about about a week to mentally prepare myself for tech, personal and professional questions.

I went through the ATP written 3 times.
Airline interview book about 4 times

I felt I was prepared for the interview.

No worries if you come across unprepared because there will be someone there who is prepared!

One important note here, its not all about what you know but who you are.
Good Luck!

I'd have to say its more about who you are than what you know. We can teach you everything you need to know, we can't teach you not to be an @-hole...

Good luck Jetjockee and thanks for not posting all the interview questions. We don't want people who memorize answers. Every interview is different depending on who does them and what background you may have.

Point taken..

Hey current XOJet pilots,

Quick question. Do you think you will have much movement by current X FOs into the CL300 as FOs? Or is that type of lateral movement discouraged? Do FOs have a seat lock for a specific amount of time?

Is the upgrade time to PIC still pretty short (i.e., less than 2 years)?

Are there any pay scales for XO jet any where? I assume they are on par with the rest of the fracs out there.

Ok, so how does someone with a good amount of experience but no friends on the inside get an interview with XO?

There is no "seat lock" but I think they want you to stay in a type for 2 years. We can change types based on a Merit point system. Get points for volunteering and staying on duty extra days and such...

It is my understanding that the next 2 classes are CL300 guys.

Upgrade time is different for everyone depending on experience and Argus Min's. Could be less than a year or up to 2 or 3 depending on numerous things...

Under some and over others... Its good though

$52,200 first year SIC
$90,000 first year PIC

Update your app frequently to show continued interest. We only have so many people to recommend personally, so off the street interviews and hiring will be common soon. Someone in the interviews last week didn't have any recs so its already started...

Good luck everyone, this place really is great! The last job I will ever have, hopefully! Who knows what the next 30 years holds.

Hey FF

I hope you are right about this. The problem for us "outsiders" with no personal rec is that for every new newhire XO takes on they in their turn have friends to recommend. That's the case with you from what I understand. If your buds get in through your rec, once they hit three months they themselves are eligable to recommend friends. And so it goes on..

I hope you understand this is not meant as critizism. Obviosuly this is not XO unique, and it's of course a sort of safety net for them to go on personal recs. I'm just saying it's easy to get stuck outside of the "circle" due to this.

I guess eventually you might know someone who got in, but some others might not be that fortunate. That's life I guess..

Look at how it was at NetJets a while back when an int rec helped you get a much quicker shot at an interview. If you had no recs it was basically impossible to get in for a while, or the waiting time was painfully long. At the moment nothing really seems to matter at NJA though, the wait is long no matter what:).

Keep enjoying XO..

SS

I have read several threads about XO Jet but have not seen info on the schedule they offer.

Does anyone have an idea what type of schedule they offer? I noticed they added a lot of domiciles throughout the country, but I am still wondering if it is a 7/7 schedule. If it is 7/7 are you on call or are you flying the entire 7?

Thanks for the information.

8 on and 6 off
or if you live out in the sticks like a few of us it's
15 on and 13 off
or if you are in or going to the middle east it's
28 on and 26 off (its a little more complicated than this)
This has actually been offered to domestic as well but no over ride in pay.

As far as being out the entire time, just plan on it. If they do not call you or you end up in your home town then you scored.

AND IT'S XOJET

Easy, no need to yell..... it was a simple typo. ;)

What are typical days/trips like? Number of duty hours/flight hours, number of legs, and so on?

Thanks for the information.

Who knows?
It can be all day in the Hilton gym or a 14 hour duty day with 10 hours of scheduled flying. No way to tell. If a pop up trip comes up and you are close, it's yours. Just be ready. (unless it's is some unique international trip with permits and the like)

Thanks for the intel.

This way I know what I am getting into if they ever call.

Is XOJET hiring into all of their bases?? Or, only certain cities? Thanks!

UM, we are hiring from all over. To say that we are focusing in one area in not accurate. We just hired some from the West Coast and PHX area. What's more important is what you can bring to us.

Were you live will dictate the schedule you are on. See above posts.

Does the name stand for something or have a particular meaning?

Thanks...

The company is named after XO Cognac, the CEO's favorite, I would imagine. It represents the finest grade cognac in the world and lends itself to the operational excellence of XOJET, Inc.

why Touw?
 

It kind of makes me sick to my stomach that Touw stepped down... nevermind who replaced him. It's like he blew up on the scene with this marvelous new company; a shining light on a bleak landscape littered with incompetent management and the carnage of the companies left in their wake. A new company, something like the young and successful fractionals, but better. Modern. Brilliant. A new Mecca. Like a Tony Stark of private business aviation. He quietly put together his machine, building the model from scratch for years with innovative concepts and ideas never before utilized. He unveiled it to the world and we all marveled at its brilliance.

And then, just when his creation is on the verge of really showing us what it can do, he.... steps down? wt*? What the hell's gonna happen now?!

I need a drink.

Thanks! Never would have guessed that.

The hired Siegle, the ex-US Airways CEO.
That one action will tell you a thousand words and more about the current management and their plans going forward....
I wish them the best of luck.

Nice post about Paul. He is brilliant, and also a great guy. He hasn't gone anywhere though. He is still our Executive Chairman of the Board, and will continue to set the tone and direction of the company.

Trust me, he's not on vacation. His plate is always full, and there will be plenty more great things to come.

Is it true i hear that xojet is strating to layoff office workers. no pilots yet but if this is true these is not good. am still trying to find some facts out about this.

NO pilots
 

Told by pilots on the inside:

The ones laid off are office workers and would have been laid off even in a good economy. They were simply a surplus weighing down the payroll and not contributing much to the results. Trimming the fat I guess.

Remember, the whole ideology of XO is to reduce unnecessary costs and pass it on to the costumers, while at the same time keep employees happy (obviosuly this won't include the office rats let go). Paul T studied the bizmodel of SWA and RyanAir closely, among other things I'm sure, for several years before actually launching the operation. Lets just hope XO will stay more towards SWA than RyanAir.

If you hang at FI you will find more info on this matter there.

Hey guys, Im coming up on 12mos. of updating every month and just wondering if hiring without a reccomendation is happening for 121 only guys? Thanks.

Sioux

Not sure what gave you that idea. The answer is NO!

Keep updating and networking, this isnt the best time to get hired anyway unless your unemployed. XO is starting to show signs from this economy.

What are you talking about? What signs?

It appears to me that you are being purposefully vague and misleading.

Wow...I don't know what it is, but it seems like each time I ask questions about XOJET I get my head bitten off. Well anyways, I guess I got my answer. Thanks for all the kind words.