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!

---