Glassdoor is your free inside look at Southwest Airlines interview questions and advice. All 60 interview reviews posted anonymously by Southwest Airlines employees and interview candidates.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Baltimore, MD Sep 2011 – Reviewed Sep 11, 2011
Interview Details – phone interview, then one on one, then group interview..unique SWA questions.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details – no negotiations since union has set salary guidelines. Excellent airline to work for...treat you like family.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX May 2011 – Reviewed Jul 28, 2011
Interview Details – Had to apply online in December. Got a call in February for a phone interview. Was flown to Dallas to do an in-person interview.
Interview Question – Tell us 2 flaws you have. Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in San Antonio, TX Jun 2011 – Reviewed Jul 27, 2011
Interview Details –
Applied online and received a phone interview about a week later. Before the phone interview was over, I was invited to a 1:1 interview. I was also told to expect an email with further instructions. The email contained the background check information as well as the drug screening process.
1:1 interview went well. I felt I was overly qualified but have been told by other SWA employees to take what is available to simply get into the system. A couple of days after the interview, I was called and offered a position.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details – Union job, so no negotiating.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Phoenix, AZ Jun 2011 – Reviewed Jul 6, 2011
Interview Details – This was my 2nd interview in 2-years; SWA is the ONLY company I want to work for. I did a lot of pre-interview prep. After phone interview, I was moved on to the 1:1 which went very well. Interviewer was very personable, fair and friendly. But not easy!
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details – None.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Mar 2011 – Reviewed Jun 28, 2011
Interview Details – Phone interview that lead to on site panel review with manager and technical SME. On-site interview was 'what-if' scenarios regarding automation solutions.
Interview Question – Nothing worth noting. Answer Question
Negotiation Details – I negotiated with my recruiter and I think I could have pushed a little harder. I had been unemployed for a month so I didn't want to risk it.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX May 2010 – Reviewed Jun 2, 2011
Interview Details – You apply for the job online. If they decide to move you to the next round, you write an essay about why you want to work there. Then, they fly potential candidates to headquarters and sometimes put you in a hotel overnight. You interview at headquarters then you find out in about a week. If you accept, you have to submit to a background check and take a drug test. I interviewed with an HR person and two people from the department I hoped to intern in. Everyone was very nice and helpful. Word travels fast, so if you are rude to any of the frontline employees, don't expect an offer.
Interview Question – Why do you want to work for Southwest? Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in San Francisco, CA Jan 2011 – Reviewed Mar 16, 2011
Interview Details – You apply online, you go through a phone interview then you are scheduled for a in-person interview. They will take your finger prints, drug test you and then send off for your background check. You have to provide your employment history for the past 10 years. If you pass all of that then you will receive an offer over the phone from one of their recruiters.
Interview Question – Will you have a issue with not taking any time off or calling out during your first 6 months of probation? Answer Question
Negotiation Details – When they say flexible hours they definitely mean it. You are at the bottom of the totem pole so you will receive the hours no one wants. Most likely those are evenings and weekends. Sometimes you will even have to work mandatory shifts (2 shifts in one day). 16 hour days are common during your 6 months of probation.
Declined Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Mar 2011 – Reviewed Mar 8, 2011
Interview Details –
I applied online for a 2011 summer internship in November 2010.
Then, in February, I had a quick basic phone interview, consisting mainly of behavioral questions.
About two days later, I was told I made it to the next round.
A week or two later, they flew me (on Southwest of course) to Love Field where I had my second round interview which was a panel. The questions were both behavioral and situational. They required all candidates to submit a "Why Southwest" essay and 2 letters of recommendation.
I flew to Love Field on a Friday and I got the offer on Monday.
Interview Question – Tell me about a time you displayed a "fun-LUVing" attitude. Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Feb 2010 – Reviewed Mar 6, 2011
Interview Details – The hiring process was very straight forward. I got a phone interview first thing in the morning and passed. Basically just a once-over of the resume and any questions SWA had about it. The panel interview was with 2 department heads and an HR rep. We went over behavioral questions and skill questions. Not too hard.
Interview Question – Give an example of when working in a team wasn't working. How did you overcome this? What was the results. Answer Question
Negotiation Details – No negotiations. This internship regularly has over 10K applicants. If you don't comply they're on to the next one.
Declined Offer – Interviewed in Dallas, TX Jan 2011 – Reviewed Mar 5, 2011
Interview Details – Initially applied online. Two weeks later received email from a recruiter for a phone interview. Phone interview was just the recruiter speaking about the internship and the next step. No questions. A week later received an email from another recruiter saying that I would be flown out to Dallas and had to write an essay titled "Why Southwest?" before my interview. Had an in-person interview at headquarters with recruiter and member of technical team a few weeks later since I was on holiday break. Asked me questions about how I would solve different problems and why I wanted to intern at Southwest. Everyone was very friendly and understanding.
Interview Question – Why do you want to intern in the Technology Department at Southwest? Answer Question
Reason for Declining – Had another offer
Would you like us to review something? Please describe the problem with this {0} and we will look into it.
We're sorry but your feedback didn't make it to the team. Your input is valuable to us – would you mind trying again?
The difficulty rating is the average interview difficulty rating across all interview candidates.
The interview experience is the percentage of all interview candidates that said their interview experience was positive, neutral, or negative.
Your response will be removed from the review – this cannot be undone.
Copyright © 2008–2013, Glassdoor. All Rights Reserved. Your use of this service is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy & Cookies Policy. Glassdoor ® is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.
Simply post an anonymous review for a recent interview experience or current/former employer. Your post is anonymous – and if you're worried someone will be able to identify your review, you can even post without telling us your job title and location. Learn More.
No thanks – I'll just look around