Davedave

Was it you that also said, “Back before climate change, I walked to school in the snow uphill, both ways.”

cramje

Cage Marshall Consulting- Pilot Career Services - Cage Marshall Consulting

These folks do a great job - if you haven't seen yourself on video answering questions and relating observations/scenarios this will be priceless prep.

HR does run the show, and you need to be able to translate your experience, enthusiasm, leadership examples, and schema into a language they understand. THIS is why interview prep is worth the $$$ - they speak an entirely different language.

Good luck however you decide to prepare for your UAL interview, see you on the line!!!

Fresh

I think you meant to post this in the other thread.

ecam

Yeah. D'oh! Senior moment.

LeeFXDWG

Back in the day (97) didn’t use Cage or any others available at the time. That said, I had access to a large binder of interview gouge in the squadron with after action reports from all legacy interviews with loads of then current info.

I do know one of the staff at Cage used to be on the interview board at UAL back then. Sat across from Dee Dee as the HR rep when I interviewed.

The prep services today are probably way better than back in my time.

I personally would be using either Cage or Emerald if I was in the process today.

My 2 cents.

Lee

Sunvox

With hot potatoes in my pocket to keep my hands warm

I should have elaborated. I didn't mean not to prepare rather I was offering a sentiment that excessive preparation is unnecessary. No one should go into any interview cold, but neither should preparation take weeks to do. Read online. Go out a day or two early. Pay for the prep, and call it a day. The airlines are going to hire thousands upon thousands in the next 5 years. If you don't get a job offer it won't be because of a lack of prep, it will be because of a "skeleton" in your closet, or a personality quirk that you can't hide, or something else most likely outside your control.

SilverLake

So over the top not true for everyone. Hope you don’t pass this info along to some not in the know type. Setting them up for failure.

Aquaticus

Telling a story can go off the rails very easily when you are thinking about it as a pilot but relaying it to an HR person. The $400 is cheap insurance to not make their ears bleed and it will give you confidence in your answers. They want to know the true you and they can't do that if you are cringing from your answer to the first question that you bombed because of your nerves. Your competition is prepping for this interview.

Viperstick

True story

When I interviewed four years ago, they were still doing the sim interview. After the HR interview I had about 30 minutes before the sim interview, so I sat in the seating area next to Doris' desk to study. There were other appies there doing the same, except one.

He was probably mid-late 50s, wore an MIB suit that looked like he had slept in for the previous three nights, and I swear his nose was a different color than the rest of his face. Ex-USAF tanker pilot, flew 74s for Evergreen (captain, before being displaced to f/o, before bankruptcy). Talked pretty loudly.

He decided to strike up a conversation. I (and I dare say the other appies around) wish he hadn't. Never mind that we're all focusing on whatever interview we have coming, it was the topics he decided to touch on and our collective desire to not be associated with these.

Ferrying a 74 illegally on three engines & other shady stuff at Evergreen. "Yeah, I've got interviews at Spirit & Southwest, so if this doesn't work out it's not a big deal...how about you guys?" Bragging about not really preparing. You get the idea... I tried to send the non-verbal hints that I needed to study, but he never caught on. I can only imagine what his interview was like.

I thought after the fact that maybe he was a plant, someone to evaluate our group reaction to a rogue in the operation, but he was so far from the median that I doubt he would have gotten anyone to respond. Besides that, never heard of any stories of a plant in the interview process. I never saw him again, so I assume he moved on to Spirit.

Don't be that guy...

Airway

The above is secretly part of the screening process. The objective is to see if you're dumb enough to take this advice!

I think Emerald Coast is probably the gold standard for most airline prep. I didn't know anything about Cage until after I interviewed but sounds like they are close to United. Heck do them both. ECC refunds you in you're unsuccessful. You have nothing to lose.

The interviewers don't expect or appreciate overly rehearsed answers but they do expect polished delivery.