Hopefully your application form was a success and
the next step will be an invitation from the airline to an assessment
day, interview day or open day. The open day is similar to a walk-in
session where you will get a chance to speak with the recruiters
directly, but you will still have to register and be invited, so do
check the airlines website – they need to know how many people to
expect.
Assessment days are by invitation only, if you just turn up,
unfortunately they will not be able to see you. These are normally held
in a city near to you in a hotel conference centre or at the airline's
training centre. The assessment days start early, so you may have to travel the day before and stay in a hotel the night before, so make sure you leave plenty of time, you don’t want to be late! Your assessment invite will tell you where to go and what to bring with you.
Be prepared to be there the whole day (if you are lucky!). However eliminations are made throughout the day so you may have to leave earlier. There can be anything from 30 to 300 people attending these assessment days, so you have to try hard to stand out.
Here is how an assessment day may be arranged:
Assessment day:
08.00
Meet colleagues at hotel conference room/assessment centre and register with reception. Here you may have to fill in a short form, asking if you have attended an interview with the company before, if you have tattoos etc. This is handed in with a photo and then you will be given a name tag or number.
08.30
Next you line up for the reach test of 210cm. This is to check that you can reach emergency equipment in the aircraft. You can stand on tip-toes and just reach as high as you can…
09.00
You may be asked to complete an English and maths test.
10.00
Presentation by the airline to give you more information about working for them. Question and answer session for anything else that you want to ask.
10.45
Group activity – you may have to build something or decide what to do in a scenario. This is to test your teamwork and communication skills.
11.45
Roleplay in small groups – for example, how to deal with a difficult customer.
12.45
Break and first eliminations – many people go home at this stage.
13.30
Final interviews – one to one, or two recruiters to one. Here you will be asked questions about why you think you should work for the airline, what skills you have to be cabin crew and to give examples of when you given exceptional customer service. This is just for starters!
14.00
Paperwork – security papers, references etc
16.30
End of day – phew! Time to go home and prepare for the long wait…
Of course, every airline has slightly different assessment days these could include group presentations, playing games and psychometric tests. But be warned, they like to change them around too, so no-one gets too used to ‘set’ assessment day!
Sometimes you can find out more on the airlines website about what to expect or take a look at the Cabincrew.com forums. The more you prepare, the more confident you will appear and a little inside knowledge will always help.
Waiting for the final email or ‘golden call’ is nerve-wracking and the best thing to do is get on with normal life and try not to worry about it too much. You will still also have to take a medical and pass security checks, so the waiting game is not over and until you get your date of joining for your training course, you can never be 100% sure.
If you don’t pass the eliminations or the assessment day, don’t dwell on it! Sometimes airlines will look for certain ‘faces that fit’ for example, so don’t take it personally it may just not be the right airline for you. Keep trying with other airlines, the more assessment days and interviews you do, the more experience you will have to pass the next one. And don’t forget, you can still apply again for the same company in 6 months to 12 months time and try again. Good Luck!
About Patricia Green:
I have been Cabin Crew for major airlines in the UK and Middle East for six years and also a SCCM. For the last 6 years I have worked as a VIP Flight Attendant working for very high profile clients and world leaders on their private jets.
Last year I moved to flying on a freelance basis in order to concentrate on working as a freelance instructor as well as setting up as a Cabin Crew Consultant, so that I could advise potential crew how to get their dream job and help experienced crew move from commercial to corporate flying.