Cabin Crew Jobs – Corona Virus Update

You’ve probably now binge-watched all Tiger King Episodes on Netflix

So, you’ve binge-watched Tiger King, met your friends for drinks via Zoom and decluttered. EVERYTHING in your house that could be decluttered, so what’s next?

Because the reality is, you’ve now got more time on your hands than you’re used to. If this sounds familiar, then know you’re not alone and more and more people are looking at online learning as a way to use their time productively throughout their lockdown.

Maybe the time has made you focus much more on your future and what you would like to do withyourself when this is all over. We’ve been forced to confront the fact that life can change very quickly and things that seemed so important a few weeks ago, now seem so irrelevant now. And I’m sure I won’t be the only one planning big changes when I get out of here!

Is it time to re-evaluate your life?

It’s giving us time to re-evaluate our lives and think to ourselves- is this really what I want to be doing with my life?

If the answer is no, then believe it or not, you’ve been given an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity (hopefully) to take time off from the treadmill of life and think deeply about where your future lies.

And, if you had been fed-up of working in hospitality, retail or admin. and always dreamed about being cabin crew, then the time you start preparing for this should be NOW.

Qatar Cabin Crew — Now could be the time to start preparing for a Cabin Crew job

Now, I’m not going to sugar coat things, aviation is in a bad place at the moment. Most major airlines are not flying at present. Current industry projections claim it will take between 6- 18 months to get the aviation industry back to full capacity. But it will return and it will continue to grow.

Air travel is expected to double over the next 20 years – pandemics not withstanding! Forbes.com

So, although it doesn’t feel like it in these darkest of days, air travel does have a bright future ahead of it and as someone who dreams of being cabin crew- so do you!

These are bad times for airlines but it won’t last

So, why is now the perfect time to do an online course?

Because you have so much time on your hands!

Now, I’ve said it many times before, but getting a cabin crew job is difficult. In fact, the success rate on average is 5%.

Yep, of 100 people applying for the job, only 5 people will be successful.

So, in other words, 95 will be successful.

Why not let us help you be one of the 5 who are successful?

Because, here’s the thing- we really do know our stuff.

I’ve applied for every cabin crew job and I’ve ever encountered and my success rate is 100% But, I should be good at this stuff as it’s my job!

Pauline Park, Co- Founder & Director Mondrago My Travel Teacher

After successfully applying, Kenny (my fellow co-founder here at Mondrago) and I created a range of courses based round the recruitment processes of the world’s major airlines. Learn more about us here

So, you can rest assured that if it’s included in the airlines’ recruitment process, then it’s included in our courses too!

Whether it’s the perfect CV, how to complete a situational judgement questionnaire, what to do during video interview, how to prepare for a group activity or how to use SAR answers during your final interview- we cover it all!

So, I want you to think of this situation as an amazing opportunity to get yourself ahead of the game, so that when airlines start looking for cabin crew again- and they will- you are READY!

I also am sure every single airline recruiter you will encounter over the next year or so will ask you what you did with your time in self-isolation.

And what better answer than you were preparing for your future as cabin crew? They can’t fail to be impressed.

What should you think about when you are looking for high quality online learning?

Because, you will probably know as well as me that there is a lot of dodgy training out there on the web!

So, as someone who has been teaching for 26 years now (OMG- how did that happen??), let me give you some advice on what you should be looking for:Make sure the instructors are qualified to teach you. ANYONE can create an online course so please believe us when we say that all courses ARE NOT created equal.

As well as teaching for over 25 years, Kenny is also an award-winning creator of online courses and he is always showing me examples of some really bad ones he encounters. So, make sure the people creating the course have decent credentials.

Kenneth and Pauline PaRK — Kenny and I have over 50 years of teaching experience combined – yikes!

Make sure the content is interactive. Life is boring enough right now without having to listen to people on a talking head video droning on and on (and on…).

This is what teachers call passive learning, as there is nothing for you to do and they are proven to be highly ineffective.

Look for courses that have a high level of interactivity which work by keeping you highly engaged. This type of learning is called active learning. And the more engaged you are, the more information you retain.

Goes without saying, as experienced teachers, all of our courses are highly interactive and lots of fun. (Don’t believe us, then check out our many 5 star reviews on Facebook)

There are loads of great reviews on our Facebook page here

Pick a course you are passionate about as this will help you stay more motivated.

Pick a course that is well structured as it is difficult to stay motivated with self-directed learning.

Luckily, as an experienced learning technologist, Kenny is very aware of this and all of our courses are structured using learning paths, to allow you to follow your progress throughout.

So, hopefully, you’ve come to the conclusion that doing an online course during this time is an incredibly useful thing to do.

But, we get it.

Online courses cost money and that’s the last thing you have right now. If you’re lucky, you’ve maybe been furloughed by your employer, but how long will that last for? Or you’ve been one of the unlucky ones and you have lost your job as a result of the pandemic.

We would LOVE to give you access to all of our courses for free. However, as a small business that simply isn’t possible, as there are costs associated with the hosting of our courses.

So, what we have decided to do is to offer all our courses with 80% off as this allows us to cover our costs.

This is the best we can do for you at this incredibly difficult time and we really do hope it is enough.

Use discount code Corona80 to access all of our courses with an 80% discount

Show me the courses

Pauline Park

Emirates Cabin Crew – this is a true story

Hello Today I’d like to tell you a story. It’s a story about Luisa. Luisa is 23 years old and grew up in the Argentinian city of Buenos Aires. Ever since she’s been a small girl, Luisa has dreamed of being cabin crew. She would watch in wonder as planes flew overhead and dream of the day she could take to the skies. When she was 7 years old, she flew for the very first time and when she met the friendly flight attendants on-board, she knew this was the job for her.

Luisa’s cousin, Valentina, also dreamed of becoming a flight attendant and, when she become 21, she applied to become cabin crew with Aerolineas. She was turned down at her first attempt, but being very determined, she worked incredibly hard on her application and at last, she was successful! She flew with Aerolineas for a couple of years and then decided to apply for Emirates. She was successful and headed off to start her new life in Dubai.

Valentina attended the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai

Luisa loved it when her older cousin came home to visit and would sit rapt as Valentina regaled them all with tales of walking on the Great Wall of China, shopping in Fifth Avenue in New York or snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. And, as for the photos! Oh my, they were amazing! Luisa knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this was the life for her. So, she decided she would apply for cabin crew with Emirates as well. But, she encountered a problem as Emirates were not recruiting at the time! No worries, she knew from Valentina that it was important to get a lot of customer service experience, so she would focus on that until the day came when Emirates started recruiting again. And, so the day came when Emirates re-opened their cabin crew recruitment and Luisa knew her time had come. She applied online and waited. And waited. And waited. She read blogs and joined Facebook groups to try and work out why she hadn’t had a response. She reached out to Valentina who told her there were technical problems with the recruitment process and it looked like Emirates would return to open days. So, she waited. And she waited. And waited some more. Then the day came when Emirates announced that they were going to hold an open day in Buenos Aires. This was it- her very big chance! She rushed off to buy a new suit, some new shoes and the all-important red lipstick.

Luisa bought a whole new outfit including these shoes

She had a CV she had written in school, so she knew she had that covered. So, she booked herself an appointment with a local photographer and got her formal and casual photos done. My goodness, this was costing her a lot of money, but surely it would be worth it to get the chance to wear the famous red hat? Imagine her horror when that evening, Luisa got a message from her friend, Sofia- who had planned to attend the Emirates open day with Luisa- to say the open day had been cancelled. Surely not? With a sinking feeling, Luisa logged on to Emirates website and sure enough, where just the day before the open day for Buenos Aires was listed, was now a total blank. This was a nightmare! But Luisa, was not anything if not determined. She looked at all the open days that were still available and one caught her eye- Madrid. Luisa knew she could get a flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid so decided to go for it. Surely Emirates couldn’t help but be impressed that she had flown across the world to attend an open day? Seeing someone this committed had to work in her favour right? So, she went on to the Aerolineas website to book her flights. Unfortunately, the open day was only 4 days away, so the flights were very, very expensive. She had some savings, so she decided to go for it. After all, Luisa was convinced no-one else would do such a journey, so this had to put her at the front of the queue. Right? Luisa quickly realised, from reading cabin crew blogs, that the assessment day was often the day after the open day and the final interview the day after this. So, she was going to have to stay for at least 4 nights in Madrid. My, this was all starting to add up, but It was all going to be worth it right?

Luisa was going to need to spend 4 nights in Madrid

So, off Luisa headed to Europe. She had never left the Americas before, so it was a big adventure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained right? The following morning, Luisa made her way towards the hotel where the open day was being help (thanks Google maps!). It was due to start at 9am, but she couldn’t sleep for excitement, so she arrived at 7am. She was pretty sure she’d be the first one there, but no, there were hundreds of people there already. All of them dressed in a navy suit, a white blouse, hair in a bun, wearing the all-important red lipstick. The exact same as Luisa in fact! She started to feel worried. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought it was. She joined the very long queue and two hours later was in front of a recruiter. The time she had spent queuing had made her increasingly nervous and she felt her legs shaking as she took a seat in front of the recruiter. The recruiter asked for Luisa’s CV and then asked her why she wanted to fly with Emirates.

Oh no, Luisa had not been prepared for this question. She mumbled something about them being a brilliant airline and waited for the next question. It didn’t come. The recruiter simply thanked her for coming and told her results would be posted in next two hours. Luisa simply couldn’t believe it. This was it? No-one has asked her how she got here, what job she currently held, and she hadn’t had an opportunity to tell them that she had flown all the way from Argentina to be here.

Luisa did not even get the chance to say she’d come all the way from Argentina

She felt sick to the stomach as she left the room and prepared to wait. However, when she thought over it all, it hadn’t gone too badly. After all, she knew she looked well-groomed, her teacher in school had told her her CV was good and ok, she had made a bit of a mess of the question, but that wouldn’t matter would it? The two- hours felt interminable as she waited for the result, but then the moment came when the recruiter came and posted a list of those who had been invited to attend the assessment day. Luisa waited until the crowd had dispersed before approaching the list. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she scanned the list desperately for her name. It wasn’t there- she had failed to get through. She had flown all this way to spend less than one minute in front of a recruiter. And she wasn’t due to fly home for another 2 days. Luisa spent the next two days wandering morosely around Madrid, taking in nothing as she despaired over her situation. She flew back to Buenos Aires the following day, feeling deeply saddened and several thousand dollars poorer.

Luisa had literally wasted thousands of dollars

Had it been worth it? Not at all. And, do you know the saddest part of Luisa’s story? It’s actually a true story and Luisa did fly over to Madrid from Argentina to attend an Emirates Open Day. Luisa reached out to me after discovering my blogs last week and asked for help. I was so saddened by her story and asked if I could share it with others and Luisa was happy to let me do this. Why do I want to share Luisa’s story? Simple, really. I don’t want ANYONE else to make the same mistakes that Luisa made. You see, here’s the thing. Emirates simply DON’T CARE that you have travelled many, many miles to see them. They are only interested in TWO things. ONE- that you look the part.

SECONDLY, and far more importantly, that you can do the job and the way they decide this is by looking at your CV and noting down your answers to any questions that they ask you. Now, I want to give you a bit of a reality check here. #realitycheck It’s easy to book flights and hotel accommodation. It’s fun to go shopping for a new suit and shoes. It’s enjoyable to spend hours in front of the mirror checking out different colours of red lipstick. It’s exciting to have your friends round and practice putting your hair-up for the big day. But, and here’s the reality check for you. Doing these things will NOT get you the job. Remember, Emirates have a HUGE pool of candidates to choose from. In fact, over 97% of those who apply to become cabin crew with them will ever be successful. So, of those 1,000 people who attend an open day, only 150 will be invited to an assessment day and only 30 will be offered a job. Those other 970 will be rejected! And, here’s the thing! I know why those 30 will be successful. And you probably won’t like the answer but here it comes! The thing that makes these 30 stand-out from the others is simply HARD WORK Yep, that’s the secret. They know that there is more to getting this job then shopping for shoes or trying on red lipstick. They know that the secret of success is working on their CV, practising for the group activities, preparing SAR answers for the competency -based questions they know they will be asked at the final interview, or improving their video skills in preparation for their Skype interviews. They know that competition to become cabin crew with Emirates is fierce and they know that they have to put the work in to ensure success. They’re prepared to put the work in. Are you? Speak soon Pauline x

Pauline leads an Emirates training session in Glasgow — Pauline Park

PS- wondering what happened to Luisa? Well, she decided to become a member of New2Crew Academy. We have been working hard on her new CV, she’s stuffed it full of Emirates keywords and it’s looking good. She’s spent ages in our Emirates Executive Lounge learning all about the airline so next time she’s asked about why she wants to work for Emirates she’s got a sure-fire answer at the ready! In short, Luisa is now putting in the work she should have done the first time round and next time, we’re determined to give Luisa the happy ending she so surely now deserves.

Norwegian Cabin Crew

Ok, so Norwegian Airways are currently recruiting for cabin crew, so I thought I would write you a blog telling you all about their application process.

An hour after I applied I got an email inviting me to the next stage of application process

You see, it wouldn’t be right if I was offering you up advice if I hadn’t gone through the process myself would it?

So in this post I’m going to cover

Norwegian Cabin Crew Minimum Requirements
The perfect Norwegian Cabin Crew Covering Letter and CV
A Reality Check
Norwegian Cabin Crew Online Tests

Now, for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Pauline Park and my passion is helping people like you become cabin crew. I have extensive experience as I have been teaching Travel and Tourism for 23 years now and, in this time, I have helped 1000’s of students get their dream jobs in the travel industry.

And, now I would like to help YOU.

As I’ve been teaching for such a long time, I’m (ahem) pretty old!

So, I applied for a job as cabin crew with Norwegian Airways using one of my alter -egos called Stephanie and I would like to share our experience with you.

So, what’s involved?

To be honest, there really isn’t that much to the application process.

Does this mean it’s easy?

No, not at all and after I’ve told you what’s involved, I’ll explain why it’s not as easy as it may appear.

So, what do you need to do?

Norwegian Cabin Crew Minimum Requirements

Well, first up, you simply enter your personal details:

Firstly you simply enter your personal details

Please note that if you answer no to any of these questions, your application will not be taken any further.

However, please DO NOT be tempted to lie as all of these requirements WILL BE CHECKED before you are offered employment.

Norwegian are also quite unusual in that a swim test forms part of their assessment, so if your swimming is not the best, make sure you get loads of practice in!

They will then check that you meet certain requirements

With these questions, you have to be able to answer yes to the first two questions. They will then expect you to have a professional working or native/ bilingual proficiency in English and you can have NO visible tattoos or piercings whilst in uniform.

Some more questions that check minimum requirements

You also have to answer these questions above as well and then it’s time to upload some documents.

The perfect Norwegian Cabin Crew Covering Letter and CV

These are a covering letter and your CV.

This is simple stuff isn’t it?

Well, it seems so but think about this.

Norwegian gets 1000s of people applying to become cabin crew with them every month.

And, every month 95% of them rejected!

Say what?

Yip, for every 100 people applying to become cabin crew with Norwegian, 95 will be rejected.

Not great odds I’m sure you’ll agree.

And here’s the thing…

The vast, vast majority of people will be rejected at the application stage.

In fact over 80% of people will be rejected at this stage.

So, for every 100 people applying, only 20 will get through this stage.

The vast, vast majority of people will be rejected by Norwegian at the application stage.

Why is this when it seems so incredibly simple?

Well, let me explain…

I have written many a blog about CV’s and you can access them here, but all I will say is that once you have uploaded your CV and your covering letter there’s not much more to this application process.

So, they are deciding to invite you on to the next stage of the application process based ONLY on your CV and your covering letter.

So, they have GOT TO BE GOOD

In fact, I’d go one step further and say they have to be FANTASTIC!

You really can’t afford to get this stage wrong, because if you do, that’s it for you and you will have to wait another 6 months before you can even try again!

So, don’t upload a bog-standard CV and covering letter- this simply isn’t good enough.

95% of applicants who apply to become Norwegian Airways cabin crew are rejected.

And, the MOST COMMON REASON IS THEIR CV AND COVERING LETTER IS RUBBISH!

I see this all of the time and it drives me mad!

Really good candidates with amazing work experience and who would make really good cabin crew, but are let down by using a terrible CV and covering letter.

It’s simply not enough to use a CV and covering letter you wrote in school or college.

Your CV and covering letter has to be absolutely tailored to the job.

And, if it’s not?

Then it will be rejected

Simple as that!

I run a FREE Facebook group called the Departure Lounge (and if you’re not in there you’d be mad not to join, as there are loads of current cabin crew in there who would love to help with your cabin crew journey) and some of the posts in there make me laugh (or scream depending on my mood!)

My Facebook group “The Departure Lounge” has loads of ex and current cabin crew who are happy to help you.

There are SO MANY posts in there asking what colour scarf to wear to the assessment day or if their shoes are too pointy, of if they should wear red or pink lipstick on the day?

Reality check here guys!

A Reality Check

The simple fact is that if your CV, covering letter are no good, you won’t even make it to the assessment day so all of your worries about lipstick or shoes or make-up are completely pointless!

Focus on what’s important and here, the most important thing is your CV and covering letter.

So, as I said, I have written a lot about CV’s and covering letters and I recommend you check it all out, but if there was only ONE piece of advice I could give you, it would be to make sure your CV and covering letter is stuffed full of keywords.

What are keywords?

Simple- they are the skills and characteristics that Norwegain Airways are looking for.

And, do you know what’s so amazing about keywords?

Norwegian Airways actually GIVE THEM TO YOU!

Say, what?

Yep, Norwegain Airways actually tell you their keywords.

Isn’t that incredibly kind of them?

Yes, indeed it is!

So, where are these keywords?

Well, they are found in the job specification.

Now, because I am a nice person and I’ve made it my mission in life to help people like you become cabin crew, I’ll send you a specially written CV as well as a guide about fitting in keywords, just sign up below.

So, anyway, we uploaded Stephanie’s CV and covering letter

An hour later Stephanie received this email from Norwegian…

Within an hour I had received this email from the Norwegian Assessment Team

Woo hoo- Stephanie had got through the first stage of the application process and was on her way to completing Norwegian’s online tests.

Go Stephanie!

Remember, this is the stage of the application process that THE VAST MAJORITY OF CANDIDATES FAIL AT.

So, this is the stage you MUST FOCUS ON.

Don’t let yourself become distracted with lipstick colours, skirt length and shoe height.

FOCUS ONLY ON YOUR CV and COVERING LETTER.

Because if you don’t get that correct, it’s game over!

The reality is that if you get through the first stage of the application process, you’ve actually got a much higher chance of becoming cabin crew.

The numbers get smaller and smaller as you move through the process, so conversely your chances of becoming cabin crew become higher and higher!

Research has shown that over 80% of applicants will not move on beyond the CV stage.

So, if 1,000 people apply, only 200 will move on to the testing stage.

Approximately 100 will then be invited to an Assessment Day.

And approximately 20 of them will be offered a position as cabin crew.

So, if you’re any good at arithmetic, you’ll quickly realise that 800 people (out of 1,000!) will FAIL at the application stage.

Yep, that’s 80% of applications will not even make it past this stage.

AND ALL BECAUSE THEIR CV IS RUBBISH!

So, this gives you an amazing opportunity!

Why?

Well because you now know the importance of having a brilliant cabin crew CV.

I’ve also given you all the keywords Norwegian Airways are looking for.

So, you’ve no excuse now!

Go and get working on that AMAZING Norwegian Airways CV and covering letter.

Ok, so Stephanie has just been invited to take part in Norwegian’s online tests, so let’s have a look at what’s involved.

Norwegian Cabin Crew Online Tests

There are two tests involved. The first is a psychometric test that tries to work out if you will be a good “fit” for Norwegian Airways.

The second test checks your understanding of written English.

So, let’s go and look at the workplace questionnaire.

You are asked a range of questions (48 of them!) and you have to allocate points to the statements.

So, every screen has three different statements. You have 6 points to allocate and you need to decide where to allocate them.

So, if you really agree with a statement, then you may allocate all 6 points.

Or, if you agree with all three statements then you would allocate 2 points to each option.

Please don’t try and second guess the airline here and give answers that they “want” to hear.

If you are not being true to yourself, then ultimately, are you making the correct career choice?

So, ultimately, please just give your most honest answers.

When I did it, sometimes I knew what they were looking for (like a good team player) but a lot of the time I didn’t, so my advice is just to be as honest as you can.

People say you can’t practice psychometric tests and to an extent you can’t.

However, an acronym known as OCEAN is often used by airlines when it comes to these tests.

These are often known as the “Big 5” personality traits and they stand for openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

Airlines will generally look for a high degree of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness and a low degree of neuroticism so this is what you should be looking for if you do try online psychometric testing.

Anyway, there are 48 screens so it does take considerable time.

Good news though- it is not timed at all, so please take your time and give each statement a lot of thought when allocating points.

Once you have answered these statements, you will be asked to take part in the next test.

Now things get a bit more stressful here as this test is timed!

There are 42 questions in total, and you only have 12 minutes to complete the test.

You WON’T manage to answer all 42 questions in this time. I managed 30 and I was going pretty fast as I have done these tests before, so if you get half of them done then you’ll be doing well!

So, how does it work?

Let’s have a look?

What happens is that you have a range of topics across the top of the screen:

You are then asked a question at the bottom of the screen:

So, the first thing you need to do is to work out which topic to select. This question relates to working times, so this is the tab you click on:

Here you will find the answer to the question. You have three options- true/ false and cannot say if the answer is not there. So, let’s remind ourselves of the question:

If we check the text above, we can see that we cannot say if this answer is true or not, so we would click on cannot say.

We then click on the arrow to move on to the next question.

So, you can see why you could never answer 42 questions in 12 minutes!

Anyway, hope this blog helps you and please don’t forget to download your FREE CV that I know will impress Norwegian

Pauline x

British Airways Cabin Crew Recruitment

Ok, so last time we met Stephanie she had just been invited to take part in the British Airways online tests (eek!) So, let’s go and find out more.

Ok, so the British Airways online application process is split into three sections:

Work-related scenarios
Working style
Verbal and numerical ability

The British Airways online assessment is split into 3 sections

Ok, so as the title suggests, you are given a range of work-related scenarios and you have to choose what you think are the most effective and least effective solutions to the scenario.

You are given a practice question to allow you to understand what they are looking for and then it’s into the real thing!

The British Airways Work related scenario questions look like this

I have to be honest, some of the scenarios were quite difficult and I really had to think about it as the answers certainly weren’t obvious and there were times when I swithered between one answer and another.

My tip to you would be to eliminate the least effective option first of all (i.e. the worst solution) and then think about what would be the best solution between the two remaining options.

Another thing I would advise you to do, is to really think about what cabin crew do and learn as much as you can about the role before applying.

Remember, that the key role is safety on-board and you should always bear this is mind when answering these scenarios.

So, for example, there is a scenario relating to a passenger who won’t do up her seatbelt before take-off.

Passengers must fasten their seatbelts when the seatbelt sign is fastened, and cabin crew cannot deviate from this rule so you would need to INSIST that the passenger fastened her seatbelt or she wouldn’t be allowed to travel.

So, the more you know about what cabin crew actually do, the better prepared you will be for this section.

You also need to make sure that you understand how important good customer service is to British Airways and the more you can demonstrate your understanding of this in these scenarios, the better you will do.

There are 15 scenarios in total, so you really do need to know a lot about the role of cabin crew.

After this you move on to the next section where your working styles will be assessed.

Working Styles

This is effectively a psychometric test which is basically a personality test, to see if your “personality” fits with what British Airways are looking for.

Please don’t try and second guess the airline here and give answers that they “want” to hear.

If you are not being true to yourself, then ultimately, are you making the correct career choice?

So, ultimately, please just give your most honest answers.

When I did it, sometimes I knew what they were looking for (like a good team player) but a lot of the time I didn’t, so my advice is just to be as honest as you can.

People say you can’t practice psychometric tests and to an extent you can’t.

However, an acronym known as OCEAN is often used by airlines when it comes to these tests.

These are often known as the “Big 5” personality traits and they stand for openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

The questions look like this:

You had to decide if a statement was completely untrue, fairly untrue, neither true or untrue, fairly true or very true.

As you can see, I chose very true for 2 and fairly true for 2, but it wouldn’t allow me to do this as you are only allowed to choose each category once each time, which I certainly think made it more difficult.

There are 12 of these questions in total and there are four statements in each one, so it did take quite a time to do it!

Then we were on to stage 3 where you were given a numerical and language test.

Verbal and numerical ability

I was surprised at how difficult it was and to be honest, I think a lot of people will really struggle with it.

There are 10 questions in total- 5 relate to your numerical skills and 5 test your language skills.

In order to be cabin crew with British Airways, you have to be a fluent English speaker and the questions they asked would be difficult to answer unless you had a really good grasp of the language.

Because you are also dealing with money on-board your flights as well as bar and catering paperwork, you have to be good at dealing with numbers and that’s why your numerical skills are being assessed.

You get the chance to try a practice numerical and language question.

As you can see, you are given the value of 100 euros in a range of different currencies and you have to be able to do currency conversions.

You are then given a practice language question:

You are asked to read a passage and then asked a question relating to the passage. Please read what they are asking for very carefully and take your time answering these types of questions as they can be tricky.

Now what makes this section of the application more difficult is that it is timed.

So, you have 20 minutes to complete this section.

There are 10 questions in total, so my advice is to spend two minutes on each question and if you haven’t got an answer in two minutes, then move on to the next one.

The first few questions relate to local time in different destinations in the world and they were hard!

I have taught this topic, but not for a few years and I have to admit, I found it difficult!

You are then asked a range of currency conversions, so if this is not your strong point, please download my FREE currency conversion guide.

You are then given five language questions, similar to the one above and that’s it- all of your online testing is over!

All you can then do, is sit back, take a deep breath and wait to hear from British Airways!

I think the online tests must be marked automatically because within an hour of submitting them, Stephanie received this email…

Stephanie received an email from the British Airways Cabin Crew Recruitment Team

Hooray- Stephanie got an invite to an assessment day!

So, let’s hope you’re next!

Pauline x

British Airways Jobs – Cabin Crew

Ok, so British Airways are currently recruiting for cabin crew, so I thought I would write you a blog telling you all about their application process. I completed the online application and was invited to THE NEXT STAGE OF THE SELECTION PROCESS JUST ONE HOUR LATER
In this blog I’m going to cover

British Airways Video questions
British Airways Qualifying questions
A perfect British Airways CV
Using British Airways Keywords
Why People Fail at the British Airways CV Stage

British Airways Jobs — British Airways are recruiting at the moment

And, now I would like to help YOU.

As I’ve been teaching for such a long time, I’m (ahem) pretty old!

I’m Pauline Park and I’ve helped 1000’s of people get cabin crew jobs

So, I applied for a job as cabin crew with British Airways using one of my alter-egos called Stephanie and I would like to share our experience with you. Oh, and just so you know, here is the email I got just one hour later inviting me to the online assessment

Within an hour of submitting an application I was invited to the online assessment

British Airways Video questions

So, first up you have to watch a series of 10 videos and then you are asked a multiple choice question after each one.

This isn’t actually part of the application process but it’s been added in there to make you more aware of what the job of cabin crew actually entails.

So, for example, you are shown a video of someone having to get up at 3am to get ready for work and you’re then asked how you would cope with this.

You’ll be asked about how you will cope with early rises

Or, you see someone realising that they can’t go to their friend’s wedding as they are on duty and again, you are asked how you would deal with this.

So, in effect, what they are doing is giving you a range of typical scenarios to help you decide whether the job is really for you or not.

And, it’s not a bad idea as the reality is that the job is not for everyone and these videos highlight a lot of the more challenging aspects of being cabin crew, like the early starts, missing out on important engagements, having to deal with difficult passengers, having to sit yearly exams and having to work with different crew every time you fly.

So, whilst you are watching these videos, do have a good think about whether this is the job for you.
You are asked to answer a question after each video and you are given feedback from your answer.
Read this feedback carefully and take notes of what it says as you may find it comes in useful later in the application process.

So, then the application process begins!

British Airways Qualifying questions

You are asked to answer a range of qualifying questions.

These are the BASIC requirements that British Airways are looking for, so if you are unable to meet these requirements, then the airline will not be able to take your application any further.
You can see some of their qualifying questions below:

British Airways Cabin Crew Interview Questions

Some more British Airways Interview Questions

ONLY if you meet these basic criteria will you be able to move on to the next stage of the process.
Please DON’T lie as all of these requirements will be checked and verified before you are offered a contract of employment.

These requirements are quite detailed, so read them through carefully and do not proceed with your application until you know that you meet them all.

And, if you can’t for example, swim?

Then don’t apply at this time and go and learn to swim!

Remember, if you are unsuccessful with your application, you have to wait 6 months to apply again, so why not prepare well and pass first time instead?

Anyway, once you have answered all of these basic requirement questions, it’s time to create an account on their careers site:

British Airways Careers Portal — British Airways Careers Site

You will then be asked to upload your CV.

A perfect British Airways CV

Now, I have written many a blog about CVs and you can access them here, but all I will say is that once you have uploaded your CV, there’s not much more to this stage of the application process.

So, they are deciding to invite you on to the next stage of the application process based ONLY on your CV.

So, your CV has GOT TO BE GOOD

In fact, I’d go one step further and say that your CV has to be FANTASTIC!

You really can’t afford to get this stage wrong, because if you do, that’s it for you and you will have to wait another 6 months before you can even try again!

So, don’t upload a bog-standard CV- this simply isn’t good enough.

98% of applicants who apply to become British Airways cabin crew are rejected.

And, the MOST COMMON REASON IS THEIR CV IS RUBBISH!

I see this all of the time and it drives me mad!

Really good candidates with amazing work experience and who would make really good cabin crew, but are let down by using a terrible CV.

It’s simply not enough to use a CV you wrote in school or college.

Your CV has to be absolutely tailored to the job.

And, if it’s not?

Then it will be rejected

Simple as that!

I run a FREE Facebook group called the Departure Lounge (and if you’re not in there you’d be mad not to join, as there are loads of current cabin crew- including BA- in there who would love to help with your cabin crew journey) and some of the posts in there make me laugh (or scream depending on my mood!)

There are SO MANY posts in there asking what colour scarf to wear to the assessment day or if their shoes are too pointy, of if they should wear red or pink lipstick on the day?

Reality check here guys!

#realitycheck

The simple fact is that if your CV is no good, you won’t even make it to the assessment day so all of your worries about lipstick or shoes or make-up are completely pointless!

Focus on what’s important and here, the most important thing is your CV.

So, as I said, I have written a lot about CV’s and I recommend you check it all out, but if there was only ONE piece of advice I could give you, it would be to make sure your CV is stuffed full of keywords.

Using British Airways Keywords

What are keywords?

Simple- they are the skills and characteristics that British Airways are looking for,

And, do you know what’s so amazing about keywords?

British Airways actually GIVE THEM TO YOU!

Say, what?

Yep, British Airways actually tell you their keywords.

Isn’t that incredibly kind of them?

Yes, indeed it is!

So, where are these keywords?

Well, they are found in the job specification.

So, anyway, we uploaded Stephanie’s CV and sent it off.

What happens next?

Well, we sent off Stephanie’s CV and got this email one hour later…

Woo hoo- Stephanie had got through the first stage of the application process.
Go Stephanie!

Remember, this is the stage of the application process that THE VAST MAJORITY OF CANDIDATES FAIL AT.

So, this is the stage you MUST FOCUS ON.

Don’t let yourself become distracted with lipstick colours, skirt length and shoe height.

FOCUS ONLY ON YOUR CV

Because if you don’t get that correct, it’s game over!

The reality is that if you get through the first stage of the application process, you’ve actually got a much higher chance of becoming cabin crew.

The numbers get smaller and smaller as you move through the process, so conversely your chances of becoming cabin crew become higher and higher!

Research has shown that over 80% of applicants will not move on beyond the CV stage.

So, if 1,000 people apply, only 200 will move on to the testing stage.

Approximately 100 will then be invited to an Assessment Day.

And approximately 20 of them will be offered a position as cabin crew.

Why People Fail at the British Airways CV Stage

So, if you’re any good at arithmetic, you’ll quickly realise that 800 people (out of 1,000!) will FAIL at the CV stage.

Yep, that’s 80% of applications will not even make it past this stage.

AND ALL BECAUSE THEIR CV IS RUBBISH!

So, this gives you an amazing opportunity!

Why?

Well because you now know the importance of having a brilliant cabin crew CV.

I’ve also given you all the keywords British Airways are looking for.

So, you’ve no excuse now!

Go and get working on that AMAZING British Airways CV.

Emirates Open Days

What on earth is going on over at Emirates? **Updated June 2018**

Well, that’s a VERY good question!

As you know, Emirates re-opened recruitment in January 2018.

Their new online application system was unveiled, and this meant the end of open days.

Or so we were told!

Their new online application, however, was soon beset by technical problems, in particular with the video interview.

It seems that Emirates’ online system is unable to update when an applicant completes a video interview.

So, the video interview has been halted until this problem is resolved.

Who knows how long that will take?

So, in the meantime, Emirates have started holding open days again!

Wow!

And to make matters even more complicated, not all open days are the same, so you never know what’s going to happen!

The first type of open day they are holding is a CV Drop.

What is interesting about this is that it seems that everyone who has applied from that country is being sent an email about the open day:

Within this email they also send you some details about working with them:

What seems to be happening is that EVERYONE who has applied online and whose application was under review is sent this email.

It appears that those who are being invited to attend an assessment day (which is usually the same day or day after the open day) are being selected from those who attend the open day ONLY.

So, if you don’t attend an open day in a country where they are holding open days, then you will NOT be invited to an assessment day.

Of course, this could all change at any time If they re-introduce the video interview!

So, how does a CV drop work?

It means that you can drop-in your CV anytime during the hours listed.

So, for example, if you look at this open day in London, you can see it runs from 0900 to 1600.

Be careful with this, however!

At the last open day in Dubai, 1000s of people turned up

Ok, ok- that’s NOT an Emirates Open Day, it’s just to illustrate the point!

Anyway, there were so many people there that they refused entry to people.

AND, they cancelled their next scheduled open day, so think it’s fair to say that they have more than enough CV’s from Dubai at the moment!

Is everything quite as chaotic as this?

No, not quite!

There was an open day held recently in Manchester and some of the lovely members of our FREE Facebook group, the Departure Lounge, told us all about it.

Wait, what?

You’re not in our FREE Facebook group to help people like you become cabin crew?

Are you mad?

If you want to join, you can find us at

http://mondrago.me

Anyway, I digress!

The open day in Manchester seemed a lot more organised.

Although it was also a CV drop off (and we know this because there is a start time of 0900 and a finish time of 1600), it wasn’t nearly as busy as the Dubai one!

So, what happened at it?

Well, according to one of our members, they were taken into a room with about 100 others. They each got the chance to handover their CV.

When handing over their CV, they were asked a couple of questions such as “Why would you like to fly for Emirates” or “What is your current job”.

Once everyone had handed over their CV, they were given a number.

They were then asked to wait outside, and the numbers would be posted up with those who had been successful in getting through to the assessment day, which was the following day.

On the way out, they passed the next group of candidates waiting to come into the room for their opportunity to handover their CV.

After an hour and a half, a list was posted up. On this list were the candidates who had been selected to attend the assessment day the following day.

So, these candidates went to the assessment day the following day.

If they were successful, they were invited to a final interview.

Priority is normally given to those who have travelled far to the assessment day.

Others were told they would be emailed with a date for a final interview.

But here’s where it gets really crazy as these candidates have now been emailed and told their final interview would be done via Skype or face time!

So, that’s how CV drops appear to be organised at the moment.

What about Open Days?

Well, these are different again!

You will know if the day you are attending is an open day and not a CV drop because it only gives you the start time:

So, what format does the open day take?

Before I begin though, I should just point out that the order of events may change slightly depending on where your Open Day is, the number of attendees at the Open Day and it may take place over one day or several days.

So please don’t take this blog as gospel and use it as a general guide only!

Wait, what? A punctuality test?!

A small word of warning- these Emirates Open Days are also set-up as punctuality tests, so if you’re not in the room you should be by the published start time, you’re out for good!

Give yourself TONS of time to get there and be friendly to EVERYONE you meet.

Why do I need to demonstrate great listening skills?

When you check-in for the Emirates Open Day you will usually be given a sticker which you will be expected to wear for the ENTIRE event, so please don’t take it off as it doesn’t match your lipstick as this will simply show you up as someone who can’t take instruction well (which is SO important when working as cabin crew!).

The number on this sticker is how you will be identified throughout the process, so make sure you listen out for it. Don’t let the Emirates recruiters shout out “No.24” repeatedly, to then look down and realise you are number 24- you won’t look good! So make sure you know your number and you listen out for it.

Again, remember, to be Emirates cabin crew you will need to be good at listening to your passenger’s requests, so you need to show the recruiters that you are a great listener by listening intently to everything being said during the day.

What does the Emirates Airline representative talk about?

Once everyone has arrived and been given a sticker, you will watch a promotional video about Emirates Airlines and life as a member of Emirates cabin crew.

A representative from the airline will then give you a talk about what it’s like to be cabin crew with Emirates Airlines and life in Dubai. The representative will talk about things such as the Emirates flight attendant salary and what life is like when you fly emirates.You will then be asked if anyone has any questions

Oh no, I’ve heard the CV handover is really scary and it’s like walking a catwalk?

Following any questions from applicants, the first major screening event occurs- the CV handover.

Several tables will be set-up at the head of the room and you will need to submit your CV to the appropriate location you have been issued. Again, this is where listening is important!

What, that’s it? The Emirates Open day is over?

There will usually then be a break for lunch and only those applicants that have passed the CV handover will return for the rest of the day.

It’s really worth noting that you will have very limited to NO interaction with your Emirates recruiters before this stage, so the entire screening event is based on your CV and your personal presentation so remember-

FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT!

And then they make even more people leave the Emirates Open Day? Seriously?!

The first group exercise takes place. Applicants are split into groups of approximately 20-25. Following this event, you will be informed whether you will continue with the process.

You will then participate in another group activity, this time in groups of around 8-10.

This time, you will be given a more complex scenario and after this group activity you will be informed who will be continuing.

You will then be given an English comprehension test followed by an Aptitude test. Only those who have passed these two tests will be invited to continue.

You will then be given a one-to-one or two-to-one interview with a member of the recruiting team, known as a final interview.

How long will it be before I hear I have been successful?

There will then be a tense time whilst you wait to hear if you have been successful!

The minimum waiting time seems to be 14 days and from my experience, it’s not unheard of to wait up to 6 weeks!

But I’m sure the wait will be worth it when you get that “Golden Call”!

It could take up to 6 weeks to receive your golden call

A gate? What’s that got to do with Emirates?

Remember, this is a general summary of the whole process.

You should try and look at each stage in the process as a gate you have to pass through.

So, in order to get your dream job as Emirates cabin crew you have to pass through all the gates along the way!

Unfortunately, if you don’t do too well in any one stage, you will not be allowed to pass through the gate, even though you had been doing really well up until that point.

You have to be outstanding at EVERY stage in the Emirates Open day process and that’s why it’s so important to be prepared.

What do you mean- Emirates Airlines has nothing invested in me?

This may sound a bit mean, but Emirates Airlines has absolutely NOTHING invested in you.

There will be literally HUNDREDS of people standing in line behind you trying to get this job, and if you fail to impress then they may well do, so you’re going to have to put the work in.

So, what’s really important at EVERY stage of the process?

Attention to detail is REALLY important at EVERY stage of this process.

If your Emirates Airlines recruiter sees ONE thing, yep, just ONE thing, about you that they don’t like, then they will just move on to the next applicant.

Now this may sound discouraging, but please remember that the VAST MAJORITY of people will turn up completely unprepared.

They don’t understand how competitive the process is.

Is the Emirates Open Day really as competitive as you’re making out?

It absolutely is. But here’s the thing…

…others don’t understand why it is SO important to have prepared for the day.

They will show up thinking they can improvise, planning just to wing it and the job with Emirates Airlines will be theirs.

However, they won’t be dressed right, won’t behave right and they won’t present themselves well at the Emirates Open Day and that is why the majority of applicants FAIL

But, here’s where you have an advantage…You, however, understand the importance of EVERY SMALL DETAIL of the process and you will stand out for all the RIGHT reasons.

Phew, aren’t you glad you’re reading this blog?

However, Emirates are also holding assessment days:

As you can see, this one says invitation only on it, as only those who have been sent an invitation email from Emirates can attend.

The invitation email looks like:

These candidates have been selected based on their online application, so it’s important that you do continue to apply online, particularly if you live in a country where Emirates are NOT holding open days.

So, what seems to be happening is that IF you live in a country where Emirates are holding open days or CV drops you will get an email telling you about them IF you applied online.

Emirates only appear to be choosing candidates from these open days to then invite to an assessment day.

So, it looks like they are simply ignoring all those other applications in their system from that country if you DO NOT attend an open day!

However, they ARE looking at online applications from applicants in countries where they are NOT holding open days!

Confused?

Can’t say I blame you as I am too!

And, of course, all of this could change tomorrow when they solve the technical issues with their video interviews!

I will, of course, update this blog if they make any more changes!

Hope it’s helped

Pauline x

Emirates Application Process

UPDATE June 2018. Emirates have stopped using video interviews and are now back using open days.

READ ALL ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON AT EMIRATES AT MY LATEST BLOG POST HERE

Hello and welcome to this post on the Emirates Application Process.

Ok, so first up where do you apply?

You can apply via Emirates careers’ page:

http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/

Once there, you look for cabin crew positions:

You click on this job and the application page opens. When it does so, you need to click on apply:

You are then taken to the page below where you have to agree with their privacy statement…

If you accept, then you are taken to their home page where you have to create an account. To do so, you would click on new user

Then you have to complete some details to create an account…

Please keep these details safe as these are your log-in details so you will need them to keep an eye on the progress of your application!

So, it’s time to start applying!

First up, you need to include some personal details and then they are then looking for some more information about you including your gender, height and weight.

Next, they want to know what languages you speak. You will be asked for your primary (or native) language. You will then be asked to tell them what other languages you can read, write and speak.

Next up they want to know about your work experience. Now here’s a tip for you. You know how I am completely obsessed with keywords? Well, I am going to mention them again!

All of Emirates application is now online and everything is automated. This means that no-one will look at your online application. Everything will be run through a computer program and ONLY those applications that pass this will be seen by a recruiter.

And what is this computer program (or as I like to think of them, Emirates robots!) looking for?

In fact, before I go any further, may I introduce you to Emmy, the Emirates robot?

Emmy is a good friend of mine and she’s been VERY helpful at letting me know EXACTLY what her and her robot friends are looking for during your application.
They are looking for keywords so give them lots and lots and they will fall in love with you!

But what does this have to do with your work experience section?

Well, simple really.

This section will also be “searched” by these robots, so you want to fill it with keywords as well.

So, some advice for you.

At this stage, I would save my application as a draft and log-out.

I would then spend some time drafting your roles and responsibilities in your current and previous jobs and make sure they are full of keywords.

The old advice used to be to keep everything as brief as possible and summarise as much as you could so the recruiter could scan it quickly.

However, modern technology has turned this on its head a bit.

Because these programs (or Emirates robots) are such fast readers and are able to extract incredible amounts of information really, really quickly, you can actually write as much as you want. In fact, it may be the case that the more you write the better as they love to read!

However, I would caution you not to write too much!

If your application makes it past these Emirates robots, it will be assessed by a human recruiter and they WON’T to read pages and pages of your work experience.

So, try to have a happy medium!

And a good way to do this is to not write pages and pages but make sure that what you do write is FULL of keywords!

That way, both the Emirates robot and the human recruiter will be pleased with you!

Ok, next section is your education. Be careful not to add too much to this section. Whilst Emirates do want to know what qualifications you have, you don’t need to go over-board and mention EVERY qualification you have ever received!

The next section is for certificates. Again, ONLY mention those that are specific to the role of cabin crew OR if Emirates have SPECIFICALLY asked for them.

Ok, the next section is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

Here you get to upload your documents!

Now, as you can see, there are some MANDATORY documents.

Now, this means that if you apply and you DON’T upload them, then you look like you can’t follow instructions.

And, what do cabin crew have to always do?

Yep, follow instructions!

So, if you don’t upload the mandatory documents, then these robots will realise and put your whole application in the bin!

Which is the LAST thing we want to happen!

They can be total devils these Emirates robots can’t they?

So, make sure you upload ALL of the mandatory documents or they will NOT be happy!

And, we’re nearly there now…

Emirates have got job specific questions for you and once you have answered these it’s on to the video interview.

Please make sure you are really well-prepared for this stage. It would be a nightmare to get this far and blow it now!

So, once you are good to go, log-in to your account and dazzle them with your amazing video interview.

Once you have completed your video interview, you submit your application and that’s you finished- phew!

What a lot of work!

You should be REALLY proud of yourself for getting this far.

Emirates will then send you a confirmation email which is really your receipt for your application.

All you can do now is sit back, cross your fingers and wait!

Good luck ?

And remember to keep these Emirates robots happy…

How to breeze through your cabin crew video interview

I’ve got to appear on webcam ?

I’m afraid you do!

If your cabin crew online application has been successful more and more airlines will want to take a final look at you before they invite you for the Assessment Day and they often do this by using a video interview. (gulp!)

The cabin crew video interview is all done online using a webcam. Basically you’ll be asked a number of questions which you need to record yourself answering on the webcam and send to the airline.

The airline recruitment team will then review your performance and decide if they want top invite you to the Assessment Day. This blog will show you how to get that invite!

Ok, so how does it all work?

What normally happens is that you are sent an email invitation from the airline.

Within that email is a link and if you click on this link you are taken to the video interview introduction page:

The first thing you will need to do is log-in and create an account.

What if I forget my log-in details?

Please take a note of your log-in details because if you have to contact the airline for a reminder they’re NOT going to be impressed!

Before the video interview begins, your Internet browser will be checked.

If there are any problems with the browser, you will be told.

Oh, I’m sure it will be fine!

Please don’t ignore this! If there is a problem then the airline WON’T be able to receive your video interview so if they tell you there is an issue, make sure you get it sorted!

This screen normally includes a company video. It’s really important that you watch this as the airline can tell if you have or not!

When watching the video, take notes of the key points in the video and there is no harm in watching this video two or three times- it will make you look super keen!

Wait, what? There’s a closing date?

Yep, you will also find the closing date on this screen.

You WON’T be able to submit your video beyond this date, so don’t ignore it otherwise you’re waiting at least six months until you can apply again!

Also, there are a load of technical considerations to think about as well. So, if you log-in to do your video interview on the closing date and find out there is a problem with your webcam, then you’ve blown it!

Get started planning your video interview as soon as you recive the link to give yourself plenty of time to get it right!

This screen will tell you how many questions are in the interview and how long you have to complete it.

Oh, it’s like being back in school!

You’re right, it is!

And, just like in exams, plan your time wisely!

If you have 5 questions and 15 minutes, then you should spend NO MORE than 3 minutes on each question.

Don’t spend 10 minutes on the first question and then hardly any time on the others. Each question is EQUALLY important so give them all an equal amount of time.

Oh, not KEYWORDS again?

‘Fraid so!

There is usually a section called “About this interview”.

It’s really important that you read this section.

Why?

Because it tells you what the airline is looking for and it’s stuffed FULL of KEYWORDS!

You’ll see words such as customer experience, friendly, confident and team player.

If that’s what the airline are looking for, then make sure your answers include these words as well!

There is also a section on company information.

Again, they can tell if this section has been opened, so please read it and take notes.

Do I get a chance to see a demo.?

Yip, often you will be given a chance to view a Demo. interview.

ALWAYS view this, particularly if you have never done a video interview before as it will show you what’s involved and the more you know about the process, the more confident you will be.

Phew! Is that it?

Nope, now your webcam, microphone and speakers will be tested!

The key thing to remember is to make sure you run all the tests as instructed – the better your computer is working – the better you’ll look and sound.

Once all of the tests are run then you can begin the practice interview.

So, I can just wear my pj’s right?

I’m afraid not!

The clue is in the word “interview”! Remember, this is the first time the airline have seen and heard you and you want to make this first impression as good as it can possibly be!

You should dress smartly. Remember how important grooming is to an airline, so you want to make sure you look the part.

Don’t make the mistake of only dressing smartly on your top half thinking that’s all the recruiter will see because if you move around during the interview or stand up at the end of the interview you could blow your great first impression as you stand there in your old scruffy jeans (or even worse, your pyjama bottoms!)

Ok, so we’re nearly good to go!

Next thing you should consider is the lighting in the room. Make sure shadows are not being cast on your face.

Make sure you have a plain background behind you if at all possible as the cabin crew recruiters may be too busy checking out your family photos rather than listening to your well-thought out answers!

Anything else I need to think about?

Finally, and MOST importantly, make sure there are NO distractions!

If you interrup or stop the video interview YOU CANNOT RESTART IT!

So, once you begin, you only have ONE chance of completing it.

Therefore, make sure you will NOT be interrupted.

Tell your friends, family, flatmates or your granny that you are taking part in a video interview and they CANNOT disturb you!

Turn OFF all phones, disconnect the doorbell and if your dog is likely to bark, move him to a different room!

Ok, so now we’re good to go!

Can I practice first of all?

You will be given the opportunity to try a couple of practice questions first of all, to give the chance to feel comfortable talking to your webcam, so make the most of this practice!

Then it’s time for the interview.

Oh, no!

You are normally given between 15 and 60 seconds to read the question before recording begins, so use it to read through the question a couple of times and then take a couple of deep breaths before you begin.

Treat this video interview EXACTLY the same as you would any other job interview.

Take your time answering questions, speak slowly and clearly and keep your body language postive at all times.

Questions in the video interview are very much “typcial” cabin crew interview questions such as “why do you want to work for our airline?” or “ why do you think you would make a good cabin crew member?”

So, make sure you have prepared REALLY detailed answers for these questions beforehand.

Make good eye contact with the webcam (imagine it is the recruiter) and keep smiling throughout!

I really hope this blog has helped you and yo have any questions please post them in the comments section below and I’ll get back to you!

Cheers

Pauline x

Emirates Open Day 2018 – Great news, Emirates have now opened their new Career Portal :-)

UPDATE June 2018. Emirates have stopped using video interviews and are now back using open days.

READ ALL ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON AT EMIRATES AT MY LATEST BLOG POST HERE

In this article I’m going to give you my top 12 tips for getting the most from this fabulous new resource.

You can access the portal by going to http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/

Tip 1 – Only ever apply for jobs via this website. There are a lot of unscrupulous websites that claim to recruit on behalf of Emirates but this is simply not true. Emirates will only recruit cabin crew via the website http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/

Tip 2 – Don’t just jump into the site by clicking on the “Search and Apply” button. Instead you’ll see that there is a menu with three items along the top of the page . Explore each of these because there is a huge amount you can learn about the Emirates Recruitment Process

Emirates Open Day 2017 — From the top menu click on “Working With Us”

Tip 3 – Make sure you use the arrow at the bottom of the page to fully expand your view of the page (you don’t want to miss out on some really cool stuff).

When you expand the Working With Us Section you’ll see some messages from key personnel throughout the organisation and this takes me directly to tip 4:

Tip 4 – Start your Emirates Dossier now! It can be an online file or a simple paper notebook, it doesn’t really matter, but what does matter is that you now start to learn about the key people in the company as well as the messages they are trying to communicate. Imagine how impressive it would be if you could quote The Chairman during your 2 to 1 interview.

four — Tip 5 – Make up an information file and start to take a note of key people within Emirates

Tip 5 – Make sure you use the expand arrow in each of the relevant sections. That way you won’t miss out on any of the information that is not all that obvious to find

Tip 6 – Towards the bottom of the “Working With Us” Page is an overview of other companies in the Emirates Group. Put this in your Emirates Dossier for future reference – it could be useful at some point during the open day

Tip 7 – If you’ve not got one create a Twitter Account and follow Emirates. They tweet all the time and it’s a great source of information for your interview, there is nothing more impressive than somebody going to an assessment day who is really aware of what the company is about.

Tip 8 – Explore the website section called Dubai, Our Home. It’s full of videos, information and other resources about what it’s like to live in Dubai. Don’t turn up for an assessment day unless you know what life in Dubai will be like. If Emirates think you will suffer from “culture shock” and won’t be able to settle in Dubai then they won’t give you the job.

nine — You can access the Dubai, Our Home section from the top menu on the front page

Tip 9 – Pay absolute attention to all of the resources about the recruitment process – especially those relating to personal appearance and grooming

eighteen — Use the Interactive Guide To Help You With Personal Grooming & Experience

Tip 10 – Make sure you learn the Training Journey, don’t turn up to an Assessment Day without a clear picture of what will happen when you are selected

twenty — The website includes an overview of the Emirates Recruitment Process – you should learn this

Tip 11 – You should be aware the Emirates have now confirmed that THEY WILL BE USING VIDEO INTERVIEWS. To keep up to date with the latest developments you should join the FREE Facebook Group called The Departure Lounge. In this group you’ll be able to chat with current Emirates Crew as well as airline recruitment experts.

Emirates Video Interview 2017 — Emirates have confirmed that they will now be using video interviews as part of their cabin crewrecruitment

Tip 12 – If you’ve any questions about the new Emirates recruitment process please ask them below and I’ll do my best to answer you directly

Speak soon

Pauline x

Keep getting rejected for cabin crew jobs?

You may already have applied for a few cabin crew jobs and felt crushed that the recruitment team for the airline read through your whole CV and concluded that you weren’t suitable for the job.

However, has anyone even LOOKED at your CV?

Because here’s the thing- chances may be that NO HUMAN HAS EVEN LAID EYES ON YOUR CV!

The truth? Your CV may well have been binned by a CV reading robot called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

You’re kidding me right? A robot?

Airlines receive THOUSANDS of applications for cabin crew each month.

So, many airlines are now using Application Tracking Systems (ATS) which is CV- reading software which allow airlines to automate, streamline and manage their recruitment process.

When you’re receiving 30,000 CVs per month, as Emirates do, it’s all about SPEED!

So, how easy is it to get past this robot?

The short answer- not easy at all!

In fact, research shows that these pesky robots reject 75% of ALL CV’s

So I’ve only got a 25% chance of getting my CV through an ATS?

You have indeed! ONLY 1 in 4 CVs sent to an airline ever will reach a pair of human eyes!

So, why not follow our 4 easy steps to making sure your CV gets past these pesky robots?

Ok, tell me more…

Step One -Keywords

For every job, there are always keywords associated with it and cabin crew is NO exception

An ATS will be looking for these keywords throughout your CV and these will be the same keywords the recruitment team has programmed an ATS to pick up

Yeah, that’s all well and good but where will I find these keywords?

The job description of course….

Check out the job description below for British Airways cabin crew

Essential Qualities

“You are passionate about delivering service excellence every time

You are able to confidently deal with challenging and difficult circumstances and remain resilient throughout

You are an effective communicator and you are able to deliver difficult messages with confidence

You understand the need to follow rules however you are able to be flexible depending on the situational needs

You are able to learn new information easily and quickly apply it correctly

You always demonstrate a positive ‘can do’ attitude”

So, if we are thinking about keywords, these would all be good for starters:

Resilient
Confident
Good communicator
Flexible
Positive

Oh, that’s really helpful, thanks…

And, here’s a wee tip for you…

Find FIVE other cabin crew job postings with different airlines. Check for keywords in these jobs too. If you find different keywords in these postings, add these to your CV too!

Here is the Cabin Crew Skills List from Thomson Airways to get you going. As you can see, there are LOADS on here…

So make sure you have ALL of the keywords airlines are looking for sprinkled liberally throughout your CV! The more the merrier- the ATS robots will love you for it!

Anything else I should know about?

Step Two – Be careful of formatting

Don’t send your CV as a .pdf file

Applicant tracking systems lack a standard way to structure .pdf documents, so they are easily misread. They are becoming better at reading .pdf files but they can still misread important things when processing them, so better send your CV as a word document.

Also, stick to standard CV formatting in a normal font like Arial, Courier or Times New Roman. An ATS cannot read fancy font and will reject your CV just because you have confused it!

ONLY include the usual sections of a CV- work experience, education, qualifications etc.

Applicant tracking systems can’t read graphics and they misread tables. Instead of reading left to right (as humans do), these systems read up and down so a table would be goobledygook to an ATS!

To make sure that applicant tracking systems read and import your work experience properly, always start it with your employer’s name, followed by your title, followed by the dates you held that title as Applicant Tracking Systems will look for company names first and we don’t want to confuse the robot do we?

Ok, got it- does spelling and grammar matter? I mean, it’s not as if a robot can read right? Wrong!

Step Three – Make sure there are NO spelling mistakes

Now, I know I have said this (MANY) times before, but spelling mistakes really are the DEATH of your CV!

Whilst a human can try and work out what you’re trying to say (before binning your CV in disgust!), an ATS will reject your CV IMMEDIATELY as it simply has NO idea of what you are trying to say! So, whilst it can’t read the way you and I can, it can still identify spelling mistakes (in fact, far more easily than a human can!)

So, double, triple, quadruple your CV before you send it off because ONE SINGLE SPELLING MISTAKE AND YOUR CV IS IN THE BIN!

Ok, ok- so they can read (in their own peculiar way!) Anything else I NEED to know?

Step Four – Put the most important information at the TOP of your CV

Now, we know you know this already, but no harm in reminding you! Make sure your key information is at the top of your CV, so when your CV does make it past the robot and encounters a pair of human eyes, they will be able to see very quickly just what an amazing individual you are!

So, what does this robot actually do??

An airline’s ATS scans CV’s against the skills which have been entered by the airline.

Guess where these skills came from- yes, you got it- the keywords!

The airline may, for example, be looking for THIRTY SKILLS and the software produces a report which tells the airline how many of their required skills have been matched and also how many times this skill has been mentioned in the candidate’s CV

It will also tell the airline which skills they require are missing from the candidate’s CV. In addition, it can give an overall percentage of how well the candidate and the job “match” each other. All of this is done in literally seconds- what a clever robot!

Often airlines are looking for a “match” criteria of 90% or over. So, are you and your dream airline a match made in heaven?

Well, if you use the guide below we think you will be!

Is it time to re-evaluate your life?

So, why is now the perfect time to do an online course?

Pauline Park

Norwegian Cabin Crew Minimum Requirements

The perfect Norwegian Cabin Crew Covering Letter and CV

A Reality Check

Norwegian Cabin Crew Online Tests

Work-related scenarios

Working Styles

Verbal and numerical ability

British Airways Video questions

British Airways Qualifying questions

A perfect British Airways CV

Using British Airways Keywords

Why People Fail at the British Airways CV Stage

Pauline x

**UPDATE June 2018. Emirates have stopped using video interviews and are now back using open days.**

I’ve got to appear on webcam ?

Ok, so how does it all work?

What if I forget my log-in details?

Oh, I’m sure it will be fine!

Wait, what? There’s a closing date?

Oh, it’s like being back in school!

Oh, not KEYWORDS again?

Why?

Do I get a chance to see a demo.?

Phew! Is that it?

So, I can just wear my pj’s right?

Ok, so we’re nearly good to go!

Anything else I need to think about?

Ok, so now we’re good to go!

Can I practice first of all?

Oh, no!

**UPDATE June 2018. Emirates have stopped using video interviews and are now back using open days.**

In this article I’m going to give you my top 12 tips for getting the most from this fabulous new resource.

You can access the portal by going to http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/

Tip 1 – Only ever apply for jobs via this website. There are a lot of unscrupulous websites that claim to recruit on behalf of Emirates but this is simply not true. Emirates will only recruit cabin crew via the website http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/

Tip 2 – Don’t just jump into the site by clicking on the “Search and Apply” button. Instead you’ll see that there is a menu with three items along the top of the page . Explore each of these because there is a huge amount you can learn about the Emirates Recruitment Process

Tip 3 – Make sure you use the arrow at the bottom of the page to fully expand your view of the page (you don’t want to miss out on some really cool stuff).

When you expand the Working With Us Section you’ll see some messages from key personnel throughout the organisation and this takes me directly to tip 4:

Tip 5 – Make sure you use the expand arrow in each of the relevant sections. That way you won’t miss out on any of the information that is not all that obvious to find

Tip 6 – Towards the bottom of the “Working With Us” Page is an overview of other companies in the Emirates Group. Put this in your Emirates Dossier for future reference – it could be useful at some point during the open day

Tip 7 – If you’ve not got one create a Twitter Account and follow Emirates. They tweet all the time and it’s a great source of information for your interview, there is nothing more impressive than somebody going to an assessment day who is really aware of what the company is about.

Tip 9 – Pay absolute attention to all of the resources about the recruitment process – especially those relating to personal appearance and grooming

Tip 10 – Make sure you learn the Training Journey, don’t turn up to an Assessment Day without a clear picture of what will happen when you are selected

Tip 12 – If you’ve any questions about the new Emirates recruitment process please ask them below and I’ll do my best to answer you directly

Speak soon

Pauline x

You’re kidding me right? A robot?

Ok, tell me more…

Step One -Keywords

Yeah, that’s all well and good but where will I find these keywords?

So, if we are thinking about keywords, these would all be good for starters:

Oh, that’s really helpful, thanks…

Anything else I should know about?

Step Two – Be careful of formatting

Step Three – Make sure there are NO spelling mistakes

Step Four – Put the most important information at the TOP of your CV

Connect With Us

UPDATE June 2018. Emirates have stopped using video interviews and are now back using open days.

UPDATE June 2018. Emirates have stopped using video interviews and are now back using open days.