Life After ATPLS's

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Congratulations, you’ve finished flight training! Now it’s time to start applying for your first job. Securing a successful outcome depends on thorough preparation and the ability to showcase the skills you have already developed during your training. Assessment processes differ, but you’ll find below a few stages of assessment you might expect at the company you are applying to.

CV/Application Stage

This is normally the first way to filter out applicants so make sure you stand out! Read the job description carefully and ensure you demonstrate the skills and qualities they are looking for. Using examples of when you have displayed these competencies helps demonstrate to recruiters that you are proficient in these areas. You are applying for the role of a pilot so ensure the skills you are incorporating from any previous employment are relevant. Make sure the information you have been asked to provide is clearly visible and prominent on your CV, ensuring flying hours, including total, multi-crew, and P1 are easy for your recruiter to find. Consider adding additional licences and ratings alongside aircraft type-specific hours. 

You have just finished training so confirm your training record with flight test passes and ground school averages are prominent so recruiters can quickly check your suitability against the entry requirements. Remember, what you write on your application will be used as a basis for your interviews so be truthful and only include information that you can back up with examples. Including a personal profile at the top of your CV can briefly give recruiters an overview of your key achievements.

If you are asked to answer specific questions in your application, take your time and ensure you understand the ethos and type of operation the company you are applying to has. For example, if your company is proud of its commitment to a more sustainable aviation industry, outline how you as a pilot can help contribute to that commitment. Remember to show off your personality and passion for the job you are applying for! 

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests determine your ability to demonstrate competence in certain areas without prior knowledge or training. Depending on the airline, they can be completed at home online or in person at an assessment centre. They test various areas; numerical reasoning, special awareness, mental maths, reaction times and short-term memory are just a few. Your company may give you direction on which areas to focus and there is a range of resources online to help. The key to success in your pilot aptitude test is practice, practice, practice! The resources below are a great place to start nailing your aptitude tests.

Group Exercises

Group exercises are common assessment day activities with groups of around 4-10 candidates. They generally include a discussion topic or task with assessors observing from around the room. The key element of a group exercise is that they are generally pressurised timewise, and recruiters assess your personality traits alongside how you behave working in a team. Ensure you contribute whilst listening and involving others, try to get the best out of the people you are working with, and keep a keen eye on how much time you’ve got left. The scenario can feel slightly false so try to act natural and remain calm working methodically to get the task done. Remember, you may not be able to complete the task in time, it’s how you have worked with those around you that counts.

Technical Tests 

Technical tests are there to check your understanding of what you have learnt during training. They may be ATPL style questions or include company-specific knowledge. Be sure to refresh your subject knowledge and acquire an understanding of the company you are applying to. Common questions may include fleet size, type, engines, etc. There is a range of online packages to help you restore your aviation knowledge, some are airline-specific, so ensure you take the time to thoroughly prepare. Technical tests may be online or in person.

Case Studies

Case studies are life-like scenarios or role-plays. You are given an aviation scenario and may be expected to discuss your actions or enact what you would do in the situation. Commonly, you will be given an information pack with the instructions and the case study to read, you’ll then have some time to prepare your answer or the actions you will take in the role-play. Examples may include discussing a flight plan and giving a briefing or role-playing an interaction with another flight crew member who is not following standard procedures. Ensure you take your time to read through the task carefully and approach the scenario in an orderly manner. 

Interviews

Interviews come in a variety of forms, they may be pre-recorded video interviews, pilot-led interviews, or HR interviews. Furthermore, the questions within these interviews may be technical or competency based.

Pre-recorded video interviews normally consist of 3-4 questions, each requiring a response of 2-3 minutes. They tend to focus on your motivation for the job and your company-specific knowledge. This is generally the first time recruiters will see you so ensure you are dressed smart, in a quiet environment, and show your personality! Questions will appear on the screen; you will then be given a set amount of time to think about your answer and record it. Some companies allow you to re-record an answer if you are not happy with it.

Further in-depth interviews may be conducted by members of HR and/or current pilots. The type of questions varies by company but generally they are technical and/or competency based. Technical questions assess your knowledge across the ATPL subjects you have studied and technical knowledge relevant to the company you want to fly for. Questions could incorporate knowledge of the aircraft you will be flying or aircraft you have flown in the past. 

Competency questions are there to demonstrate your soft skills (non-technical). You need to prove your competence through example-based answers, have a look at the STAR technique for answering competency-based questions to structure your answers. Prepare a few examples beforehand of times you have shown pilot competencies and practice answering questions aloud or with others. Ensure you have examples that are transferable and can be used for more than one competency making sure you are actually answering the question asked, not what you would like to be asked!