Wizz Air Assessment Briefing

The process is challenging and you should do as much

preparation and research as you have time for.

It’s currently a 3 day process:

Day 1 - Introduction, ATPL and HR test, Group Exercise

Day 2 - Technical interview, HR interview

Day 3 - Simulator Assessment

At the end of Day 1 if successful for the next day you will receive an
email with your interview times for the next day. Your interviews will
be one after the other, so no prep time available in between.

At the end of Day 2 if successful you will receive an email for

simulator slot on day 3.
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At the end of Day 3 they will advise you will receive an email
detailing the outcome of the process within 2 weeks although most
candidates receive it within a few days.

Day 1:

Group Introduction:

Discussions on salary, benefits and rosters

HR Questionnaire to fill out whilst waiting for the day to start.

Your documentation will be checked whilst you sit the tests.

Technical Examination (90 Multiple Choice Questions & 10 Written

HR Questions - Day 1)

Company Questions:

There are multiple versions of this test, so no good copying.

Questions include some maths questions - no calculator or phones
allowed. Completed on a computer. These are typical examples of
some of the questions that will be asked:

• Dates Wizz Air was founded and first flight/destination

• Destinations questions (furthermost to the north or east)

• Which bases does the airline have in Croatia/Poland?

• What is the crew composition?

• Which cabin version does the airline operate?

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 • Name of CEO/COO

General ATPL Questions:

• With an isotherm at 2000ft, what temperature will we get at

FL170?

• What would be the ISA deviation?

• Cloud base height calculation given the dew point and

temperature

• MEP critical engine question

• IAS-EAS-CAS compressibility question

• Mach/constant TAS question

• Paint/water needs 2:1.5 ratio. The painter has mixed 3 litres of

each, how much does
he need to add to have the correct ratio?

• Pythagoras triangle side calculation

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 • Tan 90 = ? (Trigonometry)

• What lights do you have to see to establish visual contact in

LVO?

• What is the minimum visibility for takeoff when LVO not in

force?

• What is the weather like in a low pressure system?

• When would you find cirrus clouds (before/after clod/warm

front)?

• Where do you find turbulence around a jet stream?

• Do flaps decrease the stall speed?

• What is the yaw damper for?

• What is the purposes of swept wings?

• What are the 4 stages of a piston engine?

• What is the purpose of a carburettor?

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 • What is a wet/hung start?

• What is the minima for CAT I/II/III?

• Calculate a rate of descent with given groundspeed and angle

of descent

• What is the typical CB avoidance distance in cruise?

• Time spacing at takeoff based on wake turbulence

• Alternate planning minima rules

• If a runway has 8 piano keys how wide is that runway?

• Wheel diameter is 60cm how far will it travel in two rotations?

• Where is the highest loss of heat? Exhaust, heat exchanger etc

• 8 workers take 10 hours to complete a task. How long will it take

with 12 workers?

• What is ILS Cat II RVR limitations?

• Where is the Autopilot mode indicated?

• Oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers - what is used for compression

and springs?

• How far does Sector Safe Altitude extend to?

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• Question on a chart where it asks for the distance between a
navaid and a waypoint.

• What is driftdown / letdown

• Smallest temp variation in a day - forest, grass, land, sea

A320 Questions:

• Max pitch / bank angles /different laws

• If pitch is in alternate law, how does this effect bank and

direction?

• Max brake temperature before takeoff

• What happens if reversers are commanded in flight?

• To which position does the wing anti ice valve go to if an

engine is off in flight?

• How many engine fire extinguishing bottles are there? Are

they shared?

• What is the normal hydraulic pressure?

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 • Pressure differential required to have the PTU working?

• Question about APU / BMC (detection loop?)

• Which tank provides fuel to the APU?

• Are the fire detection loops mounted in parallel or in series?

• Flight control computers questions

• AP engagement/disconnection limitations for takeoff and

landing

• Windshield wiper speed limitation

• Tyre speed limitation

• Voltage question on the electrical system

• How do you get out of alpha floor

• Which way does nose wheel retract?

• Which slats are heated?

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 • What is your first action on initiation of an emergency
descent?

• What is your first action if you encounter a stall?

• Does continuous ignition work when engine anti-ice is on?

• Where are the manual start switches located?

• How are the hydraulic reservoirs pressurised?

• What is the A320 fuel tanks capacity?

• What is the sequence of fuel usage (from which tanks first)?

HR Written Questions:

• What sports do you do?

• Why Wizz Air?

• What can you bring to Wizz Air?

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

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• How would you explain an ILS to someone who has no aviation
knowledge?

• Describe yourself in 3 words

• Which 3 bases would you prefer?

• Define CRM

• What is our furthest base to the west and east?

Group Exercise:

There are a number of scenarios Wizz Air use, the scenario

itself is not important, naturally as per all group exercises it
is how you interact and work with the team!

Below we have given a couple of examples of group

exercises Wizz Air use:

Exercise 1:

The group consists of approximately 5-6 candidates sat

around a square table. The time for the exercise is 20 minutes.
The conditions for the exercise is as follows:
- There are 5 different flights
- The aircraft are parked on different stands (1-2-3-4-5)
- Each aircraft has a different departure time
- Each aircraft is from a different nationality
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 - They are going to different destinations
- Transporting different types of cargo (coffee-spices, etc.) -
Painted in different colours

The examiners give you a number of statements, like "the

English aircraft is black", or "the aircraft departing at 9:00 is
parked next to the aircraft going to Marseille", etc. Your duty
is to determine, in the 20 minutes, which aircraft goes to
which destination and carries which cargo.

Exercise 2:

An aircraft is in London and must have an engine and APU

change. The parts and expertise are in other cities in Europe.
You need to work out the best way of getting the job
completed as quickly as possible.

At some point during the exercise each candidate is given

secret instructions that the other candidates do not know
about and some of the instructions contradict each other. For
example the info may state - ‘Get the work done ASAP’, ‘stall
as much as possible’, ‘keep the group together’, ‘convince
everyone to go to one city first’ etc

Additional info:

There is a white board available, you can choose to use it or

not.
There is no interaction between the examiners and candidates
during the exercise.
Please note - in group exercises they are assessing you as an
individual, not the results the group comes up with. If you

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 don’t finish the exercise it’s not important - how you behaved
during the exercise is.

What’s the purpose of a group exercise?

A group exercise is used to reveal how you interact with others as

part of a team in a pressurised environment. Generally speaking,
people find it harder to act and hide personality traits when under
pressure so a group exercise is an effective way in which the
assessors can reveal an individuals personality and behavioural
characteristics. Revealing these traits is important as it allows the
assessors to predict how you are likely to behave in the workplace
in the future. There will likely be a range of personalities and
characters involved in the exercise, typically 6 to 12. Having a
dynamic group reflects the make up of real life teams.

The environment can be a bit false. You are being put under the
microscope with multiple assessors located round the room,
furiously scribbling down information on your every word or move -
it’s difficult to be completely natural!

Have a think about who you will need to interact with on a daily
basis as a pilot?:

- The Captain

- Cabin Crew

- Engineers

- Operations Control

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 - Crew Control

- Dispatcher

- Air Traffic Control

- Passengers

- Cleaners

- Caterers

- Fullers

- Security

- Border Control

In order to get the aircraft from A to B safely, a pilot has to

interact with many groups of people, all with different
personalities, backgrounds and priorities. How do you think
you should interact with any of the above groups? This is in
essence, how you should come across in a group exercise.
A typical group exercise lasts around 15 - 30 minutes. You'll
be led into a room and sat round a table with a number of
assessors strategically located around the room. Usually there
is one assessor who will be tasked with taking notes on you
and one or two others in the group. You will be given a task
which will require interpretation by the group, followed
discussion and then an outline of the conclusion. Some

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 members of the group may be given different bits of
information regarding the task which isn’t always initially
obvious.
In a group exercise, there is no right or wrong answer. The
assessors are interested in your individual contribution to the
team rather than the specific team result. If you feel the team
has ended up making the wrong decision, don’t worry it’s
what you did to get there! You may have excelled even if the
team didn’t reach a conclusion or made a decision which you
felt was wrong.

What are the assessors looking for?

- Your ability to relate to others

- How you interact and work with an unfamiliar team - What
leadership qualities you might have
- Initiative
- Time Management
- Your communication skills

- Listening / Verbal Communication / Body Language - Your ability

to make decisions as a group

- Risk shift is a factor to consider. You are more likely to agree to a

more risky decision as a group than an individual, and the
responsibility and consequences are spread across the group.

How should I approach a group exercise?

The key points:

-If you don’t interact you can’t be assessed! You can only be
assessed on what the assessors see. If you don’t engage and
don’t say what you’re thinking, you won’t pass.

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 - When speaking to other members, try to address them by
their name. It’s not only polite but is an attention getter and
shows you have an eye for detail.

- Whilst it’s important to get involved, it’s equally important

not to be overbearing and take control of the group. It’s
possible to be too dominant, which as on the flight deck, is
not a good attribute. Listen to what others have to say without
interrupting and provide feedback.

- Involve others. If someone is quiet or hasn’t had the chance

to say anything, invite them to participate.

-Try to keep the group on track. If the group starts to go off

on a tangent, try to subtley restate what the purpose of the
exercise is in order to redirect the discussion.

-Don’t dismiss other peoples ideas (not matter how silly they
are). Listen to what others have to say and support their
participation. If you disagree with an idea or suggestion,
highlight why you’re not comfortable with it, but try to extract
some positives from it. “I can see why you’d want to take the
matches Tim, it’s important to be able to light a fire, but do
you think taking water should be a higher priority?”

-Ask open ended questions. What have we missed? What

does everyone think of this?

- Advocate your position with clear and concise reasoning.

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 - Offer to monitor the time limit. If there isn’t a clock in the
room, you could put your watch in the middle of the table for
everyone to see the time. Keep your eye on the time, and
provide updates to the others in the group. For example
“thats 10 minutes gone so we’re half way through” or “we’ve
got five minutes left so shall we think about finalising our
decision?”.

-Offer to conclude or evaluate at the end. For example “we

have 1 minute left, shall we just run through our decision to
ensure we are all happy and understand what we’ve
selected”.

Human Resource Interview Questions (Day 2)

• How did your aviation career start?

• Tell me why you want to fly?

• What have your done since finishing flight school?

• Why Wizz Air?

• How was your technical interview? Why?

• Do you shout?

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 • I believe everyone has been in a situation when an
argument has evolved. Tell me
about a time when you have faced an argument with
someone else.

• Why you and not the others in the waiting room?

• How did you prepare for this interview?

• What do you know about Wizz Air?

• What year did CRM start? Tell me about it.

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

• Other than being a pilot what other roles would you like
to do within Wizz Air?

• Tell me as a person who knows nothing about flying what

an ILS is.

• If you had to open a base in ......... where would you fly

to

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Technical Interview Questions (Day 2)

• Can you tell me how you know if you have an engine failure
on a twin engine aircraft?

• Talk me through the fuel needed on a commercial flight.

• What type of approach can you accept at your alternate

aerodrome?

• What approach at the alternate can you accept if you are

doing a non precision
approach at your destination?

• When can a jet aircraft’s final reserve fuel be increased to 45

minutes?

• When can contingency fuel reduce to 3%?

• When can you have one destination alternate?

• What are slots and flaps for?

• What are sharklets for?

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 • What is performance limited landing mass?

• What is regulated landing mass?

• What is the cost index?

• Draw a hold.

• Brief this approach plate.

• What was the Vx and Vy of your last aircraft?

• What is the missed approach gradient?

• What are the go around segments?

• Two aircraft are at FL050 one is on 1013 and the other is on

1003 which aircraft is
highest?

• What happens to the wind at the warm front?

• What is a sigmet for?

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Interview Guidance and advice:

What should I take to the interview?

Airlines will tell you what you need to bring with you on the day. In
case of a lack of guidance, as a minimum, we recommend you take
the following even if they are not asked for.

- Flying Licence
- Class One Medical Certificate
- Logbook
- Confirmation of the interview (print the email or take the letter)
- Pens and paper pad
- Academic qualification certificates
- Airside ID (if applicable)
- Flight school final report (if applicable)
- Personal, academic and employment references
- Application summary, including answers to online questions
(usually available if you

have made an online application)

When should I arrive?

If possible, we would recommend locating the venue for the

interview the day before so you are clear on the route and parking
facilities available. This will help reduce the stress levels on the day
of the interview. If you are travelling a long way to attend the
selection, it is a good idea to stay in a hotel the night before to
ensure you are well rested.

Take into account traffic congestion when planning your journey,

particularly if you are travelling to a major airport or city centre.
Whilst we would suggest arriving to the local area well ahead of the
selection start time to ensure you are not late, arriving at the actual

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venue around 10 minutes early demonstrates good time
management. If you arrive to the area well ahead of the scheduled
start time, use the time to relax with a coffee or review your notes
in a suitable nearby venue.

How should I conduct myself at the selection venue?

Whilst there are myths about you being under constant surveillance
when you enter the venue, this is very unlikely to be the case. It is
however good practice to assume everyone you meet is part of the
team of people who will decide whether you are suitable for the
job. Therefore conduct yourself with a professional and courteous
manner at all times, right from introducing yourself to the
receptionist to meeting the interview panel.

First Impressions...

The first 15 seconds of an interview are vital with people forming

an immediate opinion of you. 90% of people will form an opinion
on you within the 4 minutes and 60-80% of the impact you make
will be non-verbal.

- Carry your briefcase in your left hand to allow an easy handshake

with the right hand with any fumbling. Have a good open posture
and smile - people who smile often are seen as confident,
approachable and likeable.

First impressions count. People will form an opinion of you within

the first few seconds of meeting you. You want your impression to
be a good one as this can have a real impact on how the remainder
of the interview goes. You want the recruiter to be thinking that you
“look the part” before the interview even begins. To ensure you
start on the right foot, ensure you are well dressed in a plain suit,
neutral tie and polished shoes. You should carry your documents in
a smart briefcase. Ensure your nails are trimmed, hair freshly cut

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and you’re cleanly shaved. Greet everyone you meet throughout
the day with a polite welcome, such as “good morning” and with a
warm smile. Offer a firm (but not overly strong) handshake if
appropriate. It doesn’t matter if it’s the receptionist or the CEO,
you should greet everyone in the same curious manner. Anyone
and everyone might have some input into the recruitment process.

Try to address the interviewers by name. This will again show

confidence, shows that you have an interest in them and help
cement it into memory should you need to use their name again.
For example after you’ve been introduced, you could repeat the
name through something like: “it’s a pleasure to meet you Tim”.

Know the company

Do your research. You will be expected to know about the

company to which you are applying to in a good amount of detail:

- The history of the company. When was it founded &

significant dates / milestones.

- Structure of the company.

- The values of the company.

- Mission statement.

- Ethos

- Financial figures / stock market status. Operating profit,

revenue. How does it compare with historic trends?

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 - Passenger numbers.

- Subsidiaries.

- Routes / destinations.

- Staff numbers.

- What type of product does it offer?

- Recent restructuring

-Where do you see the company in 10 years from now?

Read the job description & responsibilities on their career
page.

Know the people

- CEO

- Chairman

- CFO

- MD
- Head of operations

- Head of flight operations

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 - Fleet manager

- Key shareholders

- Chief Pilot

- Parent company

Know the industry

- Who are the airlines biggest competitors?

- What are the biggest challenges facing the airline at the

moment?
- Fuel price
- Middle east airlines - Global epidemic

- Security
- Low cost carriers - Recession

- What can the airline do to overcome these challenges? - Focused

on it’s customer service
- Focus on it’s core customers
- Ensure it’s strategy is clear and focussed

- What’s happening in the world at the moment which has the

potential to affect our profits?

Know the fleet

- What does the fleet consist of?

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 - What engines are fitted to what aircraft?

- Does the airline have any aircraft on order?

aircraft fleet vs multi type fleet).

- What pilot bases does the airline have?

- Which aircraft are based where?

Built a fact sheet to study before hand.

What is a competency based interview?

It links knowledge, skills and attitude. Competency-based

interviews (also called structured or behavioural interviews) are
more systematic, with each question targeting a specific skill
or competency. Candidates are asked questions relating to
their behaviour in specific circumstances, which they then
need to back up with concrete examples. The interviewers will
then dig further into the examples by asking for specific
explanations about the candidate's behaviour or skills.
The section that people most commonly struggle with is the
competency based interview. Part of this is through a lack of
understanding as to why this part of the interview is
conducted. Many airline interviews are now a “tick box”
exercise. The questions will be driven by a competency
framework that's required for the job. This basically means
that the assessor has to confirm that you have demonstrated
the required competencies based on the answers you give - if
you demonstrate all the

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Which aircraft fly which routes and why?
-
- Why does the airline have a particular type of aircraft in it’s fleet
(benefits of a single

required competencies to a suitable level, you get the job but if

you fail to show you have the required attributes the assessor can’t
progress your application. Your job is to make sure that every box
gets ticked. As with the group exercise, the logic is that how you
have previously dealt with a particular circumstance, highlights how
you are likely to deal with it in the future.

So what are the recruiters looking for? The airline industry has
developed considerably over the last few decades, as has the role
of the pilots. It’s a given that the pilots can fly an ILS approach,
instead much of the emphasis is now placed on the flight crew’s
soft skills. On a daily basis the pilots are required to manage a
multitude of situations that can be influenced by a vast range of
factors ranging from, technical issues, weather, passengers, air
traffic control, language barriers, other crew members. All of this of
course whilst operating and managing a highly complex multi
million pound aircraft with potentially hundreds of people on
board. When managing such situations, you are expected to do so
in a commercially expeditious manner, i.e. you put the interest of
the customers and company first.

They’re looking for you to demonstrate that you have all the non-
technical (soft skills) required to be successful in the role (regardless
for how long you’ve been a pilot). Here are the top fifteen
attributes that you need to demonstrate:

• Problem Solving

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 • Situational Awareness

• Team Work

• Leadership

• Prioritisation

• Delegation

• Communication

• Planning

• Flexibility

• Reliability

• Empathy

• Business Orientated

• Customer Minded

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 • Adverse to risk

• Motivated / Passionate

The way an assessor will usually try to get you to demonstrate you
have the above competencies is through example based questions
such as “Give an example of when you shown initiative?”.

STAR Technique

The STAR technique helps you to address the question in a

structured way, ensuring you don’t leave anything out, don’t ramble
or let it drift into a pointless example. If you keep the STAR
structure in mind, you’ll be sure to get your point across in a
balanced manner.

Here’s an example of a question with a STAR structured answer.

“Tell me about a time when you had to work as a team to meet a
deadline whilst under pressure”

Situation – set the context for your story. For example, “Within a
small team of three people, myself Chris and Dave, I was working
as one of the flight operations controllers for ABC Airways when
the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis was developing.”

Task – what was required of you. For example, “It was our task to
get one of our aircraft from Asia, back to base before European
airspace closed, in order to repatriate the crew and ensure the
operation could continue in the most expeditious manner once the
situation had resolved.”

Activity – what you actually did. For example, “We had to flight
plan round areas of the ash cloud which had already closed
airspace, but we also had to ensure that we navigated around areas
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of dense air traffic due to huge ATC slot restrictions which would
put the crew out of hours”. Whilst doing this we also needed to
consider how we could dispatch the aircraft off schedule as this
requires a high degree of co-ordination with the crew, airports and
ground operations staff.

Result – how well the situation played out. For example, “The team
came together to put a plan in place. We agreed a time frame with
specific progress targets and also thought it sensible to work on a
contingency plan”. We identified what the potential problems
could be and how we could overcome them. We delegated
responsibilities to each controller, utilising the skills and experience
each of us had to maximise the chances of a positive outcome. As I
had recently completed an advanced course on flight planning, I
offered to work on the routing of the aircraft whilst the other
controllers organised ground operation support and liaised with
the Captain, crew members and airport. I was able to plan a
routing which the Captain was happy with, kept the crew in hours
and got

the aircraft and crew back to base just before the closure of UK
airspace. I was then able to go onto supporting my colleagues with
the logistics. Ultimately, we worked effectively as a team, planning
appropriately, delegating and supporting each other to ensure our
aircraft got safely back to base.

It’s important to be specific rather than general in your responses.

Be specific with names, numbers and achievements. Try to convey
the maximum success in the shortest period of time - recruiters will
be asking the same question many times every day, so will likely
have short attention spans.

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How they are marked:

Each attribute is marked to a set criteria. For example, if you take

“Leadership”, the most desirable criteria might be that he/she;
“Acts as a role model. Anticipates and plans for change.
Communicates a expectations with the team.” You will might then
be graded as level 4 for this statement i.e. strong display of
positive indicators.

0 - No evidence - No evidence reported

1 - Poor - Little evidence of positive indicator - Mostly negative
indicators, many decisive 2 - Areas for concern - Limited number of
positive indicators - Many negative indicators, one or more decisive
3 - Satisfactory - Satisfactory display of positive indicators - Some
negative indicators but none decisive
4 - Good to excellent - Strong display of positive indicators

How can I prepare?

Using the real feedback questions at the start of the brief, prepare
answers using the STAR technique based on real life examples.
Think about what qualities they are looking for (listed above) and
try to directly address these in your example answers.

What should I wear?

At the interview, you should to make sure you do not stand

out in a negative by differing from what is perceived as
"normal". As potential flight deck crew, the recruiters are
looking for candidates who are well balanced individuals who
do not have extreme or unusual traits. It is important to
project this in your attire. The industry standard dress code for
an interview is a suit and tie. We would recommend the
following:
- A smart black suit (or similar neutral shades) with the trousers

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 matching the jacket - Ironed white shirt
- Conservative tie with a Windsor knot (potentially tactfully
matching the airlines
colour(s)
- Highly polished black shoes (front and back)
- A black belt to match the colour of the suit
- Cleanly shaved or very neatly trimmed facial hair
- A smart conservative watch
- A conservative hair cut, trimmed within the last few days
- A smart case or folder to carry your documents and licences

What should I not wear or have on display?

- A suit which is not black or a dark shade of blue/grey - A

brightly coloured or outlandish tie.
- Messy facial and neck hair / stubble - Cover any visible
tattoos
- Males should remove any piercings

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