Assessment: how does it work?

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)