Glassdoor is your free inside look at Southwest Airlines interview questions and advice. All 104 interview reviews are posted anonymously by Southwest Airlines employees and interview candidates.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Apr 2010 – Reviewed May 20, 2013 New
Interview Details You have a phone interview first. Then a week later you are called to schedule an in person interview. If you do well, you are scheduled for a drug test and background test, in a few weeks.
Interview Question – Why you want to work for Southwest. View Answer
Negotiation Details – Salary was non negotiable
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX (US) Dec 2012 – Reviewed May 16, 2013 New
Interview Details Submitted online application, submitted updated resume and "Why Southwest" Essay. Phone interview, then you were flown down for a face to face interview.
Interview Question – It was very much a conversation, nothing out of the expected questions. Make sure when they ask your "weakness" you have one that does not infer with the jobs functions. Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Reviewed Apr 09, 2013
Interview Details Interview process begins with practical skills and knowledge tests. After passing, the interview is conducted by other aircraft mechanics. The interview is very friendly with an emphasis on getting to know you and your attitude (Southwest calls it "Warrior Spirit"). They want candidates that will bring their experience as well as a willingness to continue to learn and grow. I spoke with one of the interviewers after I was hired to ask a little more about what exactly they were looking for. They wanted an easy going person who was confident in their skills but without any cockiness.
Interview Question – I was asked what my favorite vacation was. Answer Question
No Offer – Interviewed in Mar 2012 – Reviewed Apr 01, 2013
Interview Details Interview / application process was lengthily. Phone interview first, then a phone offer for a face to face. Time frame between the two was about a month. My face to face interview went very well, however, I was told the department went with the family member of an employee.
Interview Question – Nothing difficult or unexpected. Answer Question
No Offer – Interviewed in San Francisco, CA (US) Mar 2013 – Reviewed Mar 18, 2013
Interview Details Applied for a position at SFO and got an e-mail the next week saying they will be conducting phone interviews the next day up until 6 weeks so give it some time. I then got a call the 2nd day after the e-mail and the lady asked me (see interview questions below). All in all very professional and funny too. Didn't really ask me too many questions because I worked for airline somewhat like Southwest for 4 years basically doing the same thing they do but the planes I worked on were a lot bigger. I think if you like to workout, I think this is the job for you because you are basically getting paid to workout.Got a call for face to face interview in 2 weeks so hopefully it goes well. Wish me luck!
Interview Questions
Declined Offer – Interviewed in Boston, MA (US) Mar 2013 – Reviewed Mar 14, 2013
Interview Details
There were a lot of issues about HR/Recruiters during this process which is really sad. I applied online from a job posting website. I understand they call from different states, but the recruiter called my house at 5:30 AM (and I'm on the East Coast of the US!). This was not scheduled like many people say - they just randomly called, and in the process woke up my entire household. I tried to give this "recruiter" the benefit of the doubt, but I was soon sorry I did I didn't just stop there. She then went on to tell me that even though the Customer Service Supervisor position wasn't open anymore (and I had about 10 years experience with another company in the same position and a degree in aviation), she wanted me to switch over to be a ramp agent . This means about a 65% pay cut and the hours were 1/2 of what was originally posted. Still I allowed her to go through with it, since this was going to make an even better letter to customer service later on! When I thought she couldn't make any more mistakes she asked me if I wanted to work in a town where an airport didn't exist- YUP! The airport is actually about 30 miles east of where she was referring to and she had just concocted an imaginary title for it. Again, the proper airport was in the job listing. After that I asked her if she had my resume in front of her- she said she did. She asked NOTHING about the job or how my experience related to it. She tried to go over my job history saying "so you last job was 8 years ago?" and then picked out another position I had held before that. It was evident she was either reading it backwards or under the influence. She invited me in for a face to face interview but I declined. No one should work for a company like this.
If my caller ID didn't say SW Airlines on it, I probably would have thought it was a scammer.
Interview Question – Am I speaking with (insert name)? Answer Question
Reason for Declining – I wrote most of it in the hiring and interview process. In summary they offered the wrong position, pay rate way below average and were not competent interviewers
Declined Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX (US) Jan 2013 – Reviewed Feb 05, 2013
Interview Details
I was called by HR to set up an interview with a recruiter. The recruiter just asked me basic questions about Why Southwest? and different aspects of my resume. She also asked me why I chose the University I chose for studies and what got me interested in my major. It was pretty friendly and like a conversation.
Then a week later, they flew me out to Dallas. They did not give a hotel or anything and just put the whole interview and traveling in one day which was very hectic. I met with two managers and they told me about their jobs and they asked me more questions about my resume. I would probably have worked with these two manager had I taken the position. The managers seemed really into what they were doing and I really enjoyed their enthusiasm. There honestly wasnt anything technical asked during the whole interview.
Interview Question – Why Southwest? Answer Question
Reason for Declining – The pay was quite low compared to similar internships for other companies.
No Offer – Interviewed in Jan 2013 – Reviewed Feb 01, 2013
Interview Details
I had a recruiter who wanted to talk to me. They sent me a message saying I was up for a phone interview with zero choice of time or date. Given they call from a different state- they had no respect for the fact that the area I was in had just experienced a major tornado and there wasn't power and phone lines that were functioning were minimal.
When the recruiter finally called, she asked me nothing about what would make me a good candidate for the position. All she seemed to be fixated on was how old I was-and why I only had an 8 year job history, not 10 (I would have been 14 ten years ago).
She ask me why I left me last job and I explained that my entire dept. had their positions eliminated. . . The interviewer then said "oh so you were fired for doing a bad job".... obviously, she had no clue what she what the difference between laid off and termination meant.
Interview Question – How old are you View Answer
No Offer – Reviewed Feb 11, 2013
Interview Details Call/Inperson interview
Interview Question – Technical questions Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Reviewed Jan 02, 2013
Interview Details I applied for this position via the southwest website. Next I had a phone interview with HR personnel. After the successful phone interview, I was flown out for an in person interview at headquarters. The interview consisted with two managers from the department and an HR recruiter. The questions seemed to me more personality/behavioral based questions. Other than that I was asked to walk through the experiences on my resume.
Interview Question – Nothing too out of the ordinary, the most difficult question was probably the simplest as well...and that was "Why Southwest?" View Answer
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