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JetBlue Airways Pilot Interview Profiles

» Home » Pilot Interviews » Major Airlines » JetBlue Airways
Date Interviewed: December 2013
Summary of Qualifications: retired Military with 3200 Total, 2300 Turbine, 1700 Instructor. CFII/I.
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
As everyone else has written it was the most incredible interview experience I have been through. Very comfortable, friendly, and straight forward. They do an amazing job to put you at ease so they can get to know you and to show you what JB culture is like. No technical questions, they just want to know if you fit the culture.

I arrived at the headquarters an hour prior to my 1130 time slot. Met some of the other guys, was escorted upstairs to check in, verify my credentials ( you have to mail in a large packet a week prior to your interview ), turn in letters of rec etc. You then go into a small conference room with the other guys in your time slot to wait to get fingerprinted and give your sample. Once thats done you go to the main conference room to drop off your logbooks to the Captains who review / verify the hours you send in with your pre-interview packet. You then wait to be called for your interview.

Either the Captain or HR rep comes to get you for the actual interview. You go into a large conference room with several interviews going on at once. You sit down at a small table across from the Capt & HR rep and they explain how they want the questions answered ( SAR format ) and then start ... here were most of my questions that I can remember ..

TMAAT you worked with a group and were met with resistance?
TMAAT that you worked with a group who were different than yourself?
TMAAT you saw something unsafe and what you did about it?
TMAAT you retained customer loyalty?
What do you love about your current job?
Why do you want to leave it?
TMAAT that your persistence paid off?
What do you know about jetBlue?
Why do you want to work for jetBlue?
What inspires you?

That lasted about 45 min, then you go back into the main conference room to be called for the exit interview. It was with a Chief Pilot and another HR rep. They asked me:

Describe your career via your resume
What was the last aircraft you learned? any difficulties? How did you overcome them and what did you learn?
Why do you want to work for jetBlue?
When can you start? Can we start your background check? Anything we should know about?

That lasted about 20 min. Then you go back to the conference room and can stay as long as you want. They do a Q & A with the chief pilots, training / ops guys etc where you can ask them anything you want about the company. Great chance to sit and hear things and learn about what to expect. You can pick up your logbooks and leave whenever you like.

I got a phase 2 email ( you have been selected to continue on to the background check phase ) 9 days after my interview and the phone call offering a class date 1 day shy ( not that I was counting! ) of 7 weeks after my interview date. The HR rep said they usually notify sooner than that, but were backlogged because of the holidays, snow days, and how much interviewing they are currently doing.

Good luck, great experience and awesome company!
Date Interviewed: September 2013
Summary of Qualifications: 6000TT, 5000 Turbine SIC, ATP, CFI/II/MEI
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
First let me say what a pleasure the interview process was. Everyone single person you will meet
I flew on JetBlue the night before the interview and spent the night at the Verve hotel, which is a quick (and safe) three minute walk from the headquarters. I arrived in the lobby of the JetBlue HQ about an hour and a half early and met two other applicants from my time slot. After checking in with the front desk, we were escorted upstairs, given visitor badges and brought to a holding tank where candidates from the earlier slot were waiting to be fingerprinted.
You will be nervous, but this is a great opportunity to relax, chat with other applicants and realize everyone's anxious. One by one, you will be taken out of the room to be fingerprinted, then come back and wait for the drug test. The process took about an hour and I had a good time chatting with the other candidates. I'm not sure whether the room is watched, but don't be that guy in the corner nervously going over notes. It'll only make you more nervous and remember that JetBlue is looking for people persons, so be open and friendly and enjoy yourself! They called you in for a reason: they want to give you the job, so don't give them a reason not to!
Once you're done with this part of the process, someone will escort you downstairs to a “safe room” where you will drop off your logbooks and quickly go over your application paperwork with someone from the People Department. Here you will also have a chance to mingle with chief pilots from across the system and other JetBlue employees. Don't be shy. If you are offered to take off your jacket or tie, do so. There are no tricks here, everyone truly wants you to relax and get as much information about the company as you can. Here is your chance to interview them.
In my case, I was immediately whisked away for the interview. We sat at a round table in a conference room and the People Department guy and captain (both extremely friendly) introduced themselves and told me a little about themselves. Then it's your turn to speak. Take your time, don't rush, smile and engage everyone in the room (while typically a 2 on 1 deal, I had a third person sitting in on mine).
Here are the questions I was asked:


Tell us about yourself
TMAAT you had to work with others to achieve a goal
TMAAT your persistence paid off
TMAAT you saw someone do something unsafe and what did you do about it
What do you know about JetBlue
Why Jetblue?
Do you have any questions for us?

The interview is a conversation more than anything else. Definitely think of a few stories to tell them, but do not over-prepare (I did!). They don't want a story-telling automaton, they want to see who you are. I expected the first question, and while it seems easy I think it is the one I did the most poorly on, probably because I had rehearsed it so many times in my head.
The second question threw me off (I expected “what do you know about JetBlue” before the TMAAT questions) and forced me to be more spontaneous. I hadn't expected the persistence question (seems they're changing up the question bank a little) and again, I had to wing it and broke out of the rigid interview mode. Once you get out of that mindset and look at this as a “getting to know you” conversation, you will do well.
Definitely look over the gouges, but don't focus too heavily on them. First, come up with a story or two for each of the values:

Safety
Caring
Integrity
Passion
Fun

Then think about what you want them to know about you. What conveys YOU the best?

I was escorted back to the safe room, where the chiefs took turn answering our questions. Don't be shy, ask away. A JFK assistant chief stressed to us the importance of this part of the process. He said we were being prodded and questioned all morning and that this was our chance to probe them. They gave us a good overview of the training process, reserve, bidding and talked a little about what's coming up next year: more airplanes than currently forecast and significant hiring among other things.

You'll be pulled out of the room once more for your exit interview. This is done by a pilot and People Department person: anything else we should know about you? (Now's the time to disclose anything your background check might turn up that you haven't told them about), when can you start? Any more questions?

They will then tell you you can stick around or take off. I stayed for about an hour to chat with the chiefs and shared a cab back with two other guys.

As I mentioned above, the process was a pleasure and I left the building feeling invigorated.

Random tips:

Be positive (especially of you current employer, no matter how bad things may be). I know this sounds self-evident but one guy in my group had no qualms badmouthing his current airline even while JetBlue people were in the room. It doesn't come across well.
Be yourself. They called you in, they already like you, so the job is yours to lose.
Try to remember everyone's name (a thank you email to everyone the day after the interview is a nice touch)
The people that escort you from floor to floor play a role in the hiring process. Chat with them, be the people person that JetBlue is looking for. While in the building, you are being evaluated by everyone. Do not let your guard down!
Do your research. Several of my friends at JetBlue told me that your answer to “What do you know about JetBlue” should include something the interviewers don't know about the company. Read the airline's quarterly and yearly reports (there are always some good nuggets of info hidden away in there), the press releases on the Web site, both Flying High and Blue Streak (the latter being the better one of the two) and talk to as many JetBlue guys as you can.
Relax! But not too much. I've heard of people getting so relaxed during the interview that they dropped a few F bombs while telling their stories.
Have fun. Sounds like a weird piece of advice for a job interview, but I can honestly say I had fun once I relaxed. And it's one of the company's values!

Good luck!
Date Interviewed: May 2013
Summary of Qualifications: 15 years Part 135. Citation Ultra and King Air B200 Captain.
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
Arrived at the jetBlue building and signed in. Waited for about 5 minutes before a nice lady came down and took us upstairs to another waiting room where several other interviewees were waiting. We were each taken to pee in a cup and have our fingerprints scanned. from there we were selected one by one to head downstairs to another larger room where seats were set up and there was a Q&A session in progress. we dropped off our logbooks on a table and signed in at another table. Everyone was very friendly and I felt very welcome and comfortable. I met several other JB pilots and asked them questions until my name was called for the first interview. Their were 2 interviewers, a line captain and an HR person. they asked the normal "why I wanted to work here" and "why I wanted to leave my current employer." The rest of the questions were completely different from the gouges I read prior. It seems to me that they changed all the questions up because they were getting memorized answers and that defeats the point of an interview. I would recommend having a few stories in your brain and just being yourself. One of the interviewees I talked to afterwords said he was asked if he had read the gouges?? he said not really and they replied "you should do fine then"
That first round lasted 20 minutes and I returned back to the big room and had more opportunities to ask questions. the final interview was with a Chief Pilot. He was very laid back and looked over my resume and asked questions related to it. lasted maybe 12 minutes. I returned back to the big room and was thanked for coming and was free to go. I stayed for lunch then hooked up with some other guys and shared a cab to the airport. ($45 flat fee to JFK) Subway was $12 but took about an hour. After 7 days I got the email that I had moved to phase 2 and now I am waiting for it to be completed and get a class date.
Date Interviewed: March 2013
Summary of Qualifications: Military, 3.5K hrs, 3k+ multi/turbine, 3K+ PIC/Instr/Evaluator, ATP/CFII, Masters Degree
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Absolutely most relaxed interview I've done. Everybody went well out of their way to make us feel welcome and calm our nerves.

Big lessons learned:
1. Logistics (big lesson): Flight crew on my trip down suggested I save a few bucks and take the crew shuttle to HQ. Unfortunately, they both interviewed a couple years ago from before the new Long Island City. A pilot on the shuttle told me I was going the wrong place - but suggested I call Q-cab: 718-846-6666 - a lot cheaper than getting a taxi (and I wouldn't have to run to the taxi stand). It took a couple minutes to get to me, and then of course traffic hit. It was looking like I might miss my 1hr-prior check-in time for the interview. Not a good feeling...Which brings me to my second lesson learned.

2. Comm: My interview paperwork was safely in the trunk of the taxi, along with the phone number for the interview organizers. Make sure you have that handy. A bit of 411 research and I got through to the "People Department" to tell them I might be a couple minutes late. I ended up being right on time, and it wasn't a problem at all. You wait in the lobby for a few minutes anyhow for a rep to come pick you up.

3. Prep: I didn't read any of the Blue books. I did, however, watch the recently-released State of the Airline video. Best prep ever. Other than that, I catalogued a bunch of my experience under the 5 JB core values and practiced telling them in SAR format.

OK, now that those are out of the way, the interview process is pretty much as described above and at APC.

First thing you do is hang out in a holding room drinking all the water you can for the whiz quiz and fingerprints.

Then to the next holding room (much larger) to deliver your logbooks and paperwork. Make sure you have everything asked for. Guest help from CPOs look through the logbooks. The ones that got sticky notes with follow-up questions generally were about checkride dates for civilians and total hours for military (tough to decode sometimes). A few former regional guys didn't have their checkrides in their logbooks because they were in sims. I put a memo on top of my mix of military and civilian logbooks that explained them... no followups for me. JB Capt that prepared me said being rude to the person checking in your paperwork is sometimes the first place where things go wrong.

Then, in the same room, you hang out with CPO reps for informal conversation. I thought they were open about some difficulties, but this is definitely a time where they're selling you on the company and starting to feed you some Blue Juice. That's as it should be.

When your interview team is ready, they come get you. It's a Capt and a People Dept (HR) rep. Interview is in a big conference room with several temporary tables around the sides. Far enough from each other that you don't get distracted by other interviews.

Again, they did their best to make me feel relaxed and comfortable. Water, jacket off, banter, brief intros, etc. They explained they'd be scribbling furiously as I answered, and they delivered as promised.

Three standard questions: "Tell us about yourself," "Why JetBlue?" and "What do you know about JetBlue." Then 5 questions, each tied to one of the Core Values. Again, I can't stress SAR format enough. Interviewers made three columns under the questions - one for Situation, one for Action, one for Result. If you see a lot of blank space in one column as you're relating your story, fill it up. Other thing I was told by JB Capt was to make sure it's a specific, real-world story, not a general philosophy.

Finished up with "Any questions for us?" To which I turned around one of the initial questions - "Why did YOU choose JetBlue?"

Returned to pick up my logbooks and was released. I hung around to listen to the CPO reps until I got hungry.

Email about a week later to tell me I'd made it through Phase I and was entering Phase II. Call for class 5 months later 2 weeks before class was starting, but I deferred to a class starting 2 weeks after that (she told me the date).
Date Interviewed: March 2013
Summary of Qualifications: 4600 hrs. 3800 ME turbine, 2200 Turbine PIC Part 91K/135, On-Demand 135 and two 121 regionals
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Interview was very laid back. Goes the way most other posters have said. Show up for the fingerprinting and drug test. Then into a holding room where thy take your logbooks and documents. Chat with a cadre of Chief Pilots while waiting to be called for your interview.

Interview is with one People Person (HR) and one line pilot. No technical questions. Was asked what my resume does not say about me that might be interesting. Then a bunch of the typical TMAAT questions.

They want the standard problem, solution, result format. I think they wanted storied obviously with good results but also that showed a willingness to go above and beyond to help not only your customers but your fellow crew members succeed.

After half an hour or so later they asked why JetBlue. Told them it was good for me because of the BOS base, seemed like a happy workforce, and the growth potential. Also I asked some questions about future products and recent news, kinda just to show I was paying attention to their current events.

Got the Phase II email a week later to the day. It still comes by email. Then it was a very long wait for the good news. I think I went about 13-14 weeks without hearing anything. This part is the worst as you grow an uncanny fear of FedEx trucks. Bad news comes by FedEx, good news is a phone call.

Just finished training. Overall it seems like a great place. No doubt they have issues that will need to be worked out as the hiring environment continues. Training is top notch and they do seem to care about getting you off to a good start. The other stuff is just typical industry stuff we deal with anywhere.
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