Prepare for a scholarship interview and assessment

Firstly, well done for getting an interview!

I can only speak from my own experience of being awarded a flying scholarship, which might not necessarily be what other airlines are looking for; but I think a great starting point for anyone about to attend an assessment or interview.

Firstly, for the pilot aptitude assessments there are a number of practice simulation softwares you can download on your computer, along with picking up a second‑hand joystick to practice the different type of assessments. Additionally, there are some really good books with mental arithmetic and quick‑thinking exercises. If you have to commute by public transport these little books are perfect for on the go to get you thinking in the right way about how to approach these exercises.

If your basic school level maths and science is lacking, it would be advisable to use the free BBC bite‑size resources online. They are published in little sections you can use to brush up on basic principles and formulae. The way to test you understand something is to try explaining it to a five‑year‑old.

In terms of interview prep, you should know exactly what the airline does, where they fly, the aircraft they fly and engines they have fitted to them. On top of that, you should know exactly the kind of people they recruit - including their qualifications, skills, aptitude and attitude towards the work they do, the role you would be expected to fulfil, the length and intensity of all the training you would be obliged to complete, the knowledge you would be required to retain and the timeframe to acquire it, the expectations upon you to fulfil the role and the professional standards expected from you upon qualification.

You should read up on recent news articles about the company, their new initiatives (including green and product development), know the company values and strategy, fuel and carbon‑saving initiatives (if applicable), challenges facing the industry, and how you envisage your role as a pilot in the company can help address those challenges. If you find something about the company you're genuinely interested in or curious to know more, use this as the starting point for your questions.

Go through the role and person specifications and check you have a range of different example situations that you can demonstrate through the STAR model in order to answer competency‑based questions efficiently.

Use this as your starting point, not the end goal. You should basically feel like you are ready to start the job immediately without much additional teaching on the basics. You should be able to answer most of their questions confidently and comfortably without checking your notes, although it's always good to have your notes in a folder in front of you on the table to give you that confidence boost!

Don't forget to take along your folder of achievements, including evidence of any volunteering projects, flying logbooks, and perhaps your chart with your last cross‑country flight drawn up if it's something you'd be confident talking about.

You should wear smart trousers, with shirt and tie (all genders in my opinion as this is expected from all genders on qualifying) and highly polished shoes. Hair should be clean, smart and tied back - it's an interview not a fashion show.