My initial application which included personal information,education, work experience and a personality assessment test was done online on the American Airlines Website at the end of October 2013. In the second week of November 2013, I received an email from AA in which they had informed me that due to the "phenomenal" response their screening process would take more time " It is taking us a little longer than we'd like to get back with everyone who applied, so rest assured, you will receive a response from us either by email or phone in the coming months", so with that said I got ready for the long haul.
December 23, I received a phone call from AA Talent Services informing me that they had sent me a time sensitive email, in which i was invited to interview on line, and to complete the interview in 5 days. I completed the 6 question interview, the questions for the most part were exactly the same as some of the other people have already written about, so I am not going to repeat them, and the whole process probably took a little over a half hour. It was not difficult, maybe a little nerve wracking considering that each question was repeated twice, then there was a 30 second time period to prepare one's answer, and then respond while the whole time I had to look at the camera and maintain eye contact with the virtual recruiter, which also meant being distracted by my own image on the screen.
On January 14th I received an email congratulating me on the successful completion of the screening process, and to complete/update the Online Application Form which is a requirement prior to being scheduled for a F2F interview.
On January 28th received another email with the invitation to schedule the F2F interview in Dallas, which took place on the 18th of February. I flew to Dallas, and came back the same day, as did absolutely everyone else that was in my interview group of about 25 people. Following the registration, which also included a little "pop" quiz, and a short essay question, we were invited to a large room with tables which seated about 4-5 people. We were introduced to the two recruiters which were in charge of leading the interview process, and watched a short video about AA. At this point in time, another five recruiters joined us, and introduced themselves. Each one then spoke about themselves and their background, and for the most part they were people who had been with the company for 15+ years, and most of them still actively working as flight attendants. We were given our group exercise which was designed to see how people interact, and how they present themselves in front of a larger crowd, and it was humorous at times, but you have to remember that the whole time those five recruiters are doing nothing but watching you and taking notes!!!! We were then given a fifteen minute break, after which names were called out again, and we were broken up into new groups and each group was accompanied by yet two new recruiters to a smaller room where we had to answer three questions in a sit down group interview. Needless to say, continuos notes were being taken the whole time! Following the group interview, we congregated back in the big room, and watched a 20 minute presentation about the flight attendant position, the 8 1/2 week unpaid training,the salary and benefits, which was followed by a Q & A session with the recruiter. Toward the end of the Q & A, they had slowly started calling out peoples' names, supposedly for the one on one interview. At this point in the game, they must know who they are interested in continuing with the process, even though during my 10 minute sit down chat with yet another really nice recruiter, they told me, as they told all the other people that we would hear from them in two weeks. While we awaited the shuttle bus to go back to the airport, I found out that none of the people waiting with me was fingerprinted that day,except for one, which pretty much means that they were still moving along the selection process. Needless to say, I received my turn down letter a week later "C'est la vie!" But, I do have to mention, that overall the whole interview experience was really positive. Even though the time span of the application process is long, one has to consider that they have had over 90,000 applicants that they have had to sort through. The F2F was done in a well organized manner, with every recruiter being approachable, personable and informative. Despite that it is normal to feel nervous and self conscious during an interview in general, I do have to say that the overall atmosphere was professional yet relaxed and friendly.