15th October 2019 at L3Harris’ new training centre new Gatwick airport. This is the main selection day, the big one, and the final stage before being offered a place to commence training with L3Harris. The standard at this day in particular so L3Harris can offer the best pilots to their partners, and I’m not going to sugar coat it, the whole day was full on and hard work.
I had to be at the training centre for 08:30 in the morning, fortunately for me, the centre is about 15-20 minutes away so stayed the night before at home. However, if you live far away from the centre, please look into local hotels, as you won’t be fully prepared if you’ve had a very early start and a long car/train journey. L3Harris will give you an emergency phone contact number in case you are running late, however, leave early to ensure you give yourself plenty of time to reach where you need to be. “To be early is on time, to be on time is late, and to be late is not acceptable” as my grandparents have always told me. By also getting to the centre early it means you can relax and speak to others on the same assessment day as you. I’d recommend talking about something else rather than the day ahead, make a bit of small talk over the weather or your journeys in.
I can’t stress this next point enough, you are being assessed even before you speak to someone. The time you arrive, the manor in which you arrive, if you drive in on two wheels screeching round corners they will notice that. You never know who is in front or behind you when you’re driving in, it could be one of the people assessing you. Equally, everyone you meet in the centre may have a say from the person on the front desk to the person behind the counter serving you your lunch, so be friendly and sociable with everyone you come across.
On my selection day, there were 6 of us including myself. We were taken to a room first where they explained what was going to happen throughout the day and a bit about L3Harris as a company, where they’re based, how they started, the number of staff and the number of people they train every year. This is just to calm you down, you won’t be assessed on these numbers, however I recommend that you do take note as it will look good if you can remember these numbers and repeat them at some point. To ensure we all knew each other being assessed be undertook a small icebreaker task just to get us talking to one another and loosen ourselves before the actual group exercises.
Next was the group exercise, and I apologise now, but they asked at the end of it to not tell anyone what we did, so this section is going to be very vague. The group exercise lasted for approximately 1 hour where it involved getting every member of the group talking and debating decision that we were or were not going to take and why we thought that was the best decision. For me, the skills I had picked up from my AirlinePrep day became invaluable here, and I honestly believe I wouldn’t have done so well if it wasn’t for that day. Again, relax! Take a deep breath before you start and remain nice and calm throughout, remembering all the information you have been told. As much as I would like to explain more, I’m worried I will be letting on more than I should, and I apologise for that.
The next stage was to complete more online assessments through Cut-e again. All of the ones you previously completed at the online assessment stage, plus a few more as well. This is simply to make sure it was you who took the assessment when you did them at home and to see if you have improved or deteriorated since then, and if of course you still rechristen the pass mark. There are a few more assessments on top of the ones you would’ve done at the online assessment stage, but nothing to worry about. Take a deep breath and remain calm.
Next was lunch, and a time to relax. Or so you may think… Yes it is a good time to relax as its not good to look like a coiled spring all day, it makes people feel nervous if you look nervous, not good for anyone! But equally, don’t relax too much and let yourself be caught off guard saying something you shouldn’t. This is a good time to unwind and remove any stress tat you may have, as after your lunch break its the interview.
The interview wasn’t as formal as I quite expected. It was just myself and one of the examiners who had been following us throughout the day, conducting the interview in a small separate room. There is no rush to get your interview all over and done with, relax and take your time on the answers you give using the STAR technique. As stated on L3Harris website, the interview is:
“…conducted on a one-to-one basis and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. If you are applying to an Airline Program, it is not unusual for an airline representative to also attend the interview phase. During the interview we are looking to get to know you better and understand some of your past experiences. This is a competency or evidence-based interview and you will be required to provide recent and relevant answers. Key areas of focus:
- Communication,
- Motivation
- Motivation awareness,
- Leadership (potential),
- Team work & cooperation,,
- Decision making & problem solving skills,
- Workload management, resilience & standards.”
And then that was the day over. Time to properly relax before I found out the result. But not for too long as L3Harris aim to get all the results to you in 48 hours at a maximum, preferably 24 hours. I received the email at work, and immediately the nerves started all over again, when I got home I opened it, and its safe to say that it was the best email I have ever received. I was going to start my pilot training with L3Harris.
