4.

Recruitment - Making the Grade

February 9, 2015
|
Anne Mortensen

So, I turned up at the recruitment day in Malta at the Corinth St. Gorg
Hotel, and found lots of people queueing outside the conference room. On
top of that everybody seemed to know each other and many of the guys
had English names: quite a few Johns & James, which really surprised me.

Luckily when I handed my CV in to one of the recruiters (Australian) and

she made it sound positive that I had travelled far for the interview. I
honestly thought most fellow applicants would be from all over North Africa
and Southern Europe, but as you can imagine from the start of this blog
post I was wrong in all my assumptions. So it was pretty great for me that
travelling to a different country turned out to be a plus : )

After handing in the CV we all sat down, the recruiters gave us some info
on what it is like to live in Dubai, and we watched a video showing us what
the city was like in reality. After this the recruiters informed us that later that
afternoon they would call those they wanted to go on to take part in the
assessment the following day.

I was fortunate enough to get the call to return the next day, so I must have
done something right : )

The Assessment Day then I remember as being pretty stressful with lots of
steps to get through. It felt like being part of 'Big Brother' or 'I'm a
Celebrity...' because after the different rounds some people were asked to
continue whilst other candidates were sent home : ( But fortunately there
was no 'Bush Tucker Challenge'.

There were two rounds of group exercises where the recruiters watched
our every move and took notes. It felt like they were writing EVERYTHING
down.

If I remember correctly one of the group exercises was to discuss who we

would 'rather see' being refused entry onto a lifeboat which could only take
9 people instead of the 10 survivors: would we choose Mother Teresa or a
small child? And of course, our reasons why.

It's quite hard when you have to make sure you 'have a say' without being
too bossy or worse, too quite. I managed to get my point across and our
group justified our decision pretty well. Or at least I guess we did because I
progressed to the next stage. But you'll find out that by the end of the day
you really are physically and mentally exhausted!

Thankfully, once I knew I was through to the Final Interview, I had a day of
to chill out and wander around the beautiful old city of Valletta.

BUT the hardest part was still to come!

5. The Final Interview
February 23, 2015
|
Anne Mortensen
So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I got through to the Final Interview
with Emirates. So I think it would be useful to take you briefly through the
final interview.

I remember that with my previous airline the Final Interview really did feel
like just having a chat - of course it wasn't, but the recruiters made it
appear that way. However, with the Emirates interview I found it very
formal, even though the atmosphere set by the two recruiters was still quite
friendly. They do try to make you feel relaxed - but at the same time, you
are always very aware of why you are sitting across the desk from two very
smartly dressed women with Emirates headed papers in front of them.

The questions also felt very serious (unlike previous interviews I had been
through where it was more conversational). The emirates recruiters put a
lot of emphasis on you backing up every reply with an example, so you
couldn't just make statements like 'I am very good at working within a
team'.

You have to explain why that is the case and where it was that this became
clear to you - either during your studies or previous work experience. It felt
like a looooong hour, and on top of that the two recruiters were very 'good'
at not giving much indication of how 'satisfying' my replies were.
It's important that you ask them a few questions too when the interview
nears the end. And they often ask you about any questions you might have
for them.

Practical questions about the job are ideal - and you should really have
some if you've thought seriously about moving to another country and a
very different culture to do a pretty tough job. You can even ask them how
they think you did during this whole recruitment process.

I'm not entirely sure how honest they can be with you at this point in time,
but they seemed pleased. If nothing else it shows confidence - which is
never a bad thing. When you finish this hour or so you will feel exhausted
yet again and, of course, you start picking away at your answers: 'Oh, no
way did I give them that example! and not X Y Z instead.' But this is
human, and certainly quite a female way of thinking.

Or perhaps it just comes down to confidence.

(Don't forget that you can find out much more about how you can succeed
at the Final Interview on one of our 1-Day courses!)
6. Preparation and the Aftermath
March 3, 2015
|
Anne Mortensen
In many ways I went to Malta and the interview fairly well prepared, having
previous experience not only workwise but - as I mentioned in one of my
earlier blog posts - I did attend several airline interviews in London.

So I knew how to dress (jacket/shirt and skirt) and wear my hairstyle and
makeup neat and professional. But apart from my CV, which I did of course
bring, I didn't take any proof of my exams taken etc. I am really not sure
why but luckily after the final interview when I asked the recruiters what to
do about documents they told me I could just forward them to Dubai under
my file number.

However, knowing what I know now about the Dubai postal service - or
should I say the lack thereof - I would recommend anybody else to just take
everything with you: copies of your most recent exam papers and work
experience, photographs and so on to the Final Interview. What the
recruiters forgot to tell me was, that if you send anything to Dubai, you
MUST send it using a courier or registered post so you can keep track of
whether they have received it.
I had my interview right at the end of November and sent them all the
documents on 5th December (why I still remember the date I really don't
know, but I so wish my memory would be this good in exams!).

On the 25th December I got a call from DXB asking me if I had sent my
documents on so 20 days gone and no sign of my documents in Dubai! I
really didn't need all those worries especially over Christmas and New
Year. They told me to give it another week or so and they'd let me know if
they had received anything. If not, then perhaps I would have to send them
all the items again.....
Then one of the Sheikh's died and a week of mourning took place in Dubai
- as I found out because nobody was picking up any of my calls. Finally, on
25th January I received my call (which everyone refers to as the 'Golden
Call') telling me that provided I could complete and, of course, pass the
medical tests, I had landed myself a dream job as Cabin Crew in Dubai.
The feeling at that moment was more sense of huge relief than excitement,
but the excitement quickly followed!!!

9. Training Days cont.

April 24, 2015
|
Anne Mortensen
So, the training days were not only tough but also very long. It really felt like
there was too much information to take in during all these classes and the
stress levels were running pretty high most of the time.
So the five week training course kicked off with 2 weeks of SEP (Safety &
Emergency Procedures). After passing exams for these you go on to First
Aid Training for a week. Pass those exams and then two weeks of Service
Training.

After the first 3 weeks of intense learning the Service Training feels like a
breeze, but there are still exams to pass, so it's not an easy part f the
training by any means. The thing that some days made me stressed most
days in fact especially during the SEP training was after a couple of
lessons on various drills (the theories on what your actions should be if you
have to evacuate the aircraft) we were taken to the simulators and asked to
show the trainers all the knowledge they'd given us in the classroom.
Different scenarios were thrown at us and you have to do your best to
remember all these theories and 'act' accordingly whilst keeping your
fingers crossed that your batch-mates are on the same, or at least a close
wavelength. It's so very important you show the trainers that you're a good,
if not excellent teamplayer at all times.
A few of my batch-mates didn't show a clear enough understanding or of
having obtained all the knowledge, so they were asked to join the group a
week behind us. This seemed pretty hard as we were all spending so many
hours together. They have to re-do all the social relations and were asked
by their 'new' batch-mates what happened etc.

But luckily I managed to pull through all the exams and practical scenarios.
I had completed a BA Honours degree the year prior to joining Emirates,
and at times this Ab Initio training felt so much harder, and believe me, I am
not the first to have felt this way.