[cfii2007]

Just thought I'd go ahead and post my interview feedback. First off, it was NOTHING like the event described above. I was there with one other applicant. Interview started a little past 0830. John led us into a room and described the wages, work, schedule, upgrade and training. There is no training contract, even for upgrade. He was kinda funny and sarcastic, even joking that new hires will have days off in the middle of the week so it's more convinient for them to interview at Expressjet. We were then told the ATP written was cancelled due to some computer issues. I was pretty bummed to hear that, since I'd been studying and spending lots of Friday nights with John and Martha King. We filled out tons of paperwork and had copies of our licenses checked. The simulator evaluation came next, I HIGHLY recommed taking it with Bob. I did the prep the previous day and it was much more difficult than the version on the interview. He would make you study power settings for each stage of flight and even though I'm IFR current it was pretty easy to fall behind the airplane. The simulator eval was typically one hold and one approach. He will administer a made up SID and then proceed to BLD. I was given a hold about 1 mile out (make sure you ask for an EFC time!). After one turn in the hold, was cleared for the VOR 25L into LAS. The approach is pretty straight forward, make sure you do the altitude callouts they suggested (1000 to go, 500 to go, 100 to go, minimums.) Also, callout the appropriate checklist (Climb, Cruise, Approach). I landed the sim (or at least tried to) and was given a debrief. They are mainly looking for your instrument scan, callouts, checklist calls and basic trainability. Next we were taken for the Tech portion with John and another gentleman. Quick logbook check, questions about failed checkrides. Asked to read a TAF, which was pretty easy although I did get a little confused about the forecast time he was asking. Next was told to finger fly the ILS into LGB. I struggled with this a bit, since it wasn't really covered in the prep the previous day. Three ways to identify BECCA (without an ADF), depart Seal Beach and enter the hold (entry?), altitudes and identifying the MAP. There were few other questions about windshear and how this would affect the glideslope, circle to land mins for 110 KTS, descent rate for that speed (you have to mentally interpolate), what makes a good Captain. It was a pretty straightforward presentation, non-confrontational. Most of the oral seemed to be ATP level questions. If you don't know the answer, they might help you along a bit and lead you down the right path. I got most of the answers right, and of course you will be asked "are you sure?" Just think it over and be firm with your answer. I'm sure they don't expect you to know everything.

I then asked the usual questions about training, schedules and such. We were both told in the beginning the October class was full and that there would be another in November. Essentially, they are running a hiring pool right now, since things have slowed down a bit. Also informed us a letter would be sent to both of us regarding good or bad info.

Finished up about 1230 and drove to LAS for my return flight. It was a fairly positive experience, even if I am not selected.

If anybody has upcoming interviews, PM me and I will reply with more specific gouge.