I attended the 9am Open House Hiring event in Chicago on July 31st. I flew in at my expense because it was not a formal interview invitation. Having just experienced the Open House event with Skywest airlines the week before, I really expected another poorly run affair and very disappointing experience... However, upon arriving at 8.30am, I could already tell this was going to be a whole different experience altogether. - First, the hotel they choose was far more suited to operating the event. Skywest chose a run down hotel with lack of air conditioning, and room to cater for the 70-80 applicants that showed up. - Secondly, I could already tell that that the pool of Envoy applicants were FAR more sophisticated and professional than the pool that Skywest attracted - which says a lot! - Thirdly, Envoy chose a time of day to hold the event that was far more appropriate than the 6pm event that Skywest arranged. That alone could help weed out the lazy people and not so serious applicants. My way of thinking, is that if you really want this, then get out of bed early, make the effort to show up and get time off work if needed. - Last but not least, Envoy appeared to be EVERYTHING Skywest was NOT! Professional! Every flight attendant who was helping to host the event, showed up in their Envoy uniform with huge smiles and were greeting everyone with so much positivity and actually took the time to shake hands with the applicants while waiting around. They had Envoy banners, table cloths, pens, even professional Envoy stamped paperwork to give to you, including a put together slideshow in a large air conditioned conference room with fresh iced water and clean glasses. SkyWest had NONE of this. At the Skywest event, the interviewers who were also Skywest flight attendants barely smiled and laughed. They wore regular clothes. They had zero Skywest marketing. The interviewers looked down and read from a piece of paper while explaining everything - zero personality, enthusiasm, or creativity. Anyway, back to the interview... so upon arriving at the hotel. We had to check in at their little Envoy bannered table. We were given some paperwork to fill out in what I’m going to call Room A. We then handed that paperwork back to the 2nd Envoy bannered table where one of the ladies who was from Human Resources, checked to see if you had in actual fact applied online by doing a search on her computer. She then asked you to sit in Room B. I got talking to all the people who sat next to me. Everyone was so nice but unlike my last interview at Skywest, I had little nerves. I was relaxed, I was calm and I was really happy to be there because I was COMFORTABLE, and I really do believe that had a lot to do with Envoy doing a great job to market themselves, plus the welcoming hotel they chose. Finally the presentation started and it was so inspiring! It was led by a flamboyant male flight attendant who was hilarious! He was really a pleasure to listen to and he didn’t read from a piece of paper. He introduced all his colleagues and everyone we would meet in the process of the interview. He explained that they are currently recruiting for New York and Chicago and their company is growing! He made it clear they were American Airlines number subsidiary and that they are known for their great customer service reputation. That alone made me excited to apply to this company. After the presentation, the flight attendant interviewers started to take out groups of 5 for group interviews. I was one of the last groups. The wait was long but I was finally pulled for my group interview at around noon. It was upstairs in a small private conference room and our interviewer explained that they are behind on time as they had the next pool of candidates coming in at 1pm, so if we could keep our answers sweet and to the point then it would be appreciated. She proceeded to ask 5 questions that were pretty easy. I didn’t rehearse any answers. I just went with it and spoke from the heart and soul. She seemed to like this because I was the only one to make her laugh. She then asked us to read a paragraph out loud from this piece of paper which was a similar speech you’d say in flight and I have to say I really thought I killed that! Once finished, all 5 of us were told by our interviewer to go back down to Room A. I sat in Room A and the HR lady brought me some paperwork and said congratulations, you have been chosen for pre-employment! I couldn’t believe it because many people were pulled for a 1on1 interview after their group interview. All 5 of us by-passed that and were told on the spot we were through. After that, she took my finger prints, checked I.Ds and told me to head over to one of the hotel rooms where they had a 3rd party administering drug tests. From what I’ve been told, as many as 50% of applicants fail the drug test! So I’m sure they have to OVER OFFER pre-employment based on this alone. Training date TBC. :)