Extremely Strange interview at American Winds in Akron

Holy Fuck I don't even know where to begin.

I had an interview at American Winds in Akron, OH, today, and I just wanted to share my experience.

My interview was scheduled for 11 today. I showed up at 10:50 to an empty lobby (if you can call it that. One chair and a desk). I stood around for a few minutes before finally walking back to an open office and saying I was there for an interview with D, the owner. The lady in the office said to wait a minute, and that she would go see if D was ready, so I had a seat at a table and waited. I am not kidding, 30 minutes later D comes out and greets me. I'm a very patient person but I can already tell this is going to be ridiculous. I did drive 1.5 hours for this, so I'll stay and see it through. It is now 11:30.

To preface this, I wore jeans and a polo to the interview. I sit down in her office, and she asks me why did I wear jeans. I said because they are comfortable for the weather. She did not like that. She went on a tangent about how dressing professionally is important. I read that jeans and a polo are ok for a CFI interview, so I did not think much of it. Not off to a good start. She then proceeded to tell me how people show up for interviews there in 3 piece suits, suits and jackets, shirts and ties, and polo and jacket. Lady, this is for a CFI job at a small Midwest school. She then asked me where I did my flight training. I told her I went to a couple of different schools because of DPE shortages and whatnot, but that wasn't good enough for her. She proceeded to tell me I was not going deep enough with my explanation (what) and asked me to go deeper. For example, I did my PPL at a 141 school in PA and then transferred to ERAU in Daytona, where I did my instrument rating. She said that wasn't deep enough. She wanted to know WHY i went to ERAU. Ok, fair enough, but apparently, because I wanted a good education and good weather wasn't a good enough answer. On top of that, every 5 minutes someone would come in and ask D a question, which I get because she is the owner. However, she got a phone call around 12 and decided to take it. The phone call lasted 20 minutes. Again, I drove 1.5 hours for this, so I didn't want to leave, so I waited and waited and waited. Finally, the call ended, and she asked where I did my commercial. I did it at a part 61 school, which is apparently the wrong thing to say. She asked why I didn't do it at a part 141 school. The only part 141 schools around me are colleges, but that wasn't the answer she was looking for. She kept grilling me about the 141 vs 61 decision, and I straight up asked her why does it matter? She said that part 61 students normally aren't as good (yet she hates ATP students as well, so who knows). I should mention that by now I was not taking the job, even if they offer it.

As I said, I had trouble with DPE availability during my training, which caused me to go to a finish-up program in FL (American Flyers) for my commercial since they have DPEs they work with. She must have heard that I finished commercial fast. I did not. From start to finish it took me 1.5 years because of weather, work, and other things. She then focused on me finishing everything "fast" for a rant.

Finally she asks me where i did CFI. I did it at Midwest Corporate Air in Bellefontaine, OH. Oh boy was that the wrong thing to say. She went on another rant about how accelerated CFI programs don't work, and she said she doesn't know if I am smart enough (her words) to be a CFI there because I did my CFI in a week. I had months of preparation for that class, so I went in knowing everything I could.

All in all, I was in the building for 2 hours. Of those 2 hours, maybe 20-30 minutes were spent on the "interview." The interview was nothing more than "tell me your flying story in great detail."

I'm sorry if parts of this do not make sense. I am writing this after driving home, and I am so worked up from the interview. So whatever you do, do not interfere with Dat American Winds.