Assessment is
the instance that follows the Open Day (or OD) and you may reach their by being successful
in the Open or by exclusive invitation from Human Resources. How may you receive
that invitation? E-mail. You have to go to the EK Group Career portal > Join
the EK Cabin Crew Team > Cabin Crew Recruitment Process > EK Cabin Crew: Assessment
Days (click on the “Apply Now”) and choose a date and a country suitable for
you. Exactly as the Open Day you may participate, in this case by invitation
only, in a foreign country that is not your hometown. I always recommend not doing
that because as EK has restrictions that vary month to month and they are not
public, for example: passport, Nationality, language, etc, I recommend to wait
until the Assessment is held in the country in which you reside in that way
restrictions may be as not as hard as if you were to go to a foreign country.
Usually only 1 /
3 of candidates that attended the Open Day will be invited to participate in
the Assessment Day and criteria is exactly the same only a little but more
tight. Let´s start by the basics: looks. This area is exactly the same as the
Open Day. Women must wear black or navy blue skirt with matching blazer and
white shirt, not high hills, just medium size thick hill with skin color opaque
stockings, groomed nails with natural opaque manicure, if you have long hair it
must be up tighten in a bum (just as EK Crew has) and if you have bob cut it´s
okay no bum required. For men it´s black or navy blue suit, white shirt and
dark or navy blue tie, shoes must be polished black or navy blue is okay.
Documentation:
you´ll need to start with a copy of your CV with a small 4 x 4 cm or 3 x 5 cm
face picture attached to the right upper side of the first page. Also you´ll
need 10 x 15 cm full body picture, arm at your side not at the back and a 10 x
15 face picture from shoulder up. All pictures you must be smiling showing your
teeth, even so you think that you don´t smile well, that you are not
photogenic, that you have teethes yellow or crooked, just smile, they really
care about that. Also you will have to fill some paperwork that Headquarters
are going to send you once they send the confirmation for the venue. Fill those
with black pen and capital letter.
This event
usually is held in Hotels worldwide or in Headquarters in Dubai and they tend
to start early. Let´s go for the basics, waiting for the event to start. Even
if you are in the Lobby and the salons are far away from the entrance, they are
watching you. So just chill, relax, smile and pretender that you are already
Cabin Crew. How? Seat straight if seated, by friendly to your surrounding but
not over friendly. Don´t try to show off, if you see a guest that need helps
approach the guest only after he / she has already contacted Hotel staff, many
think that if you even try to help them by good will is showing off. Recruiters
something that are so bored in seeing are candidates that tend to show off,
they really despise that so just act naturally. Men don´t speak much with
women, if you can just stick together in your own breed and if you are 2 men or
only 1 during the whole even don´t interact much with women. Just phew smiles, small
talk and presence but that is it.
The first thing
that you´ll do it´s hand in to a recruiter or employee from the third party
agency that organized the Open Day all of your documentation and a badge with a
number will be handed to you. This is your first approach to the company, a
badge with a number. There is an estimate over 11000 crew; do you really think
that your name is relevant?
Once you enter
the conference room you´ll seat in rows fronting a screen with 2 to 3 recruiter’s
tops. Those recruiters may be EK staff Purser, SFS (Senior Flight Stewardess),
Human Resource, Public Relations all of them current staff for EK.
First you will
hear were the emergency exits in the building in which the event is taking
place is located and then they will point out were the smoking points are.
Please if you smoke try not to during the whole event, even if the smoking
point is far away from the Conference Hall, just shun it and don´t light a cigi
and if they ask who smokes don´t raise your hand – you don´t smoke. After this
you will hear a presentation of who they are and what they did and do in the
company, their small professional life stories. After you will see a video presentation
(that is posted in youtube and it might be the same video that you watch at the
Open Day) of what does it mean to be Crew for Emirates. The small (personal
point of view) ridiculous publicity video of what Cabin Crew stands for EK. After
the video the time for questions comes: don´t participate – problem comes that
people want to show off that they watched the video and understood it, show
off, and remember what I told you about that? Even if you think that you are
participating naturally for them it may be not. So just in case shut up and let
others participate.
Meanwhile the
recruiter is doing the “answer your questions and see who show off moment” a recruiter
is seated down already downsizing CV´s. That recruiter is already choosing who
is or who has more chances to go through the next stage, so even if you still
didn´t open your mouth you are already being selected. Congratulations, they
already started doing that from the instant they saw you walking into the salon.
Then they will show you a small publicity ad that is already in the media
(about EK) and another “answer your questions and see who show off moment”
starts, once again: shut up. What is the idea of doing this? They want to observe who can pay naturally
attention to the information that is presented, how well they understand it
without making questions, presence above all things and how you interact with others
(body language) when someone makes a question. Some candidates when they make
not very smart questions (because they do) another candidates may automatically
transmit with his body language (even if he is not speaking a word) a: “what
the f*!# are you asking” and that is terrible, a certainly no-no. When
presentations are concluded you´ll be ask to wait outside while Recruiters re
organize the room for the first group activity. Remember what I told you about
how to behave in a group while waiting.
First activity:
you go back to the room and you seat in a circle with proximally 10 other candidates.
A flashcard with an image will be provided to you and with the person seated to
your right you should speak about that image. It may be from speaking about the
city and country that appears in the card or even invent a use for that object
that is not common or that doesn’t exist. Meanwhile the recruiter will start calling
one by one to perform a small quick fire 1 to 1 interview and a reach test (the
same as the Open Day).
Question on the
1 to 1 quick fire interview: do you have tattoos? Piercings? Body marks? Why do
you want to work for Emirates? Why would you like to be Crew? What does it mean
to be Crew for you? All of this questions when you answer them don´t do it as
if you already prepared them because that shows and Recruiters are not a big
fan of that. Just keep you answers shorts, not complicated and natural. Don´t
start staying: “because Emirates is a one of a kind industry” or “Customer
Service is an area of business in which I have always felt comfortable
performing”, they are tired of hearing the same repetitive answers over and
over again and they may sound kind of like an act. Conclusion: don´t train yourself
to try to provide the best possible answer, just don´t, keep it simple and
natural. Remember to use: hello, good morning, thank you and goodbye.
Meanwhile you´ll
be with your partner talking about the Flashcard and organizing the
presentation. It doesn´t matter if you don´t know anything about the destination
that appears in the Flashcard, what this exercise is really about is on how you
interact with your teammate and how you present the information. To start with
try to by a little bit shy, totally the opposite in what people that you should
be extroversive, that it´s not true. People who show off, that have a tendency
to by a leader, they don´t want that, why? Because the only leader is what
Headquarters state and Crew are the followers that must listen to what HQ and
customers say. So when you speak out during the presentations it really doesn’t
matter if your voice is a little dubious or if the pronunciation is not the
best, they really don´t care about it. Keep the presentation simple and
coherent. Once all the presentations are finishes you step outside and wait 15
minutes, after that Recruiters will come out and give through a small letter
the: “Unfortunately” or the “We invite you to the next stage”.
The next stage
it´s an English written exam, reading and comprehension and essay. The most
important thing here is that you do all the stages, it´s mandatory to pass the exam;
you must not skip or not do all the activities, you must do them all. It´s very
simple this exam: a reading comprehension of a house organ of EK and write a
short essay 250 words about: if you were to be a superhero which superhero you
will be and which powers will you have / explain a tragic event of your life,
how you dealt with it and what did you learn / explain a problem that you had
in matters of customer service and how you dealt with it. Usually there are between
2 topics to chose. After the exam you will receive again the “Unfortunately” or
the “We invite you to the next stage”.
The third stage
is another group activity. When reaching this instance only 1/3 (usually but
not always) from the original group that started the first activity will be
here. This next activity has very simple points: how you work in team work /
how you think in a group in solutions / how you upfront an “X” situation / how
you present in a group your answer / how you deal with unexpected issues / how
you maintain a responsive coherent attitude in your answers. Same old: not show
off, not a leadership attitude and no incomprehensible answers. The exercise
may consist:
L – 22 – Japan – smoker
M- 24
– US – smoker
N – 29 – Kenya – non-smoker
O – 27 – Morocco – non-smoker
P – 25 – Egypt – smoker
Q –
22 – China – non-smoker
Your group is
the accommodation department that decides which crew gets paired up in 2 bedroom
apartments.
Or, You are
working the London-Dubai sector, and you have the following complaints in the
aircraft:
1K – Mr. S
– frequent traveler complains that he did not get a seat with leg room
10 H – Mrs.
J traveling with a child and an infant did not receive a toy for her child
12C – Mr. R
TV doesn’t work
14K – Mr. F
did not get his diabetic meal
What
is your order of priorities in solving these complaints and what solutions
would you offer.
After this
last group exercise is made another small letter will be handle, the only
difference is that the next stage after this is the “Final Interview”.
Tips:
priority may be given to single candidates. Candidates who have tattoos or
scars that may be visualized through their uniforms may be not selected. The
reach test (2.12 meters) is not a grey area, it is a must to reach that height
or overcome it. Candidates with braces / brackets will not go through the
selections process. Candidates with HIV + or Hepatitis C will not get through
the selection process. Candidates that are still studying in University, doing
a Master or PhD. And are currently going through their studies may be not
selected as EK prefers to chose candidates that already completed their
studies. Candidates less than 20 years old and 9 months will not be selected to
go through the Assessment, you must be 21 years old when entering UAE to abilities
the working Visa. If failing the Assessment you may re apply after a waiting
period of 6 months, some cases receive a special permit exclusive from Headquarters
to re apply after 3 months. If you are in UAE and you would like to apply you
must call “Cabin Crew Recruitment”, inform of your case and application and ID
asking (if possible) there is an open spot for an Assessment for none speaking
Arabic candidates. During all the
process remember to smile naturally, relax and just be part in a very lean
manner of the entire process. Don´t be hyper, don´t show off, don´t try to call
the attention of recruiters.
(I don´t own the above picture)
