Wasn't planning to do a prep course, but Emerald Coast was in town so I went. Worth the money.

AH had a layover in your town! :)

Anybody having trouble getting ahold of AH or his crew?

I also sent AH a message but as of now no joy. He asked me to contact him after 20 Oct which I did. I think he is on an airline trip.

Lifter

Sent you both a PM. ECC is really busy right now due to the demand for their product. You can get in touch with them through e-mail.

AH is busy but has always responded to my emails within a reasonable time. He even accommodated holding a conference near me after I waited several months for one in the northeast. A large portion of the attendees at our session had interviews in the coming weeks and many were repeat customers looking for one more review before the big event.

Wow,

Always humbling to see yourself being discussed. Here is a short synopsis of what is going on , and I'll address some thread issues....

Rob Beeks. Don't know if Mozam still does SWA prep or not, but he was awesome and helped a lot of people. I think he stopped a long while back, however. At the same time, past experience has indicated SWA HR HATES guys who do this, and do all they can to make them uncomfortable. Not here to defend them, just passing on what I've seen and what happened to one of my team (a SWA guy) in mid 2000s...

Website. Its being updated. Hope to put a trip report section and make registering for sessions easier. In development...may be a few months. I am not the web guru, but my guru is retired military and does this on the side. He's been awesome for 8 years...so I will roll a while while he works on it.

Oh--and to add to the fun--we had a database crash in early October we are still trying to recover from....

Phone. Holy *((&& Batman, its melting. Iphones hold 25 messages. If my office manager/counselor does one phone prep, its full by the time she's been on the phone with a client 15.-2.0 hours. This is our biggest issue, and I know its frustrated some clients. We are working on the solution (below)....

Travel....when I take my team on the road, I didn't leave full time office manager to catch phones. 4 hour flight = full phone and email in-basket stuffed.

Mary traditionally has had time to both manage the office and provide some additional HR training to folks, but right now we are getting over-run. Part of the reason we are swamped is we have clients who we helped as far back as 2004-05 coming back to us for some additional training. I'm thrilled to have them back, glad to help, and we will work through this. Mary spends a lot of her day helping these clients instead of answering the phone or forwarding me emails... So--I am hiring another office manager--who will do nothing but deal with scheduling, simulator, and client issues. This should speed up the returning of phone calls and emails, etc.

Additionally,recently added two new counselors with the sole goal of providing service to these returning clients. One has 20 + years in business and non-profit work, and the other is an retired O-6 F-15 FWIC Schoolhouse instructor and now legacy pilot. Their only job is taking care of clients we have already helped, and being there to follow up to make sure everyone is taken care of before their big day.

When I look back at 2013, however, I see over 70 seminars held around the country and online. One issue is very few pilots believe they need to prep until they get called, and then all hell breaks loose. Even if you don't use our team, I suggest strongly if you want to do these courses then do them as early as you can. We are free if you come back for follow on work. If the other places charge you again--so what? What would you pay for a suit? For an hour dual in a seminole? If I had to pay Judy Tarver or Cheryl Cage twice but got the job of a lifetime was it worth it? I'm seeing people that are downright angry and stressed in the week before their interview because they are realizing they can't make a square corner and they are mad at the world and mad at themselves. The rush is on boys and girls...American, Delta, United, and US Air are ALL hiring. And when they thin out the ranks at the other carriers like Frontier, Jetblue, Spirit, and Atlas the feeding frenzy is only going to get crazier. I know its been a miserable wait since 2007, but its here...

Great post AH. You need to start preparing now because the call will eventually come and now you are scrambling to prepare. Good luck to everyone.

Props to emerald coast and ACS. I used them both for DAL. The only 2 guys not hired on my day were guys that didn't get interview prep. I know some guys don't need it, but why chance it?

oop... meant to say "....Judy Tarver or Cheryl Cage or Aero Crew Solutions..."

Seriously--go get help somewhere. Or you will likely get smoked by someone who did. Ditto the sim prep. Airlines may say (like some Virgin or SWA recruiters I've heard) "we just want to see the real you..." However, the numbers indicated the prepped real you does about 30-40% better statistically....

No need to mention us at all. We are all here to help pilots with their career goals. Aaron, if you are ever in Atlanta give me a call and dinner and drinks are on me.

Duece, I am glad that both of our companies were able to help you out. There is no better feeling to get a call from a client you helped be successful.

Have posted this before. But will keep posting it to save somebody somewhere. Got my ass handed to me at first major interview. As stressful a week as i can remember. Wasn't sure i really needed any interview prep for a lot of bad reasons. Used a different prep then EC, will leave it at that, but can say if you think it is about just letting them see the real you, think of Crusher Lane's prediction to Rocky, "PAIN!" Let them see the real you after they hire you, this isn't EHarmony.com! SWA and United use rotating pilots on their interview boards, but the HR folks do it a lot. Who do you think drives the interview? Not the pilots. Only Fedex uses the same small pool of pilot interviewers, and they are retired Captains. All companies use a canned list of questions. They are looking for whether you fit in, not whether you stand out.

Did EC seminar with idea that i was still months from another interview. Two weeks after getting back got call for interview with company 2 the following week. Trying to jam interview and sim prep in quickly is a recipe for disaster. Being ahead allowed time to get to town early to work on sim a bit extra, which was needed and available. Night before slept pretty well and despite a huge delay before sim ride kept it calm. Went much better and got an offer.

Before i got a class date, a few months later got another short lead call for interview with company 3. No time to attend another seminar, but redid the audio files and reviewed my notes. Emailed AH for some updated intell and potential problem areas. Updated and adjusted my 3 minute intro. Did sim prep elsewhere out of necessity but now would have done it out in Denver.Winner. It was like i knew what was coming before they asked. Had to fight temptation to go have a few beers night before. Prior Preparation Prevents **** Poor Performance. Working here now. Jason Bourne does the commercials.

BTW company 1 just asked me back. Politely declined. Very confident this would have been fun and easy.

It can be easier for anybody. As Albie says do the prep somewhere. My advice is do it with Albie.

Just Do It.

I'm heeding the warnings...signed up with EC and getting my ducks in a row now.

If you have an app in with a major, and you haven't done interview prep already, you are behind the curve.

Typing this from my phone on the road, it bears repeating Albies "square corners" thread if someone will repost it.

I thought it might be a little premature, but signed up with ECIC the other day, then wondered why I hadn't heard anything until seeing this thread. Looks like things are picking up. Glad I did!

Did Emerald Coast prep back in May, nearly nine months before military retirement & planned to attend a follow up course at the beginning of October. Problem was I interviewed the day of the refresher prep. Point being, don't assume you have time after you hit submit on your app.

Definitely do professional prep, but make sure you live practice with someone before your interview to refresh what you learned. I worked with a buddy to rehearse, but also contacted a local public employment resource office (Phoenix Workforce Connections) & ran through two hours of sample questions with a stranger.

Good luck to all!

6 of 8 in my Delta interview class were hired.

One of the guys who wasn't hired had never heard of Emerald Coast and after a couple minutes of conversation I realized that he had no idea of what the SARR or STAR story format was. He was told that he failed the panel interview.

The other guy also failed the panel interview. When we asked him what he thought was the problem, he replied that he had a failed a few flights and had a rough time in UPT. Also, that really didn't want to talk about it with the interviewers. He mentioned that he was expecting them to ask him questions about himself. Not trying to twist the knife, but that is a terrible perspective to have during an interview. You have to be willing to talk openly about your weaknesses/failures. I was surprised to hear that he HAD done the EC prep because during my EC prep, AH made it very clear that it is ok to have hooked a few flights along the way and all they are looking for is that you recognized your weaknesses, learned from your mistakes and became better because of it.

Do the prep. It helped me tremendously.

Hey guys, just throwing this out there, especially for those of you interviewing with SWA. I know Emerald Coast has a great and well deserved reputation as do a lot of the other interview prep companies but I'd like to mention a lesser known individual who's been an outstanding resource to me. Her name is Rebekah Krone. She is based in Dallas and used to be in HR at SWA so she speaks with very recent first hand experience. She's also very knowledgable on the other airlines hiring processes as well. She can be contacted through her website at careertakeoff.com. Best of luck to all of you.

I will be using aero crew solutions when my time comes. I have heard of ECC but was unfamiliar with Aero Crew. I talked to aero crew the other day and he was extremely helpful and answered all my questions with great expertise.

+1 for ECC.

Anyone ever used Brenda Tillman?

One nice thing about Emerald Coast is that once you pay, you are a client for life. I took their course 3 years ago but was able to get back for a refresher this past month free of charge. They really are a class act.

I'm signed up for Emerald Coast next month.

Do not wait until you have an interview at hand to do the prep. It's not a one and done process. You need time to digest the info, revisit it, talk with your coach, etc. You want to to take the first interview chance available, not say "oh sorry I need two weeks to prep." That time is now.

Huey -- post back here your thoughts post-ECCC

Sure thing. I'm listening to the audio files now.

I worked with Angie at Cage Consulting. Great experience. Got the job with United.

Do they offer in-house? Why not go that route?

If I remember right, you pay for the prep and get access to the audio files.

I did my interview prep with Emerald Coast (Albie) a few years ago. I cannot imagine what my airline interviews would have been like without it. I attended the seminar with a few other soon to be ex-mil guys. The effect of answering uncomfortable interview questions in the presence of peers added an entirely new dimension. Being honestly debriefed on involuntary nervous mannerisms or disfluencies in speech I was previously unaware of helped tremendously.

How far out in advance would you suggest to start ECCC or another interview prep?

I've got 3 yrs until retirement and am starting the adventure now of seeking an airline position…

It's my understanding that once I'm within exactly 12 months from my official retirement date, I can technically start the interviewing process but just mention that I won't be available for work/class until 02 Jan 17 (for example), the date after my official retirement date?

So this gives me 2 yrs to prep?

It wouldn't hurt to get ahead. In your case you don't need prep right away, and have the luxury of practicing ahead of time. If you use ECIC, they have a "customer for life" philosophy, so you can always attend and start fleshing out your skills, and as you get closer, you can audit a seminar and get "recurrent". If SWA is on your list and/or you don't have an ATP yet, now is the time to start lining those off the list of things to do.

I went to an Emerald Coast seminar the other day and it was a great learning experience. Good place to start networking too.

Read Albies "timing your exit" thread. All asked and answered.

Grumble -- I found Albie's post (your tag) after my comment. Both have great info and are very much appreciated.

Huey -- working the ATP written as we speak, practical in mid-Jan. Will work with ECIC this summer - lines up with most advice I've read.

Sounds like ECIC is the place to go.

In a word, yes.

I'll add that for those of you with applications in at the airlines, get some kind of prep ASAP. I went to ECIC last Tuesday without any real interviews lined up, and out of the blue, US Airways called three days later to schedule an interview right after the holidays (early January). I'm very glad I did the prep now, since it'll be tough to find interview prep from mid-December until the first week of January as many of them dial down to spend time with their families.

In a nutshell, do it now, you never know when the call will come and it could come at a very inconvenient moment and a short lead time. Good luck to all.

Huey -- congrats on the call.

Congrats.

Gents, this is why it's never to early to start preparing.

It is very easy to over-prep for things like a general knowledge test, cognitive test, etc, and lose focus on the most important part ... the interview portion. I used Emerald Coast and thought it was a great experience. As mentioned before, you can circle back to them for the different interviews you get for some refresher.