What the selection consists of

The KLM selection includes an interview with the Admissions Committee (Commissie van Aanname, COVA), alongside psychological tests and grading. Around 2008, the COVA was the only remaining part of the KLS selection. The KLM selection ends with the COVA interview. Since about 2017, the COVA has been part of the KLM Flight Academy selection.27911

How to practise each part

interview: Reread your psychological report and identify your points of attention, think about how you want to improve them, and go through your life history for possible questions. Make sure you can explain your motivation for the profession and your choice of school without hesitation. Make a list of why you want to become a pilot and why you chose KLS rather than another flight school. You can largely reuse the life history from PO2 for the COVA, supplemented with your motivation, recent work experience and choice of school. If the COVA committee raises a weak point from your GVSS report, explain briefly without justifying it or becoming defensive. If you received a mediocre score in the psychological phase, find out why and work on those points.145

Common pitfalls

Fill in your availability honestly on the KLS application form: a candidate who had written 'available every day' but had exams was asked critical questions about it in the COVA interview. Passing PO2 with a weak report has consequences: the decision on access to the COVA combines the GVSS report with the PO report, and you can expect questions at the COVA about a mediocre PO report. A mediocre report therefore means you have to perform very strongly in the GVSS. According to one applicant in 2006, an insufficient score for the psychological assessment combined with a just-sufficient GVSS grading could lead to rejection at the COVA. Never start doubting yourself, even with difficult questions. The PO report from the KLS selection comes back throughout the selection, and the simulator (GVSS) and the later interview are partly assessed on the basis of this report. In 2008, the GVSS letter for the KLS selection stated explicitly that you had to bring a written life history, and not a CV, possibly for use at the COVA. In the COVA interview of the KLS selection in 2006, the committee returned to mistakes made in the GVSS, such as poor altitude holding, and asked what caused them. The GVSS scores themselves were not disclosed to candidates at the time.145

Selection outcomes

A candidate passed the GVSS in the KLS selection in 2007 but was rejected at the COVA, because there was insufficient certainty that he could complete the training within the set time. The most recently graduated class was around number 25 in the holding pool for the COVA. Candidates who did not pass the KLS COVA were often helped further by CAE and ended up at airlines including Luxair, Denim and CityJet. After completing the training you join a holding pool at KLM, or move straight on if there is no waiting time.36711