Interview Prep Flashcards
Tell me about yourself
- I’m 41 years old, spent last 20 years in finance, wide variety of roles building a well rounded skillset
- Kept in touch with interest in aviation through hobbies like skydiving, paragliding
- Lucky to have the opportunity to take a risk and work for my passion…
- Led to me starting work towards commercial pilot licences in 2023 and an ambition of being a Jet2 pilot.
Key characteristic
- How colleagues would describe you
- How you behave at work
Professionalism
- Means not only doing a good job but doing it in the right way
- Important to me that if somebody gives me a responsibility (whether work or in personal life) they’re glad they asked me to do it
- It’s a vague idea, but that reflects the fact that professionalism means different things in different situations - communication as a trade vs cabin crew with nervous flyer… professionalism is knowing what good looks like for the situation you are in
Key characteristic
- Key skill
Adaptability
Why do you want to be a pilot?
- Obviously thought about this a lot, and it’s a complicated question. What I’m not going to do is talk about how much I love aviation because I don’t think trying to make your hobby or your passion into your job is always a smart move. Often the reality of doing something professionally is very different to what you expect.
- My philosophy on work is that the 2 things it can bring to your life is challenge and a sense of achievement, and I think these 2 things are key to being happy in your work.
- Being a commercial pilot fulfils these things perfectly because every single day you are challenged, you have to focus. Even as I get more experience and the job gets easier, I’ll still need to be fully engaged for every flight.
- At the same time there is a sense of achievement from every flight in terms of the impact you have on customers, getting people to and from their holidays.
Greatest achievement
Transition to Deloitte
- Achievement was that in first 2 years I was the only person in my intake of 30 or 40 to achieve the highest grading
- Reason it means so much to me is the change it demanded from me after 7 years as a trader.
- As a trader I had to be highly specialised, very technical and focussed. Worked with people but my own performance was all that really mattered. Even though I worked with lots of people, relationships were very set and defined.
- Specific challenges - working with young managers, making extra contributions, putting energy into supporting peers
Challenges faced by the industry
- Climate change - related regulatory restrictions (emissions, landing slots)
- Economic - oil price, global growth
- Geopolitical risks (Ukraine)
- Supply chain - aircraft delivery, MRO
Why are you leaving finance/current job?
- Not desperate to leave, had a great career and still things to do.
- Opportunity to take financial risk and do something new for second half of my career.
- Finance can be great but compared to being a pilot it is less challenging, the sense of achievement is less tangible and the levels of professionalism are lower.
How would you act in an emergency?
- Based on previous experiences I think calmly and methodically.
- Experience skydiving
- Doing Fran’s HR presentation
Why do you want to work for Jet2?
Lots of reasons, but I’ve narrowed it down to a top 3.
- James Seward, Jet2 First Officer my PPL instructor - diversion to Welshpool
- Future Second Officer programme
- Customer focus
Jet2 fleet
After recent retirement of last 757s, simpler fleet
Mostly 737s (about 100)
Small number of A321s
About 100 A321s on order
Jet2 history
- Original company started in Channel Islands around 70s doing cargo type operations
- Jet2.com founded in 2002, first flight from Leeds Bradford to Amsterdam
- Strong growth as a low cost carrier until Jet2Holidays opened in 2007
- Tour holiday arm synergised with the airline resulting in strong growth, to a targeted 13 UK bases (after Luton opens) and over 70 destinations.
- Largest UK tour operator, 3rd largest airline
Jet2 Strategy
To be UKs leading leisure travel business
Jet2 Values
- Create Memories
- Be Present
- Work as One Team
- Take Responsibility
… gone the extra mile (for company)
Angel trains
- Rebuilding financial model
… gone the extra mile (for customer)
AFH divorce pension ombudsman complaint
- Advocating for her against pension company
… resolved a conflict (with customer)
AFH
- “One particular customer” looking to withdraw funds in covid crash
- Sensitivity around what you can say, “no guarantees but history says…”
… resolved a conflict/communications issue (for company)
Angel Trains
- Disagreement with ratings agency
… influenced somebody (customer)
AFH
- convinced client to take money out of company instead of pension
… influenced somebody (company)
HSBC
- slide presented at board meeting
… failed/made a mistake/learned from a mistake
Merrills
- Wrong way trade
- Acknowledged error
- Fixed position
- Implemented new procedures for future
… made a difficult decision
Merrills
- Price out of line with competition
… made a bad decision
APC UK approach
… made a decision under pressure (2)
- Skydiving emergency
- Merrills price out of line
… dealt with a difficult colleague
UKPN manager
- remember helping junior
… made a good decision/taken a risk
Move to Deloitte
Move to AFH (dad & Emm)
… broken the rules
Getting off quad bike in Vegas
… shown compassion/empathy
Emma’s first trade
… dealt with high level of pressure/tight deadline
Shell/BG merger final day
… demonstrated 2 of our values
Taking responsibility - re-building Angel Trains model (or building tools @ Merrills)
Work as one team - helping Alex on Balfour Beatty job
… led/motivated a team
Deloitte DoW job
- Got to know my 2 main juniors, dealt with them differently
- Integrated in the team
- Set targets
- Managed upwards
… thought outside the box/innovative solution
Angel Trains - Waterfall tool
… worked as part of a team
Balfour Beatty
- Supporting young managers
- Providing advanced input
- Assisting peers
- Mentoring juniors
[high performance rating]
… worked with somebody with a different approach
Fabian
- set an example to front load work
… cope with change in working practices
Consumer Duty
… delivered sensitive news
AFH - telling clients about underperforming investments
- Focussed on how we would recover the situation
… achieved a goal
London Marathon
… failed to achieve a goal
Homebrew competition
… negative personality trait
Goal-oriented and not comfortable in situations where there is no goal or direction.
e.g. consulting job
What is your biggest weakness
Lack of creativity
What is your biggest strength (2)
Adaptability
Focus
Questions to ask
- Anything else you’d like to ask me or explain about my background - unusual CV
- Turnaround time
- Social events at bases
… had to think on your feet
Fran’s HR presentation
