101 Recruitment

Usually the steps for recruitment don´t vary much from one airline to another. Let´s analyze the one that is the most complete:

Open day: lot´s of wannabe´ line up for hours with their CV, face (smile and show your teeths) and full body picture. She wears too much eye shadow and has the hair so tight up that you almost see the hair skull bleed. He is with his suite pretending to be calm and relaxed by making jokes and talking to the people around him.

Usually there is a small written exam, for example: if you were to be a super hero what would you be? Which powers would you have and what would you do with them? Or, describe a bad situation that happened in your life and explain if the outcome was positive or not.

Other times it´s just a very small 2 or 3 questions with the interviewer (that usually is a women ex crew in her 40´s). Even, sometimes, they make you read a small text provided by them out loud in front of them.

After the long day is over wannabes wait for an e-mail that says: congratulations, you have been selected to go through an Assessment.

Assessment day: in this venue only 1/3 or 1 /4 of the candidates of the Open Day will be selected. It all starts again with the Cv drop off and full body and face picture. After that you see a video presentation of the company and about what does it involve to be cabin crew according to the airline. At this point while you are seated watching the movie the recruiters are already selecting you. They follow certain patterns and criteria provided by the company:

>Woman criteria: tall but not that tall, thin if possible (no fats – body mass index are required to be healthy ones), nice skin with no pimples, if possible good teethes, polished nails, not bitchy attitude, nice ass, legs and breasts.

>Man criteria: tall but not that tall, good body, good back and that he doesn´t look gay.

After the video presentation goes the question and answers process were all doubts and hesitations are answered. Word of advice: if you have a question just shut up and don´t make it, they don´t like much participation of the candidates as they are tired and they follow a very tight criteria in the selection process. An extra word that you might say while doing your question might get you in the unsuccessful list.

Then you´ll be separated in groups and seated in a circle. With the person that you have on your side you´ll will be giving a flashcard with an instrument and explain a new non common use for that instrument. Or, explain about that country. While you talk ideas with your partner you´ll be called by the recruiter to perform the reach test (reach above 212 meters with your arm extended in your tip toe) and also 2 or 3 questions: why you want to be cabin crew? Why do you want to work for our company?

Don´t sweat it, remember you were already selected or not while the video presentation of the company was taking place. This is just to clear out if they have some doubts about you or not.

After this process the first cut comes: usually 1/3 or 2/3 of candidates are cut out.

The other possibility is that you may be placed in group of 3 or 4 and you´ll have to present the person in your group briefly out loud in front of all candidates and explain something funny about them that they told you about.

Another one is to play a game of truths and lie in which the candidate seated next to you tells you 2 truths and 1 lie (and you don´t know which one is the true or the lie), so then you stand up and in front of the group you explain what the candidate told you and then you guess with the group.

Usually if successful in the first instance you go through a written English exam: a 250 word essay about a specific subject and reading comprehension with multiple choice answering option. Depending in the airline you may also have or not a math exam: rate the amount of change in which you should give back to a passenger, calculate the time zone difference from one country to another if the plane takes off 2 hours late, etc. Calculator is provided by the company.

Then another cut off comes: very phew candidates may be cut off from this instance

 The next Assessment consists in group work dynamics: you are seated again in small groups between 5 or 10 (deepening in the amount of candidates) and you are giving a task to perform in which you have to answer as a group. It could be from: you are owners of a restaurant and the dessert is late for 4 tables but the entrance is ready for 2, you are short of staff that night, which one would you give priority and why? Or, you are in an airplane crash and there is space only for own more in the raft. A 13 year old adolescent, an old man and a pregnant mother are still in the water, which one would you save and why? Or, invent an airline commercial company and place a famous person to be General Manager, Marketing Manager, Public Relations Manager and Cabin Crew Manager. You may not use this famous people: Micheal Jackson, Messi and Opera. Explain why did you place those famous people in those positions? The important thing is to work always in a team and accept the other person point of view.

After that another cut is made: usually 1/3 stays

Some companies perform Final Interview in the same day or a day after the event.

Final interview is a common work final interview: they ask you about your life, they go deeper into your work experiences, they go around if your personal life has ever interfered positively or not into your professional life. It could last from 20 minutes to an hour. If it is 20 minutes or less is not necessary a bad thing, so chill out in that. Sometimes that just really want you and they don´t waste their time.

Usually you wait a week and you receive an e-mail or call with the successful or unsuccessful mail.

So: don´t be a bitch (if you are pretend that you are not), don´t be gay (if you are try to diminish your gayness). Play always in a team, shut up, don´t make question, never try to stand out, don´t you ever go and talk to the recruiters if they don´t call you, don´t put faces if someone asks something stupid, smile naturally and just don´t care a fuck about the event.

(I don´t own the above picture)