Behavioural Interviewing for Pilots.......

What is Behavioural Interviewing? How Can I Prepare?

Sample Questions.

by Capt Andrew Barsby. August 2020.

Pilots the world over, me included, have found themselves on the unfortunate side of this COVID-19 virus and now jobless. Many have been gainfully employed in their airlines for many years and have never even thought of updating their CV let alone contemplated the fact they will have to dust off the suit and practise their interview skills again. I wanted to share with you some insights that I have gained over the many years as an airline pilot and pilot recruiter in a hope of helping out my fellow aviators.

What is Behavioural Interviewing?

The idea behind behavioural based interviewing is simple. How you acted to a previous situation or task will accurately reflect how you will act if faced with the situation again. Sounds logical right? As with most generalised assumptions there is a caveat to this statement also, of which we will explore in this article.

Much like the traditional format of any job interview, behavioural based interviewing follows a similar format. You will be interviewed, face to face by a representative from the airline's pilot recruitment team and usually accompanied by a pilot representing flight operations. You will be asked a series of questions that will be formulated from a set number of competencies they will be assessing you against.

The difference lies in why they are asking the questions and more importantly how you should answer them. The main difference between this style of questioning as apposed to traditional competency base questioning is that there is no right or wrong answer. The interview panel has already determined the skills set require for the particular role and will go about finding whether you have those skills by asking you how you did behaved instead of how you would behave.

Preparing for Success.

The question will usually start with a leading phase such as "Tell us about a time when..." or "In your previous airline, describe a situation where... These are all examples of behavioural based questions which lends itself to describing a specific behaviour that YOU showed. These questions will be probing, direct, and example based. Here are my tips for success in answering them:

• Be specific. Paint the environment exactly for the interviewer so there is no doubt in their minds about the situation you faced,
• Tell them exactly the task that was required to be performed,
• Again be specific about the actions that YOU took to achieve the task,
• Tell them how it ended up. It doesn't matter if the outcome was not ideal for the task. What is important is the actions and behaviours that you took. Remember to tell them what you learnt as a result or highlight how your behaviour aided task completion.

If you are not sure of what the interviewer is asking, make sure you pause and clarify the question before proceeding. With practise you will get a really good understanding of what competency the interview is assessing.

STAR

So pilots are used to acronyms. We live with them in almost all aspects of our daily lives. For the format of answering behavioural based questions, this is no different and whats better its an aviation acronym. STAR. Referring back to the bullet points previously, you may have picked up a flow and a way of describing your behaviour. Well, STAR is a perfect way of formulating your answers.

• S - Situation (The specific situation that you encountered)
• T - Task (The task in which you performed)
• A- Action (The actions and behaviours that YOU took to complete the task)
• R - Result (The results or outcome that came from the actions YOU took. And importantly what you learnt from it)

The I word.

So why the capitalisation of YOU. Simply because this interview is all about you. It is not about how you and the First Officer or Captain as a crew completed the task. It's about you. They are not interviewing the team for the job, they are interviewing you so tell them exactly what you did. Always start the sentence with I and if you find yourself saying We then make sure that the interviewer has and understanding of what you did or they may probe a little harder. Remember past performance is an indicator of future performance.

How to Prepare

The usual question I get from candidates I have seen or pilots I have assisted prior to interviews is, "Andy they could literally ask me anything, how on earth am I going to prepare my answers?" My answer to this is simple in saying that yes they could so why worry yourself over it. You have the format above for those curly questions. Stick to the format and it will flow.

The one thing I must say is have a think of about 5 - 10 scenarios, preferably aviation based, where you have successfully solved a problem, or shown leadership, or a memorable flight you've had. From these scenarios you will be amazed how many questions you can answer. The trick to this selecting the right answer for the competency in question. My advice on this is pause for a minute and have a think about the question. Don't jump in with your best leadership scenario if the question is related to systems knowledge.

Summary

In this article we explored the differences between behavioural and traditional interview questions. Key phases to remember are; Past performance is an indicator of future performance, STAR - Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Remember there is no right or wrong answer to these questions. Be honest in your response and enjoy telling your stories. Remember we are renowned for it.

I have listed a few sample questions below for you to read. Practise your answers in front of the mirror, have some fun, enjoy the process and I wish you all the best in your job hunt.

Sample Questions.

1. "Tell us about a time where you have had to overrule a Captain's decision and how you went about it?"
2. "Describe a decision you made that has been unpopular and how you handle it?"
3. "Can you remember a situation where you have found yourself running late on push back or getting close to exceeding flight time limitations?"
4. "Have you ever exceeded expectations and gone above and beyond in your role, When was that?"
5. "Can you recall a time where you have had to convince a team member of task they did not want to do, how did you handle it?"