Should You Tell an Airline Recruiter You Prepared for the Interview?

A lot of pilots are afraid to admit it. They worry that saying "yes, I prepared" makes them sound rehearsed, scripted, as if they memorised a set of answers and left their real personality at home. So when the question comes, they hedge. They say they "had a look at a few things", or they change the subject.

I have sat on the recruiter's side of that table for years. My answer is that you should say it, and you should say it with some pride. This article explains why, where the fear comes from, and what to actually say when a recruiter asks how you got ready.

There is a belief that floats around pilot forums and flight school corridors: airlines would rather you did not prepare. People hear it from a friend, from a colleague, sometimes from someone who says a recruiter told them directly.

Airlines do not say this. What is true is that a version of it existed a long time ago. In the '90s and the early 2000s, before everything was online, recruiters were uneasy about candidates who had access to privileged information, usually because a parent or a relative worked at the airline and could tell them what the panel would ask. The concern was fairness between candidates, and it was legitimate at the time.

That world is gone. The competency frameworks are published: annual reports, fleet orders, and route announcements are a search away. Former candidates describe their assessment days in detail online. In that environment, a candidate who has done nothing is not showing authenticity. From a recruiter's chair, it is close to inconceivable.

Think about what an airline is hiring. It wants pilots who prepare for their flights. People who brief properly, who read their NOTAMs, who look at the weather at the alternate before they need it, who think two steps ahead. Preparation is the habit that keeps the operation safe. Every line pilot on the panel lives by it.

So when a candidate walks into one of the most important professional encounters of their life having done nothing, the recruiter does not see someone spontaneous. They see someone who did not think this day was worth the effort. If you would not prepare for this, when would you prepare for anything? It says something about the kind of first officer you are likely to be, and it is not the thing you want said.

Not preparing signals a lack of commitment. That is the whole of it.

The question usually comes in a relaxed tone, somewhere in the first ten minutes. "So, how did you get ready for today?" Treat it as an invitation, because that is what it is.

Be concrete. If you used the STAR method to structure your examples, say so, and say why: it forces you to give the situation, what you did, and what came of it, instead of a general impression. If you built an experience sheet, describe what that involved. You went back through your training, your previous jobs and your life outside aviation, found the moments that actually demonstrate the competencies airlines assess, and worked out how to tell them clearly. You can add, truthfully, that this was an interesting process, and that it left you better at explaining your own decisions than you were before.

None of that sounds rehearsed. It sounds like a professional describing how they approached a professional task.

Here is the part most candidates miss. Preparation for the interview is one thing. Preparation for the airline is another, and the recruiter is far more impressed by the second.

Tell them you have followed the airline for a long time, and then prove it. You did not just read the last annual report and scroll their Instagram. You read the interim results as well. You looked at the fleet plan and understood why they ordered the aircraft they ordered. You studied where they sit against their competitors on the routes that matter to them. You read the sustainability commitments and formed a view on them. You spoke to as many of their pilots as you could reach.

For the legacy carrier in your own country, you can go further. If you own a single share, you are usually entitled to attend the annual general meeting. Some candidates do exactly that. It takes an afternoon, it costs the price of one share, and it puts you in a room with the people who run the company you want to work for. You will not be able to do this for every airline on your list. For the one that matters most, it is a small price for that level of insight, and it says a great deal about you when you mention it.

A line I have heard candidates use well goes something like this: "I have always followed your airline closely, because it is where I want to build my career. Approaching this assessment, I wanted to make sure my knowledge was as current and as detailed as it could be."

That single sentence tells the recruiter three things. You are genuinely motivated, and not just applying everywhere at once. You are thorough. And you understand that preparation is part of the job rather than an add-on to it. That is the pilot every airline is trying to find: someone who builds readiness over time and then sharpens it when it counts.

The fear behind all of this is that preparation kills authenticity. In my experience the opposite happens.

A well-prepared candidate does not sound scripted. They sound clear. They answer the question that was asked, with an example that fits, in a way the panel can follow. They come across as someone who respects the process and the people running it, and that respect is noticed.

The candidate who has not prepared is the one who struggles. They search for words. They ramble, because they have not decided in advance which story illustrates which competency. They give vague answers, because precise ones require work they have not done. They do not read as authentic. They read as lost.

Preparation is what gives you freedom in the room. When your examples are already organised in your mind and your knowledge of the airline is current, you are not spending your attention trying to remember. You can spend it on listening, on the conversation, on being yourself. That is where the naturalness comes from.

At Airline Selection Programme (ASP), the preparation we teach inside Advanced Interview Course is built around exactly these three pieces: the STAR method for structure, the experience sheet for content, and a research method for the airline itself. It works for any airline and at any experience level, and the purpose of all of it is the same. When you walk into the room, everything you say should feel natural, precise and yours.

So when the recruiter asks whether you prepared, tell them. Tell them how. Then let the rest of the interview show them you meant it.

If you want a starting point, the free eBook covers the basics.

→ Get the FREE eBook here: 10 Things You Should Know About Airline Selections