United Airlines interview questions

It is a precursor to the interview power control. The interview request was given through email and phone call. The phone interview was just basic questions that were answered in the resume but seemed comical to play along. Another HR representative called me shortly thereafter. The interview was set up with a panel of people involved in the hiring process. I went to Chicago to interview very prepared. When I went up to the interview there was only one manager opposed to 3 which I found odd. He was very knowledgeable about Continental and United and the job which took about 10 minutes to background me. The interview was based on the STAR technique which is explained on line and in a number of books. Basically it gives a situational problem and you are to find time in your career where you have had a similar experience, how you overcame the problem and the outcome. The interview was scheduled for 1 hour and we extended that by about 30 minutes. I have had a lot of interview experience and felt this one was one of those that I nailed down. Probably overconfidence on my part but nothing seemed to go wrong that wasn’t recoverable. Here’s where the spiral down begins. The manager I interviewed with was a great, a good hand shaker, smiles all around. I asked him what the timeline was and he told me about 2 weeks. I should have known when he told me that his entire crew stayed in San Francisco jobless rather than transfer to Chicago there might be a problem with this position. He gave me his card and told me to call with any questions or concerns. I believe that is code at United for “the checks in the mail”! I sent my thank you letter and told him how great this opportunity was, yada, yada, yada. I was not contacted after 2 weeks and of course human nature is “what’s going on” so I send an email to the “manager” no reply. Phone calls with messages with no reply. Numerous other emails and still no reply. I finally call the HR rep and he says not to worry this is normal which is code at United for “you didn’t get the job” I have to learn to crack these codes. He told me to give it a month which I did. Finally, 5 weeks later they send me the thanks but no thanks letter via E-mail. Here’s my problem with all this. People love to slap manager on their title but have very little management skills. Being a manager requires you to make tough decisions and giving bad news; especially when you are the one soliciting information. At the very least give some feedback of why I didn’t get the job for future reference. While I would have liked that job and know I would have benn superb at it I am grateful I didn’t get it. In the long run it will be for the best.

I applied through the HR website and received a call from an HR rep in the first week of January. To give some context, I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, 4 years professional experience with 1.5 years analyst/reporting experience. The rep stated that someone would be calling in the next day to set up an interview. I then spoke with another rep the next day who set up a face to face interview at the Chicago headquarters (77 W Wacker Dr). She explained that the job would begin at the head quarters and move to the Willis tower in October 2012. She set up a flight for the following Tuesday (4 days later, all expenses would be paid including cab fare). I would fly out around 8am, interview in the early afternoon, then fly back home in the evening. I then spent the next 3 days preparing for the interview, which was critical to my success later. I literally studied between 12-15 hours. I recommend that everyone study and research as much as possible about the industry and the position/department.(Do you want the job? Studying will give you the confidence and knowledge you HAVE to have) By using the job description, I was able to find detailed information about the sub-industry: Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul. Dissect the job description and Google everything until you feel like you have a strong handle on the role, the department and how both fit within the business model of United and the greater industry. I suggest Googleing for white papers, forums, industry articles and case studies. Read and understand the company’s annual report(Found on the company’s website) and mention that you read it in the interview. They will be impressed. I even pulled out my old strategic management text books because I remembered there were a couple of cases regarding airline companies. I can't stress how critical this studying was to my success and confidence in the interview. DO IT!!! I arrived at O'Hare and took a cab to the headquarters building. One of the hiring managers greeted me in the lobby of the building and we went up to a conference room to conduct the interview with him and another manager. The interview went extremely well...we bantered for the first 45 min about my resume and experience as well as the industry and company itself. Most of the interview was quite informal until the last 15 min when they seemed to reluctantly pull out the standard HR behavioral questions: How did you deal with a conflict with a co-worker?, Describe an instance when you encountered a hurdle in a task or project and how you overcame it. As usual, they request that you answer in the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) after about 15-25 min of these questions one of the managers realized that I would likely have to catch a flight and we all shuffled to check the time. We briefly touched on questions I had, they introduced me to their boss(the VP) and rushed me out the door so I wouldn't miss the flight. Do to my extensive studying and subsequent confidence, I felt that I had built great report with both interviewers and felt very confident that I would get a call back. I assumed it would be a matter of a day or two but did not hear anything. I followed up with a thank you email the next day to both hiring managers, the VP and CC’d the HR rep. I tailored each email to each manager, individually thanking them and re-capping how my qualifications matched the job. A week went by with no word from anyone, so I inquired with the hiring manager via email. He wrote back and said that the process with United can take 2-4 weeks internally. I rested a little easier but another whole week went by with no word. Since 2 weeks had gone by, I called the HR rep (At night so I knew I would get her voice mail) to ask if there was anymore information I could provide to aid in the process. I don’t know if this encouraged her to follow up with the hiring managers, but the next day she called to inform me that they wanted to make an offer. While the relocation package was extremely generous (break your lease, pay closing costs, move your stuff, ship your cars, pay for 2 months rent in Chicago, pay for storage, give you $10k for misc expenses if you are a home owner, and $6k for renters) the salary was a low-ball offer ($47,500). They actually offered less than I was currently making. I asked for the weekend to think it over with my wife and told her I would call on Monday. I called on Monday and informed her that I with the cost of living difference I would need at least $61,500. She stated that that was significantly above the pay cap and asked if that was the lowest I could go. I let her know that I really couldn’t go lower than 60k and she said she would have to call back after speaking with the hiring managers. The next day she called back and offered $55k. Read my reasoning for declining below: