| Arrived at SWA HQ in Dallas ~7:30am for an 8:00am interview. The pilot candidates were
instantly recognizable-the only ones in the whole building wearing suits! Everyone had the
navy blue suit/conservative tie (mostly reds). There were eleven of us; ten military & one
civilian (your's truly). Someone had already initiated a contact sheet with all our names &
numbers for calling each other later on (a very good idea). The very nice woman behind the
desk at the People Dept. lobby also had a list of all the interviewer's names...helpful if you
decide to send out thank-you letters later (not a bad idea).
Things got under way promptly at 8:00, when Kathy Nusbaum ushered us all into a conference room
for a group briefing on what to expect. Three ~30 min interviews; one with a People Dept
person, two with line pilots. Then a short logbook review with another line pilot. Mostly
situational questions. Takes 6-8 weeks to find out if you made the cut; class date will be in
the Sept-Oct timeframe. Then they asked us to take out our logbooks and all the other SWA
paperwork, and leave it on the conference room table. Someone would be looking them over while
we were interviewing.
We then returned to the People Dept lobby. Interviewers began coming out right away and
calling us individually for the first round of interviews. They must have at least as many
interviewers as interviewees because I never had more than about 10 minutes wait between
interviews. They seem to prefer you not bring anything into the interview room with you, but I
had a pen and a few index cards just in case I needed to make a few notes...turns out I didn't
need them. I've been told that civilian pilots interview civilian candidates, while
ex-military candidates are interviewed by ex-military SWA pilots. That was the case for me,
but it seems hard to believe that my pilot interviewers wouldn't have talked to any of the
other candidates that morning.
Interview #1: People Dept. Rep
A really nice guy....went out of his way to make me feel relaxed. We stopped by the break room
and got something to drink first (this turned out to be SOP prior to each interview). He
started by talking about his career history with SWA. He had a copy of the resume and app
package I submitted originally to SWA, and asked a few basic questions as he briefly looked
over my file (how did you get into flying?, etc.). Then we got down to it--the situational
questions. He had a ~10 page packet that appeared to have several questions on each page. He
would ask me one question per page and make a lot of notes on the page as I told my stories.
This was common to all three interviews and each interviewer made a point of telling me in
advance that they would be doing a lot of writing during the interview and that it is normal.
All told, he must have asked me about ten questions (average is eight, I've heard). I can't
recall all of them, but I did get these:
1) Tell about a flying experience that you are especially proud of.
2) Tell about a time when you were asked to fly but did not.
3) Tell about a stressful situation in the cockpit and how you handled it?
4) Tell about a time when you had to use diplomacy with a co-worker?
5) Tell about a project that you initiated and how it turned out?
6) Why should we hire you over the other qualified applicants here today (besides your flight
experience)?
7) Tell about a time you had to change your intended plan of action due to circumstances beyond
your control? (I asked if I could tell him about a time I had to divert to an airport other
than my planned destination. He said sure!)
8) Tell about a decision you made that you would do differently in hindsight.
Interview #2: Dallas-based SWA First Officer
An ex-Florida Gulf pilot. Very low-key and easy to talk to. He spent several minutes at the
start looking over my resume and asking about the companies I've flown for.
1) Tell about a time you had to make an inflight diversion to another airport.
2) Tell about a time when you intentionally bent the rules to get the job done. (He admitted
this was a dangerous question that you could hang yourself with)
3) Tell about a time when you set a positive example for another crewmember.
4) What is the most difficult decision you made in the last year?
5) Tell about a time when you were concerned about fuel.
6) What do you like best about flying? Worst?
7) Tell about a time when you were distracted in the cockpit.
Interview #3: Chicago-based SWA Captain
An ex-Metro driver! (the plane I fly currently) He flew IIs and IIIs for an airline out of
Chicago years ago. He too looked over my resume first which prompted a few questions. We must
have talked Metros for at least 10 minutes before getting down to the obligatory questions.
1) Tell about a time you had to correct a crewmember as to company policy
2) Tell about a decision you made that was unpopular with a co-worker.
3) Tell about a time when you made an extra effort to satisfy a co-worker or customer
4) Ever said something to a co-worker that you wish you hadn't?
5) What was your scariest flying experience?
6) How do you prepare for training in a new aircraft type?
7) one other that I cannot remember...
That was it for the interviews. It really was as low-stress an interview as you could possibly
hope for. Absolutely none of the mind games and secret tests you hear about at other airlines
(e.g. do you drink the water or not?). I probably could have forgot deodorant that morning and
no one would have even noticed. I didn't take a pass on any of the questions, but I think you
probably could maybe once per interviewer and not have it count against you. Also, a few times
I needed to tweak a question slightly to better fit the story I had in mind. Every time I
asked if this would be okay, the interviewer seemed happy to accept this slight massaging of
the original question. Each interviewer would close by asking if I had any questions. I think
it's good form to have at least one thoughtful question about SWA at the ready.
The logbook review with another SWA pilot followed after the last interview, and was a
non-event, which I guess meant they found all the info they were looking for. I strongly
suggest you tab your logbook prior to interview so they can easily find your ATP, B737 type,
when you hit 2500TT, 1000PIC turbine, etc.
I was out of the building at 11:30am.
One week after the interview my references & past employers started getting phone calls about
me from SWA. The day after that Cindy Hamilton called to schedule a drug test. I took this to
mean that I passed the interview!
Through friends at SWA I learned that my Pilot Review Board was on July 8th. On July 20th
Cindy called to say I had passed the Board, but they still needed to obtain copies of my
training and drug test records from current & past employers (courtesy of that wonderful Pilot
Records Improvement Act). This took about two months to resolve because one of my previous
employers went bankrupt...hence no one now available to send in my training records. In these
cases, it appears SWA must wait a specific period of time (60 days?) before being able to say
they made a good faith effort to obtain the records. Once that hurdle was finally cleared,
Cindy called me on Sept 14th to say I was completely finished with the interview/screening
process and that I should be hearing from one of the SWA Chief Pilots within the next week
Re:class dates. The Dallas Chief Pilot called me the following day with an offer for an
October class!
The best advice I can offer on how to prepare for the interview is not to over-prepare! If you
can just relax and be yourself, that's probably 90% of the battle. Also, to be successful with
the situational-type questions, it is an absolute must to be familiar with your flying history.
Checklist for Success by Cheryl Cage helped me more than any other book I've read about
interviewing. I considered doing a formal interview prep session, but was discouraged from
doing this by friends at SWA. Instead I just had a friend ask me a few situational questions
so that I could practice my delivery (also did this a lot in the cockpit with co-pilots as a
productive way to pass the time). That seemed to be enough for me. Answers must never seem
scripted, but they should follow a general format of Situation, Time, Action, and Result.
My stats at the time of interview:
3868TT, 2050 Turboprop, 0 Jet, 1236 Turbine PIC, 2549 MEL; SA227 & B737 Types
35 yr old white male; Part 121 Commuter Captain; BS Aerospace Engineering
No military exp.
6 letters of rec from current SWA pilots.
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