Friday, April 3, 2015

Emirates Cabin Crew Interview Process & Stages ( Updated Version - 2015 )

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I'm going to share the interview process that I have recently attended at the Emirates recruitment event held in Malaysia. I believe that there are a lot of Emirates girl/boy wannabe who would love to read this article because Emirates has somehow changed their procedure in recruiting candidates in the year {2015} as compared to the past few years. 

Please bare with me with the wordy article but I believe it will help those who are interested in joining Emirates with some updated information :)

{Day 1} - Open day (CV submission + Group discussion)

YES. They have a group discussion on the first day itself. Would be good to prepare and get yourself ready since like everyone else, I thought all I need to do on the first day of the open day is just to submit my cv, go home and wait for the call. NO. 

Emirates no longer does this and what you need to do is stay back and wait for them to paste a list of successful candidates on the wall. If you pass,you will then proceed to the group discussion stage.

Now we will look into the things that you would need to prepare for the open day:

(a) Always remember to put on a smile the moment you step into the hotel. Make sure you have all the required documents ready too and put them nicely in a file for easy retrieval. You wouldn't know if there are any observer hiding around, so my advice is not to be stingy on giving out your friendly smile to everyone. On the other hand, the documents that they need for open day will be the following three things:

-one photo (passport size OR full length)
-updated resume (without cover letter it's fine)
-a form (you will get it at the entrance of event hall and you need to fill out your basic info & online reference number)

(b) Make some new friends around. I know a lot of you would like to stick to your own group but hey why not just connect and get to know new friends? If you get selected for the Emirates cabin crew position, most of the time, you will be flying with different set of crews, so it is important that you have great social skills.

I've been through Emirates interview for the seventh time and from what I observed, there are three common personality patterns among all the candidates: the silent, the skeptical and the professional. The silent and skeptical are usually the so called first timer coming for an Emirates interview. 

They are either really nervous or suspicious about their ability or both. It is inevitable to have pretty/tall candidates attending the recruitment event. Yes, model-like appearance does gives you a better advantage however it does not guarantee you a job with Emirates.
 
As long as you look presentable, decent and professional; you are good to go. Lastly, the professional ones are current cabin crews or those who have tried Emirates for a zillion times (just like me). Do not hesitate to approach them and you may get more insight about the life as a cabin crew :)

(c) Check your make up and speak confidently. I guess there is no need for further elaboration on make up check as you know how horrible it is if you smile brightly to the interviewer with your lipstick/breakfast stained teeth. 

Bare in mind that you only get to present yourself for less than one minute during the cv submission. I remembered my mouth trembled while speaking to the interviewer (of course I didn't get the call for second assessment day during my last round). Put on your smile all the time and do a firm handshake and remember to greet the interviewer. I will list down a few questions that they might asked you during this stage:

- What is your job?
- What is your date of birth?
- What is your highest level of education?

After you have answered them, you can say things like: Thank you for your time & please enjoy your stay in xx. This helps them to remember you better and I believe everyone love courteous people right?

Now, the newly added stage on the first day - group discussion. Depending on the number of people attending the recruitment event, the interviewer will divide everyone into few groups. You will be given a candidate number and wait for your turn to do the presentation. For my time, I was placed in a group of 3 and given a topic entitled "Explain and elaborate 3 good qualities you find in a "xx" within 15 minutes. 

So the leader will randomly pick the career for "xx" and our group got "astronomer". If you don't understand what is it mean you may look up your phone but make sure the interviewer didn't notice it (Am I setting up a bad example?). 

No, it's alright to check the dictionary and you may discuss among your groupmate. Make sure you do your presentation briefly and clearly because I remember that there was a girl who took a longer time than the rest for her presentation and was forced to end it. So please avoid this particular mistake and you will be proceeded to the next stage.

{Day 2} Assessment day - arm reach test + group discussion + english test + final interview briefing

In this round, you will see that a lot of people have already been eliminated. It will be shocking for some but do believe in yourself and be confident; you're better than you think :) You will start the session by doing the arm reach test. For ladies, you may tip toe without your heels but not ballerina feet to reach 212cm. For gentlemen, you don't need to remove your shoes to reach 212cm. 

Next assestment will be the second group discussion where everyone will again be divided into smaller groups. Everyone will be sitting in a circle and a mission card will be given to the candidates. All of us shared the same question and this is how the question looks like:

- "You are a manager for a water theme park. The water park is going to close in winter and there are something happen before its closure. You will be given a few scenarios to solve and you may suggest a solution for each scenario. 

The discussion shall be done within 15 minutes." The interviewer will not be interrupting the discussion and you can propose anything that is on your mind. And then the real fight kicks in. Because now I am gonna to list down what is the "NAY" things to do:

(a) Do not cut off others when they are speaking. At this stage, the interviewer will not intervene your discussion because they want to see how you interact with other candidates. I believe in this stage it is very difficult to have your own showtime because everyone wants the interviewers' attention badly and they will do whatever it takes to shine and get themselves noticed.

Suggested way: If everyone is not speaking in sequence and you really wish to say something; raise your hand and ask: "Can I say something? Sorry for the interruption." This shows that you're a polite person; you respect others opinion and even if you disagree with others, you are willing to wait until they have finish before presenting your own thoughts.

(b) Do not sit like a deflated balloon but make sure you maintain a good posture. I know it's a really long day and you are exhausted from all the waiting and result announcement. Sitting upright and lean slightly forward during the group discussion will show that you are attentive and engaging with the rest the discussion.

Suggested way: Make sure you have some snacks with you and don't forget to drink water to keep yourself hydrated. The assessment day can be a very long and tiring day. Guess you will just have to get used to it since quite a lot of flights in Emirates are long haul where you will fly between 13 to 18 hours non stop.
 
There is a very famous teaching in Emirates Aviation College: Listen to your body, eat when you want and get sufficient rest. If you know how to take good care of yourself, I believe that you are a perfect fit for the cabin crew job :)

After this stage, you will then move on to the English test. In some countries, there is no English test especially the English speaking countries but for us in Malaysia, you will need to do it. Your English will be tested based on several components: vocabulary, grammar and comprehension. The test paper is consist of solely multiple choice questions and you are given an hour to complete it

If you passed the test, you will then proceed to the final interview briefing. Congratulations for those who have reached this stage because you are left with one final round before you become a cabin crew - final interview. 

For the final interview, you will be given few dates to choose at your own convenience and you will be handed a pre-joining form which you need to bring along during your final round. They will also asked you to complete an online psychometric test.

{Day of your final interview}

Before the final interview, the Emirates HR will send you an email to confirm your attendance. I was notified by a hotel worker which is pretty close to me (Can you tell how many times I've attended Emirates interview in the same hotel?!) there are five candidates coming on that day and I'm the first one. I got up early in the morning to do head to toe grooming and also make sure every documents are with me. Things you will need to bring for final interview are:

- pre-joining form
- one updated cv
- three full length photos (one formal in full body, one casual with full body & one casual with half body)
- eight passport size photos (all in formal)
- your highest level of education certificate ( I bring two because one of my edu cert able to prove my language ability. If your edu cert is in native language, you may highlight it and translate it into English)
- 2 colored passport photocopies

This is a one on one interview and the interviewer tend to focus on you better. For my time I got two different interviewer than the one that did my assessment day because my final interview was arranged after a month. So I was very concerned before I meet my interviewer because we never met each other before. 

Instead of worrying, I decided to put my confident smile to greet my interviewer. She checked all my documents and I was asked to share my working experiences which are all related to the role as a cabin crew. Below are the questions that they asked me during the final round : -

-tell me a time when you are stressful with work.
-how do you approach a distant colleague? 
-tell me a time when you do something extra nice in your job. (Something out of your job scope)
-tell me a rule that you don't like to follow but you still follow in work.
-tell me a time when you solve a conflict.
-tell me a time when someone disagree with you. 
-why do you choose emirates?

My answer is handwritten down by my interviewer for their own reference and I guess they need that to report back to the HR in Dubai. After the interview, you will be allowed to ask questions. I've asked about a very famous question among all the candidates - the error occurred in submission status of your online application. 

Most of us are curious on why it fluctuates or not changing, I use to assumed that it was due to the recent system update in Emirates website in 2015 but I was told to ignore the submission status and wait for the result for 3 to 8 weeks.

My interview lasted for about 30 minutes. It is relatively short compared to what I've heard from other friends who have gone through the final interview. I would not know what it signals as I'm still waiting for my final interview result. But worry or not, life still goes on :) Just carry on my daily routine because being worried would not change anything. 

Wish me luck folks! I hope this article will help you understand better and give you a competitive edge since you are now familiar with the updated Emirates recruitment process for 2015. Before I end this article, I wish to encourage every FA wannabe to try Emirates interview as I have done my research online; Emirates intend to hire 11,000 people for various job position in 2015 and guess what! 

Half of it are reserved for cabin crew position! Why not grab this opportunity to see how far you can go and you might be surprised by what you can achieve ;) Wish me luck and see you!

Click here for the earlier version of the Emirates Cabin Crew interview process and stages  

You can view the cabin crew interview process of other airlines by clicking here 

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