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I Want to Work for an Airline

General information

Air transport has never run many graduate training programmes and is still not recruiting staff at any level in large numbers. Many graduates will join airlines as cabin crew or ground staff and work their way into management or, alternatively, gain experience in other businesses before moving into airline work.

There are very many ways to work in an airport environment including airline, airport and retail management; security, customs and immigration; despatch and customer service.

PROFILE: Air Cabin Crew

Involves: Taking care of passengers during flights. Demonstrating safety procedures. Serving meals & drinks to passengers. Selling Duty Free Items. Dealing with emergencies.
Employers: airlines, e.g. British Airways, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic
Related jobs: courier, retailing, hotel/catering work, travel agent, nurse.
Satisfactions: variety, meeting people, foreign travel.
Negatives: unsocial hours. Much routine work such as serving meals. Physically demanding. Problem customers.
Skills: cooperating, spoken communication, listening, physical fitness.
Advancement: Can move up to senior steward/stewardess or move to ground based work.
Degree: None required, but languages are useful & British Airways has targeted language graduates.
Postgraduate study: Not required.
Vacancy sources: National Newspapers. Need to make speculative applications.
Tips: Competitive to enter. Get experience in customer services roles, e.g. retail or catering. Develop foreign language skills. Good physical health essential; must conform to height & weight standards. Apply speculatively to major airlines. Dress very carefully for interview: good grooming is essential in this job.
See the excellent description of the work at wired.com

PROFILE: Commercial Pilot

Involves: Flying planes for commercial airlines (passenger or freight), planning flights to take account of aircraft load, weather conditions, etc.
Related jobs: Air Traffic Controller, Armed Forces Officer
Satisfactions: The fun & excitement of flying, variety, opportunities to travel (not just in the course of your work - cheap/free air travel a perk of the job). Being involved with aviation.
Negatives: Shift work. Responsibility of not being able to make a mistake. Pressure. Need for continuous assessment of technical skills & health - with risk of ending your career if these are not up to standard.
Skills: Attention to detail, decision making, leadership, teamwork, spoken communication, spatial ability. Excellent physical health required particularly eyesight & co-ordination.
Advancement: Training for commercial pilot's licence lasts approx. 18 months. Begin work as co-pilot. Promotion involves moving from short-haul to long-haul routes; flying larger types of aircraft; eventually becoming captain. However, seniority (and salary) normally depends on length of service rather than which planes you fly or where you fly them to.
Degree: Degree not required but useful, particularly science or engineering
Postgraduate study: None required
Tips: Entry is very competitive. Need to demonstrate knowledge of airline operations & the business environment as well as flying potential. Research airlines, read annual reports, check websites, etc. Previous flying experience, e.g. private pilot's licence, is not essential but may be helpful.

PROFILE: Air Traffic Controller

Involves: Maintaining radio & radar contact with a number of aircraft at one time. Instructing them to move as required. Helping them to land & take off safely. Providing information on weather conditions & visibility.
Employers: Civil Aviation Authority (National Air Traffic Services), armed forces, private airfields.
Related jobs: pilot, armed forces officer
Satisfactions: Being involved with aviation. Helping aircraft land safely. Good salary.
Negatives: Shift work. Tied to a console. Responsibility of not being able to make a mistake. Pressure.
Skills: attention to detail, decision making, spoken communication, listening, spatial ability. Good eyesight & hearing needed.
Advancement: Can move into management/air traffic planning.
Degree: Degree not required but science or engineering useful.
Postgraduate study: None required
Vacancy sources: Flight International
Tips: Entry is very competitive. Apply to National Air Traffic Services of the Civil Aviation Authority. http://natscareers.co.uk The Training course lasts a year & a half including basic flying skills.

Sector Briefing: Transport Sector www.prospects.ac.uk/links/TransportSB

Occupational Profiles:

Cabin Crew www.prospects.ac.uk/links/AirCabinCrew
Air Traffic Control www.prospects.ac.uk/links/AirTraffCont
Airline Pilot www.prospects.ac.uk/links/AirlinePilot

Interviews for pilot training

Competency questions. See our page on how to answer competency-based questions

Please give an example of an important objective you accomplished despite setbacks or obstacles. Try to include: what the objective was, the obstacles/setbacks you encountered and how you overcame them - what you think you did well: what you could have done better, what you learned from the experience and how you have since applied the learning. (BA)
Please tell us about a time when you worked as part of a team. What did you do to motivate others towards achieving the team goals? Try to include: a short description of the team and its goals; your role(s) in the group, how you identified the need to motivate the other members, did you ever lead the group? If so, explain why you were appointed leader. (BA)
Please describe a complex problem you have tackled outlining in detail how you set about solving it. Try to include: how you identified the problem, what information you collected, what analysis you conducted, the options/priorities you considered and your rationale for your ultimate actions. If you were required to communicate the outcome how did you structure your presentation? Try to indicate what the key points were. How was it received? (BA)
Give an example of where you have initiated a change or challenged the accepted way of doing things. Try to include: how you identified the need for change; how you convinced others of the need for change, and the outcome in both the short and long term. (BA)
Give an example of a time when you experienced good service. How did you feel? (CTC Wings)
Give an example of a time when you experienced bad service. What did you do about it? (CTC Wings)
Give an example of a time when you took control of a situation? What did you feel? What was the outcome? (CTC Wings)
Give an example of a situation where you had to take on some additional responsibility. (CTC Wings)
Give us examples of when you have demonstrated leadership qualities. (Oxford Aviation)

Questions asked at interviews for pilot training

Which job have you enjoyed the most and why? (BA)
What are your interests outside work? (BA)
What are your two major strengths and weaknesses? (Oxford Aviation)
Other than flight training, what have you done to prepare for this course? (Oxford Aviation)
Tell me about the decisions you made at school to improve your chances of becoming a pilot. (CTC Wings)
Why do you want to become a pilot? (CTC Wings)
What do you like about flying? (CTC Wings)
What will you do if you're not successful on this application? (CTC Wings)
How do you think you'll cope with a foreign environment for an extended period of time? (Training is in New Zealand) (CTC Wings)
Are there any questions that you thought we might ask but didn't? (!) (CTC Wings)
They may test a candidate's ability to handle pressure with tactics such as "I've not been impressed with anything you've said so far, so you've got five minutes to change my mind". (BA)

Questions to test your knowledge of the job. See our commercial awareness page for help with these

Specific questions on the course: training locations, flight training hours, types of aircraft used for training etc. (Oxford Aviation)
Why do think easyJet are successful? (the pilots were selected for easyJet) (CTC Wings)
From what you can discover what key business issues would feature on this week's company board agenda? Try to indicate why you think they are important to the company's continued commercial success and customer service goals. It may be useful to draft an agenda and list the reason alongside. (BA)
What do you think are the important qualities of an airline pilot? (CTC Wings) See below for some ideas!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? (Oxford Aviation)

Qualities they focus on (BA)

Lots of emphasis on motivation
Awareness of the huge responsibility for the safety of the passengers and the aircraft.
Understanding of pilot's role in customer care and service
Ability to keep calm in a crisis
Team orientation
Problem solving
Leadership

Hypothetical Questions. See our section on hypothetical questions for help.

A friend who is a pilot for BA was asked what he would do in the following situation. He is the first officer on a long haul flight that has just arrived in the United Arab Emirates. The crew have agreed to meet in the hotel bar later that evening. On entering the bar he walks in to find the captain wearing a dress. Suffice to say BA are hot on equal opportunities and the captain is a woman. Those candidates who are flustered by this do not go very far. (BA)
If you encountered weather conditions which you felt the plane was not equipped to deal with what would you do? Interviewer further probed candidate's confidence and decisiveness with comments such as "So you would do that, would you?", "But what if?" (BA)
If you were a pilot what actions would you take to lower the cost of a flight? (CTC Wings)
If you were a rookie first officer and your experienced/moody captain decided to land the plane below minima, what would you do? (CTC Wings)

Tests given

Numeracy, physics, and a computer based aptitude test, simulator flight test and a very long personality test. (Oxford Aviation) The computer based tests lasted about an hour, the simulator around half an hour and the physics about 20 minutes. (Oxford Aviation)
There were computer based aptitude tests on a separate day. (CTC Wings).
Details/good descriptions can be found on www.pprune.org and www.ctcwings.co.uk
90 minutes for the six aptitude tests All pretty standard stuff - no surprises:
1. Hand-eye coordination
2. memory test
3. multitasking
4. situational awareness
5. mental arithmetic
6. forgotten (see 2).
Flight simulator test. (CTC Wings). The final phase of the selection was conducted on a King Air full flight simulator (10 seat twin turboprop). They are not looking for absolute skill but ability to learn. The instructor demonstrates simple manoeuvres like turning, climbing/descending and combinations and you have a few goes at each. It's ok to make a hash of it, as long as you show some improvement after three goes. It lasts about an hour, and is quite exhausting! But if you get this far in the process then you obviously love flying and will enjoy the pain! Take a fresh shirt as you will sweat.

Group Exercises

The group exercises all lasted all morning. (Oxford Aviation)
The group discussion questions were: "How will high fuel prices affect your career as a pilot?" and "How can the traditional image of the airline pilot be changed?".
The group exercise involved two challenges. The first involved 'aid dropping' food parcels to villages in need via the most fuel efficient route and packing the goods accordingly so that they leave the aircraft in order, also taking into account volume of package and a few other things. (The interviewers were more interested in teamwork than a realistic solution ... just as well seeing we ran out of fuel!)
The second exercise involved building a bridge out of pieces of wood that could hold a cup of water. Only three parts of the structure could be tested at a time and at times the exercise had to be conducted in silence.
Three group exercises: (CTC Wings)
- Verbal reasoning. Discuss a topical issue in the news and reach a conclusion. 8 in group.
- "Stuck on an island, what do you take?" type question. 5 of us in group
- Build a bridge to support a glass of water. Again, 5 of us.

Tips and Comments

Overall a really enjoyable but thorough interview. Just enjoy the day, get to know your colleagues, try and relax, always research your job/college/course! (Oxford Aviation)
The people who organise the selection and the interviewers are absolutely brilliant. The selection is carried out in a magnificent manor house in the New Forest, food and unlimited coffee is provided and they really are some of the nicest and most professional people you could wish to meet. You have to be keen to get it. Flying experience is an advantage although not necessary. Most important tip: relax and be yourself. (CTC Wings)

Interview Reports www.kent.ac.uk/careers/ivreps/ivrepsmenu.htm completed by University of Kent students after they have been to interview.

Other useful websites

Professional Pilots Rumour Network www.pprune.org includes forums for cabin crew and ground staff as well as a "wannabee" section giving advice to aspiring airline pilots on how to get their career off the ground
Guild of Air Pilots & Navigators www.gapan.org/career-matters/careers-information/sywtbap downloadable guide for would-be pilots
Royal Aeronautical Society www.raes.org.uk � includes a careers section covering aviation and aerospace
Aviation Job Search http://aviationjobsearch.com
CTC Wings www.ctcwings.co.uk Airline Pilot Training
British Airways www.britishairwaysjobs.com
EasyJet www.easyjet.co.uk - site includes information for cabin crew, pilot and ground staff recruitment www.easyjet.com/EN/Jobs/Pilot/pilotrecruitment_cadet.html
Virgin Atlantic www.virgin-atlantic.com - job profiles and current vacancies
BAA www.baa.com (carries vacancies for 7 UK airports, including Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted, and job descriptions)
Luton Airport vacancies www.london-luton.co.uk/en/recruitment
Aer Rianta www.ari.ie Irish company operating duty-free retail centres at major airports in Europe, Eastern Europe, North America and the Middle East
UK airport news www.uk-airport-news.info daily updated airport news website plus news pages for each of the UK 's major airports.
HM Revenue & Customs www.hmrc.gov.uk
UK Border Agency www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk
Careers Insider on Aviation http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/careers-insider produced by the Daily Telegraph

Air Traffic Control (ATC)

National Air Traffic Services www.nats.co.uk
Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers www.gatco.org/careers.html
ATC in the RAF www.raf.mod.uk/careers/jobs/airtrafficcontroller.cfm

Books (ask at the Careers Service Reception Desk)

Careers in Airlines & Airports
How to Get a Place on an Airline Pilot Training Scheme
Working in Aviation

Last fully updated 2012

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