1.3 Who is hiring
All three airlines, Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are constantly hiring cabin crew. The recruitment events are advertised on each airline's career website and they can be Open Days, CV Submission Days or Assessment Days.
For the latest recruitment events, you can browse the careers website of each airline:
Emirates
Etihad Airways
Qatar Airways
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1.4 Your worries and questions answered
Many of my readers send me questions on a daily basis on various topics that ultimately summarize the worries that come up when going for an interview. It goes to an extent where some people can not even bring themselves to go to the interview and give it a try for fear of rejection. I am here to shed some light on the common issues that might come into your mind.
Scars
Scars can be from chicken-pox marks, stitches, cuts or burns. If you have any marks on your face, neck, arms or legs, you need to see if they can be concealed with make-up, masked by hair or hid under a pantyhose.
If you can do that, the scars should not be a problem.
If you are a man, then you only have to worry about your face and neck, as the uniform consists of long sleeved shirt and long pants. Man are not allowed to put on make-up while wearing the uniform, so the standards are more rigid here.
Scars can fade in time with laser treatments or by using ointments such as BioOil.
Acne
There are numerous treatments for acne nowadays. See a dermatologist (not a cosmetician or beautician) who will give you prescribed medication for acne. If you have scars caused by acne, then see the previous point.
Teeth
Very few people have naturally straight and white teeth. Must you have perfect pearly whites? Absolutely not. However, teeth are important because the trademark of the flight attendant (or any other person working with customers) is the smile. Your teeth must be clean and without cavities. Even if they are not perfectly straight, if your smile is pleasant and warm, then you should be fine. See your dentist for a cleaning and check-up before the interview.
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Braces
Teeth braces are not allowed by the grooming regulations for a flight attendant. If you are wearing your braces during the interview, explain to the interviewers when will they be removed.
Alternatively, you might consider having braces only on the inside part of your teeth.
Beauty marks
Beauty marks are brown spots or moles located on your body. You do not need to remove them to become a cabin crew. It is absolutely fine and natural to have them.
Tattoos
Tattoos have become very common, however, body art is not appreciated in this industry. If you want to be a flight attendant, you must be ink free in the following areas of your body: arms, legs, neck, face.
Mark on the below drawing the location of your tattoos. LADIES
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GENTLEMEN
If your tattoos are outside the colored area, you will not be accepted to work as a flight attendant.
You will be asked during your interview to describe the location and size of your tattoos. You might think you can skip this info, however there will be are located.Be truthful, as you will go through a thorough medical check once you are hired. If it is discovered then, you might be sent home.
If you are considering laser removal, make sure you check with your doctor that there will be no visible scar left.
Piercings
The only visible piercings allowed are ear piercings (one in each ear) and earrings for ladies. No piercings and jewelry wearing for men.
If you have piercings in your nose, lip or eyebrows and there is no visible hole when you remove the jewelry, then it is all fine.
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You must be willing to remove the jewelry from your facial piercings.
If your ears are not pierced, you should not pierce them to get the job. It is not required.
Height
The only requirement is the vertical arm reach. Emirates and Qatar Airways require you to be able to reach 212cm(6'11") on your tip toes.
Etihad Airways only requires 210cm (6'10").
You can be 158cm (5'3") or 180cm (5'11"), as long as you can reach the 212cm or 210cm mark, you will pass this part of the interview.
You can practice by measuring the required height on your wall and mark it with some tape. Some airlines require you to reach it with one hand only, while others want you to reach it with both hands. Practice, stretch and remember that arm reach can be improved with time.
Weight
Am I too fat or too skinny? The airlines require you to have a normal Body Mass Index (BMI). That is a formula that takes into consideration the proportion between your height and weight.
Find out your BMI here.
Eye-sight
You need to have a vision of 20/20. This can be your normal eye-sight, or your vision can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. You can have myopia or hyperopia. As long as you wear the prescribed glasses and you are able to see 20/20, then it is ok.
Bear in mind though, that some airlines require you to wear only contact lenses while on duty (not glasses). Make sure you are comfortable with that.
Once you are hired, you need to have a pair of glasses that comply with the grooming regulations: black, silver or gold
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frames of moderate design, without stones or other decorations.
Swimming
You are not required to know how to swim freely, but you are expected to be able to be comfortable enough in water and swim with the aid of a flotation device. This skill will be practiced during your initial training, where you will learn how to evacuate to aircraft during a ditching situation (emergency landing on water). You will be wearing a life-vest during this exercise.
Beauty
When you say flight attendant, we all think of the model-like girls, tall, skinny with perfect hair and teeth. The misconception here is that all flight attendants must look like that in ordered to be get this job. This could not be farther from the truth. If you have a pleasant appearance, relevant experience, you speak English and you make a good impression at the interview, you will be hired even if you do not resemble a Barbie doll.
Education
The only education requirement in order to apply to be a cabin crew is a high school diploma or a general education diploma (GED).
Everything on top of that is an advantage. This can be either college, university or vocational courses.
You do not need a cabin crew course to get the job. All the training will be done in the airline’s training academies after you are hired.
Relevant experience
To apply for a flight attendant position, relevant experience means any customer experience you have. That can be work in restaurants, bars, hotels, shops, schools, hospitals, offices or airports. Any work can be translated from a customer service perspective. To see examples, jump to Creating your CV.
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No experience
If you come straight from school and have absolutely no work experience, but you would like to start a career as a flight attendant, that is absolutely fine as well. Mostly, your interview questions will be based on your school experience or other work you did while in school. To score extra points, make sure that you include the organizations you have been involved with, internships or volunteer work that you have done.
If you show during your interview that you are open to learn and willing to become good at what you are doing, you will be hired even if you don't have any experience.
Languages
You need to be able to speak, read and write English fluently. This will be observed from how you present your CV, to dialogues during the group exercises, an English test and the final interview.
All the languages that you speak in addition to English are an advantage.
You are not required to speak Arabic in order to work for Emirates, Etihad or Qatar Airways.
Age
This is by far the most popular question. The only age requirement for becoming a cabin crew is minimum 21 years old at the time of the application. If you are younger than that, you will have to wait until your 21st birthday.
If you are older than that, it is absolutely fine. 27 is not old, 35 is not too old, and even when you are 42 you can become a cabin crew. Then why are all the flight attendants so young? The reason is that when you are in your 20's or early 30's, you are more likely to prefer this lifestyle: travel, share an apartment, be away from home, have an unpredictable schedule and change the team and the customers you work with all the time. The more you advance in age, the more you
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prefer stability, a family and a schedule that will allow you to have the weekends or holidays off.
That does not mean that you will not be considered for this job when you are over 30. If you want to do it and you are a fit for the job, there will be no problems at all.
Marital status
You can be a flight attendant if you are married, single, engaged or in a relationship. In the Middle East, there are fewer married people doing this job. And that is because you are moving away from your country, and it is much easier to relocate and find one job instead of two. Also, people who are married prefer to have a regular 9-5 job that will allow them to spend time with their families. Why are they not as many married people doing this job? Because they do not apply for it.
When applying for Qatar Airways, please note that if you join the company having single status, you must maintain the single status for the duration of the 3 year contract.
Children
Having children is an amazing experience. You would want to spend as much time as possible with them, and while working as a flight attendant, it will be quite a challenge. You might be away from home for days at a time, you might miss school plays or major milestones. If you want to do this job and have children, then you must have an open mind, a very understanding partner and help either from your parents, in-laws or a hired nanny.
Be aware that kindergarten and school in the Middle East is quite expensive and you will be expected to pay that yourself, without any assistance from the company.
Also, if you decide to relocate to Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha with your family, you will not be able to live in the shared company provided accommodation, but find your own apartment for which you will be offered a housing allowance
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from the company. You can apply for the housing allowance only after the first 6 months of probation.
Nationality
There is absolutely no discrimination based on the color of your passport. Airlines in the Middle East cherish the diversity of their crew. If you come from Australia, Mozambique, Peru, Tajikistan, Germany or Philippines, you will be offered the same fair chance to interview for the flight attendant job as any other candidates, and your culture will be celebrated among the other over 100 nationalities working for the airline.
How long to wait in between assessment days
✓If you participated in an Open Day and your CV was not
short-listed, you can go to another Open Day after 6 months. Remember however that you can not do the same thing over
and over again and expect a different result. When you present the same CV, same photos and the same experience, if you were rejected once, the chances are that you will be rejected the second and the third time as well. Take some time to review your CV, volunteer for some customer service jobs or apply for a new job in the customer service field, learn a new language or acquire a new skill that might benefit you when working as a cabin crew.
✓If you participated in an Open Day and your CV was short-listed, but you fail at any point during the assessment day, you will need to wait for 6 months to participate again in a
recruitment event (Open Day or Assessment Day).
✓If you passed all stages of the Assessment Day but you fail the final interview, you will have to wait 12 months before re-applying.
✓If you are in any of the above-mentioned situations, use the time until you can try again wisely. Reading this book is a great step in your success: being prepared, knowing what to expect and improving yourself to fit the airline's expectations are your keys to get the job.
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✓Is this rule strict? Yes!
Confidence and fear of failure
There are a million little reasons to worry about. You can worry about your appearance, about the design of your blouse or small little things you said. Most people are chronic worriers. We analyze every single step we did and go crazy on all the details. Do you believe in the power of mind? I do, and I believe that you will attract in your life exactly what you have been thinking. If you think you are never good enough and worthy, why would other people think differently? But if you know that you have something to offer and you let people see it by being open, honest and enthusiastic, you will be seeing great accomplishments coming your way.
Think of it like this: the best thing that can happen is getting a job and an amazing new life full of adventure and travels. Worst thing that can happen is a gained experience of how an assessment day looks like. See it as a learning experience.
You might make it through the CV selection, but fail the group exercise. With this you learn that your CV is great, but you need to improve your team-working skills.
Or you pass the group exercise, but fail the English test. You know exactly what to focus on: improving your English.
You do not need to alter your appearance, buy an expensive suit for the interview or try to pretend to be someone that you are not. If you are fit for the job, the job will be a fit for you as well. Otherwise you will end up being miserable. Do it for passion, and it will not feel like work at all!
You are already perfect. Just let the people around you see that.
Want to see another topic? Explore the Table of CONTENTS.
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Chapter 2 - Let's get you the job
The cabin crew hiring process is called an assessment center or assessment day. Here are some definitions for you:
Assessment Day (or Assessment Center) – Is a process employing multiple techniques and multiple assessors to produce judgements regarding the extent to which a participant displays selected competencies.
Assessor – An individual trained to observe, record, classify and make reliable judgement about the behaviors of those being assessed.
Exercise (or Task) – A simulation or technique designed to elicit behaviors related to performance requirements of the job.
Source: Lewis Rowe, Tina; A Preparation Guide for the Assessment center Method; (2006) Charles C.
Thomas Publishers Ltd, Illinois, USA.
Your flight attendant skills will be tested in a series of exercises. This hiring method has been adopted by many companies, as a form of interviewing. At the end of the assessment day you will have a 1-on-1 final interview.
There are 3 ways of getting to interview for the cabin crew position:
Assessment Day - you will be submitting an online application and then wait to be called when the airline holds an assessment in your country or city.
Open Day - you will participate in the open day that
the airlines organize monthly in various countries around the world. If your CV is short-listed, you will then participate in a Assessment Day either immediately after, or on a future date which will be communicated to you. No online application is necessary before this event.
3. CV Submission Day - you can drop off your CV and
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required photographs during the published timings. The short listed candidates will be invited to participate in an Assessment Day either the next day or on a future date. No online application is necessary before the event.
We will explore step by step all the options that exist to get you to the assessment day. This chapter is divided in 3 parts: before, during and after the assessment.
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