What the Delta Air Lines HireVue looks like
Delta uses HireVue for its flight attendant and airport customer service hiring, which are some of the most competitive front-line jobs in the country. Candidates report 5 to 8 questions with 30 seconds to think and up to 2 minutes to answer. No retakes on the scored questions.
Delta's questions are about service, safety, and staying calm with people. This page has the reported questions, what each tests, and a worked answer for the one every Delta candidate gets in some form.
| Questions | 5 to 8 |
|---|---|
| Time to think | 30 seconds |
| Time to answer | up to 2 minutes |
| Retakes | none on the scored questions |
| When it comes | after the application and a short assessment, before the in-person event |
| Who gets it | flight attendant, airport customer service, reservations, and some corporate roles |
What candidates report for early-career screens. Delta Air Lines can change the bank by role and by year.
The clock and the format are the same HireVue product every employer uses. The timing guide covers what happens when the timer runs out, and how HireVue scoring works covers what the recording is scored on.
What Delta Air Lines is screening for
Delta publishes its core values as honesty, integrity, respect, perseverance, and servant leadership. The reported questions test servant leadership and perseverance most often, with safety close behind.
- Service. A time you took care of someone in a specific, personal way.
- Calm under pressure. A tense moment where you kept your voice and your judgment.
- Safety and rules. Following a procedure when a customer wanted you not to.
- Teamwork. Working a rush or a problem with a crew.
- Reliability. Showing up, on time, for a schedule that moves.
Build one story for each line above. Every question below is asking for one of them.
Delta Air Lines HireVue questions candidates report
These are the questions candidates report from recent Delta Air Lines screens, with the competency each one is built to test. Your set will be a mix of these and close variants.
- Tell me about a time you helped an upset customer. What did you do and how did it end? (Service, calm under pressure)
- Why Delta, and why this role? (Motivation)
- Describe a time you had to enforce a rule a customer did not like. (Safety and rules)
- Tell me about a time you worked with a team during a very busy period. (Teamwork)
- Describe a time you stayed calm when things went wrong around you. (Composure)
- How do you handle a schedule that changes with little notice? (Reliability, flexibility)
- Tell me about a time you noticed someone needed help before they asked. (Service, awareness)
For the shape of each answer type, see HireVue interview questions by format. For the answer structure itself, the STAR method guide has worked examples.
A worked answer, timed to the clock
Question: "Tell me about a time you helped an upset customer. What did you do and how did it end?"
"I worked the front counter at a rental car office. A man came in at closing time after a canceled flight, and the car he had reserved was gone. He was angry, and he was loud. I let him finish. Then I said I could see he had been traveling all day and I would stay until we had him in a car. We had one vehicle left, a larger one, and I gave it to him at his original rate. I also printed the directions to his hotel because his phone was almost dead. He apologized for yelling before he left. The next week he called the office to say so again. What worked was letting him be heard first, then fixing the actual problem, which was the car and the hour, not the yelling."
Why it scores: Calm, specific, the customer heard first, the fix owned, and an ending. About 60 seconds spoken.
How to prepare for the Delta Air Lines HireVue in three days
Specific to Delta Air Lines:
- Prepare a rule-enforcement story. Delta asks about it because safety is the job, and most people only prepare service stories.
- Pace for a longer screen. Delta candidates report up to 8 questions. Keep each answer at about 90 seconds.
- Dress and set up as if it were the in-person event. Delta recruiters watch these recordings.
For any HireVue:
- Day 1. Write one story per competency in the list above. Two or three sentences each: the situation, what you decided, what happened.
- Day 2. Say each story out loud on a two-minute timer. Most people run long the first time. Cut until each one ends on the result with time to spare.
- Day 3. Run the reported questions cold, in one sitting, no notes. Then set up the room: quiet, camera at eye level, light on your face, wired internet if you have it.
The full setup checklist and a five-day version of this plan are in the main HireVue guide.
Other companies that use HireVue
Company guides in this series, each with the reported questions and a worked answer:
- Goldman Sachs HireVue (investment banking)
- JPMorgan Chase HireVue (investment banking)
- Morgan Stanley HireVue (investment banking)
- Citi HireVue (banking)
- Bank of America HireVue (banking)
- Barclays HireVue (banking)
- Deutsche Bank HireVue (banking)
- Bain & Company HireVue (consulting)
- Boston Consulting Group HireVue (consulting)
- Deloitte HireVue (consulting and professional services)
- EY HireVue (professional services)
- Unilever HireVue (consumer goods)
- PepsiCo HireVue (consumer goods)
- Amazon HireVue (technology and operations)
- IBM HireVue (technology)
- Boeing HireVue (aerospace and engineering)
- Hilton HireVue (hospitality)
- McDonald's HireVue (restaurants)
- Shell HireVue (energy)