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Virgin America Pilot Interview Profiles

» Home » Pilot Interviews » Jet Airlines » Virgin America
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Date Interviewed: February 2013
Summary of Qualifications: 6000 fw, 250 rw, ATP, regional
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
Similar to previous post. (business attire, no one had ties)
1. Arrive and check in, submit paperwork that was emailed
2. Group interview with chief pilot, recruiting manager, training manager, and hr, introductions, company Q&A session, and the tell me about a time question draw
3. Break for catered lunch, interact with other employees
4. Quick tour of the bldg
5. Individual panel interviews...standard questions, why would you be a good fit, any conflict resolution situations, etc.

Very well organized and professional. Upbeat atmosphere and employees have a great outlook on the future of the company. No sim check or written evaluation. Growing company, good luck on getting in.
Date Interviewed: March 2012
Summary of Qualifications: ATP, EMB-145..5000+TT
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Not sure what happened to the applicants who posted before this one but it was not a waste of a day at all. Very welcoming and friendly staff at VA.

Started off at 9:30am at the hotel, no breakfast.
U shaped tables with all candidates sitting facing towards the 5 Interviewers form Virgin:
(HR) 3
(SFO Chief Pilot)
(Dir. of Training)

Started off with brief intros of the Staff and company. Collected paperwork they ask you to bring in. Then went around the room and asked each person to introduce themselves.

Next they asked who has ever flown on Virgin

From there they then asked each person to describe one thing about the Virgin flight that made them stand out from other airlines.

After that they asked if anyone had any questions for them. (They like when you raise your hand and participate in this)

Then one of the HR ladies passes out questions that are typed out. Each person picks one, leaves it face down until you are randomly chosen to read it out loud then answer. All of them were “tell me a time when” questions.

Next was the van ride over to HQ. This is good time to talk to the interviewers casually. They like outgoing, but not annoying, personalities. Took us right into the company break room where lunch was provided. They eat with you and are watching how you interact with the other Virgin employees eating there lunch.

Quick tour of the facilities, then back to the break room to wait your turn to be called in for the individual portion of the interview.

Individual portion was 3 on 1, with 2 HR as well as SFO Chief.

Only about 15-20min for that portion. It seems like rapid fire but they make you feel very comfortable in there. Even the whole day was like that. All very friendly and welcoming.

Seems like if they invited you there they want to hire you but they just want to make sure you are a good fit for Virgin.

9 of us there, not positive who all made it. I think 6. One guy I know didn’t because he was pretty negative about his current company.

No reason to study for anything. No tests, No sim, No Jepps. Just have a few stories ready to tell for the “Tell me a time when” portion.

Side notes:
They do not provide flights or lodging for the interview. (Red Roof rate is $51 out the door if you tell them you are there for a Virgin Interview) Close to everything and has a restaurant attached
Date Interviewed: June 2010
Summary of Qualifications: ATP DHC 8, CL65, B757, B767 10,500 hrs check airman, Instructor, DPE.
Were you offered the job? No
Pilot Interview Profile:
First an online assessment and IQ test, very good screening process, if you pass you will be selected for the interview. The actual interview did not follow the rigid style of the online assessment test. Very relaxed and casual. In my opinion first part of screening is good and through, 2nd part is an absolute waste of time. There is no formal interview. You are in a group setting, and are given a random question; typical questions are; tell me about a time when….. Standard airline questions. Nothing new.

VA is catering to a yuppie crowed, it is not a low cost airlines. VA company pilot profile; are younger techno type guys mid 30ties, good looking, preferably liberal attitude and minority.

Their screening process is very poor since they hire less than 20% of the applicants; this becomes a huge waste of man hours.
Overall though if you are successful it seem to be a cool place to work at.
Date Interviewed: January 2010
Summary of Qualifications: ATP, 8000TT 4500 JetPIC mostly CRJ time
Were you offered the job? No
Pilot Interview Profile:
Best part about the day was a nice lunch provided by the company. Had a very nice sandwich with chips and some salad of some sort.

Interview was at a hotel near HQ because "HQ was so full with everything going on". Interview team was about 30 minutes late. Introduced themselves and told us about the company and the job. Passed out paper with a question to each of us and we took turns answering in front of the group. Then broke for lunch, did I mention the lunch was great?

After lunch took a short written test in the hotel lobby, two versions of it. There was a lot of looking at other peoples papers by everyone, but it was not very hard. Some basic ATP stuff.

As we are taking the test two teams of two are calling people in for the interviews. Standard TMAAT stuff. I found the interview team to be disinterested in my answers and borderline rude. They seemed like they could not wait to finish so they could play with their crackberries and text their buddies.

All in all a waste of a day, only 2 out 12 got hired I think, and while they have cool lighting in their planes, they could not even bother to offer a pass for us to come interview. But, I did get a nice lunch, so I guess not a bad day after all!
Date Interviewed: April 2008
Summary of Qualifications: ATP, MD11, A320, ATR, CE750, CE500. 5000TT, 1860PIC 3900 Turbine/multi
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
Asked to meet at the Sheriton Burlingame as the group was larger than normal (12).. there was two former ATA, a former Aloha, Air Wisconsin 10 year CA, 2 Mesa Check Airman, 1 USAir East, 2 Skybus, 1 American Eagle CA.

We met at 815 on the 4th floor at a conference room. It was about a 10 minute casual meet and greet with the Director of Ops, System CP, and Head of HR pilot recruitment, as well as a line Check Airman. Paperwork was collected by HR lady and then we all took a conference table and were handed a paper with a single question on it.. we then went around the table and were first asked to a)Why Virgin, and b)answer the question on the card we got.. some were "tell me how you would deal with stress in the cockpit" or "When have you had to divert" etc.... these were answered in front of the group.

We then broke off into two groups.. one group interviewed with the CP the other with HR/Check Airman.. all questions were situational and only minimally tapped on technical topics if at all. There was no airbus specific questions to those with Airbus time. We then broke for lunch half way thru the interviews which was very nice, catered by the hotel with iced tea and high quality sandwiches and salad.

After lunch we finished off the rest of the interviews and did a quick tour of the HQ facility which is with in a short walk of the hotel. The facility was quite impressive for being a new and small airline and you could tell they were gearing up for growth and had sufficient support staff.

Upgrade times were estimated at between 1 and 1.5 years and based strictly on seniority. Crew base was currently only SFO but others (likely in the east) are in the works.
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