Interview Prep

Question 1

Tell me about yourself

Answer 1

• 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.

Question 2

Key characteristic
- How colleagues would describe you
- How you behave at work

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Key characteristic
- Key skill

Answer 3

Adaptability

Question 4

Why do you want to be a pilot?

Answer 4

• 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.

Question 5

Greatest achievement

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Challenges faced by the industry

Answer 6

• Climate change - related regulatory restrictions (emissions, landing slots)
• Economic - oil price, global growth
• Geopolitical risks (Ukraine)
• Supply chain - aircraft delivery, MRO

Question 7

Why are you leaving finance/current job?

Answer 7

• 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.

Question 8

How would you act in an emergency?

Answer 8

• Based on previous experiences I think calmly and methodically.
• Experience skydiving
• Doing Fran’s HR presentation

Question 9

Why do you want to work for Jet2?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Jet2 fleet

Answer 10

After recent retirement of last 757s, simpler fleet
Mostly 737s (about 100)
Small number of A321s
About 100 A321s on order

Question 11

Jet2 history

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

Jet2 Strategy

Answer 12

To be UKs leading leisure travel business

Question 13

Jet2 Values

Answer 13

• Create Memories
• Be Present
• Work as One Team
• Take Responsibility

Question 14

… gone the extra mile (for company)

Answer 14

Angel trains
- Rebuilding financial model

Question 15

… gone the extra mile (for customer)

Answer 15

AFH divorce pension ombudsman complaint
- Advocating for her against pension company

Question 16

… resolved a conflict (with customer)

Answer 16

AFH
- “One particular customer” looking to withdraw funds in covid crash
- Sensitivity around what you can say, “no guarantees but history says…”

Question 17

… resolved a conflict/communications issue (for company)

Answer 17

Angel Trains
- Disagreement with ratings agency

Question 18

… influenced somebody (customer)

Answer 18

AFH
- convinced client to take money out of company instead of pension

Question 19

… influenced somebody (company)

Answer 19

HSBC
- slide presented at board meeting

Question 20

… failed/made a mistake/learned from a mistake

Answer 20

Merrills
- Wrong way trade
- Acknowledged error
- Fixed position
- Implemented new procedures for future

Question 21

… made a difficult decision

Answer 21

Merrills
- Price out of line with competition

Question 22

… made a bad decision

Answer 22

APC UK approach

Question 23

… made a decision under pressure (2)

Answer 23

• Skydiving emergency
• Merrills price out of line

Question 24

… dealt with a difficult colleague

Answer 24

UKPN manager
- remember helping junior

Question 25

... made a good decision/taken a risk

Answer 25

Move to Deloitte Move to AFH (dad & Emm)

Question 26

... broken the rules

Answer 26

Getting off quad bike in Vegas

Question 27

... shown compassion/empathy

Answer 27

Emma's first trade

Question 28

... dealt with high level of pressure/tight deadline

Answer 28

Shell/BG merger final day

Question 29

... demonstrated 2 of our values

Answer 29

Taking responsibility - re-building Angel Trains model (or building tools @ Merrills) Work as one team - helping Alex on Balfour Beatty job

Question 30

... led/motivated a team

Answer 30

Deloitte DoW job - Got to know my 2 main juniors, dealt with them differently - Integrated in the team - Set targets - Managed upwards

Question 31

... thought outside the box/innovative solution

Answer 31

Angel Trains - Waterfall tool

Question 32

... worked as part of a team

Answer 32

Balfour Beatty - Supporting young managers - Providing advanced input - Assisting peers - Mentoring juniors [high performance rating]

Question 33

... worked with somebody with a different approach

Answer 33

Fabian - set an example to front load work

Question 34

... cope with change in working practices

Answer 34

Consumer Duty

Question 35

... delivered sensitive news

Answer 35

AFH - telling clients about underperforming investments - Focussed on how we would recover the situation

Question 36

... achieved a goal

Answer 36

London Marathon

Question 37

... failed to achieve a goal

Answer 37

Homebrew competition

Question 38

... negative personality trait

Answer 38

Goal-oriented and not comfortable in situations where there is no goal or direction. e.g. consulting job

Question 39

What is your biggest weakness

Answer 39

Lack of creativity

Question 40

What is your biggest strength (2)

Answer 40

Adaptability Focus

Question 41

Questions to ask

Answer 41

- Anything else you'd like to ask me or explain about my background - unusual CV - Turnaround time - Social events at bases

Question 42

... had to think on your feet

Answer 42

Fran's HR presentation