Emirates Recruiting on 31st March 2007

[geets007]

Hi people,

my first time here in a forum but i decided to join coz i feel that i am able to answer some of your doubts posted.

Well i have never ever had the intention of trying for the job of an airline stewardess but the last 1 month i have gone for 2 interviews. SQ, Qatar airways and finally Emirates yesterday.

Interview was rather straightforward for Emirates:
1.Submit resume with full-length photo & passport size photo
2.Fill up application form
2.Do reach-test (Does any1 know what is "WR",it was written on my form?
3.Group discussion with 15 applicants and 1 moderator.
4. They select possible candidates who meet their stringent criteria.
5.You go for next round of interview: English proficiency test etc.

As for guys, they juz submit their resume with full-length photo & passport size photo and they will be called for an interview at a later date.

As for my experience for Emirates:
Group discussion, the moderator throws a generic title "Should Mobile phones be give n to teenagers and at what age", this was the topic given to my group. Believe it or not I wasnt given a chance to speak at all. I was kinda of frustrated with the fact that, how to discuss and talk among 15 gals? Well in my group i had about 8 people who were juz DOMINATING the whole discussion, they didnt give a chance to those like me who had not opened my mouth to say anything coz whenever i was about to say something 1 of these dominating ladies will have to add on something extra...they all spoke like as though only they knew what they were talking about and well at times they went out of context too...the whole discussion was so much like a debate(think of the Channel 5 TV show: ARENA) with gals seconding and rebutting etc. I felt the moderator who should have said to give every1 a chance to speakup but he was juz walking around looking through the application forms / resumes / photos There were a handful of other pathetic souls like me who werent given the chance to make our viewpoints be heard. As from what i heard from friends who have gone for cabin crew interview, candidates shouldnt be dominating a discussion and the recruitment team wont be selecting those people who are dominating / super out-spoken and talk too much etc. in a way 1 must limit how much they talk give others a chance to have their say too.After the group discussion was over, we were told to wait outside for results and guess what? Too my horror out of the 15gals who were in my group discussion, ONLY 1 pathetic soul, a Korean gal (Who juz barely spoke 1 sentence which was not even in standard English) was selected for the next round!!! There were a few potential candidates in my group i must say but only 1 was selected???Tatz juz too much.

Any1 interested to know about Qatar airways do reply coz i dont wanna bore you all wif my long msgs.

Anyway all the BEST to all the ladies/guys going for any cabin crew interview.

[chanyl]

Hi Geetz007,

First of all, i'd i like to share that i've went for Emirates interview before as well and i guess, from ur point of view, i am one of the lucky ones to have gotten in all e way to the final interview...

Personally, i feel that during an interview, especially group interviews, we should be the one fighting for our own chance. I've went for several airlines interviews before, and e norm is such that, whoever is able to outshine the rest will be the winner. I've seen the interviewer that you are talking about, e one walking around looking at resumes. His duty is not to help the ones who are not trying to help themselves, but to pick the ones who has the elegances during discussing a topic. It's not when you speak alot that u will be selected, but ur body language, tone of speech and many other factors that counts.

Anyway, all e best to all ur interviews....

Regards,
Ms Chan

[septemberrr]

geets,

if u noticed, the people who dominated the discussion did not make it to the next round. the grp discussion is not about who-speaks-more-who-wins, and neither is it about sitting on the fence, waiting for someone to give you a chance to speak. its really about displaying qualities of a team player. take note about the verbal and non-verbal attributes that you display and if done well, u will definitely be on ur way to the next round. =)

[smoooch]

it was my first attempt for emirates ytd but i did not got thru the discussion was very much dominated by 5-6gals, and all of them got pass to the next round. but there's actually a gal who did not spoke any, but got thru too! seriously, i do not know what are they looking for. and the discussion was barely for like 5-6mins and we were cut off.

actually for those who wanna say something, but are not fast enough, maybe you could try raising your hands (not as in fully raising it straight. jus raise your palm to ear level). this would catch enough attention from the rest, and TA-DA, you can voice out~

[septemberrr]

i only managed to say 1 sentence and luckily, i got thru. the girls who dominated the discussion did not get thru though. it was those of us who said 1 sentence who got thru.

[vya`vermouth]

september, was it very crowded on the venue?

what was the topic given to you?

and I read in another Emirates topic that you said many candidates didn't wear full business attire, what about the pictures given to them?
Should it be in full business attire too? both close up and full length?

Thanks

[septemberrr]

september, was it very crowded on the venue?

what was the topic given to you?

and I read in another Emirates topic that you said many candidates didn't wear full business attire, what about the pictures given to them?
Should it be in full business attire too? both close up and full length?

Thanks

crowd: it was a walk-in, but not as crowded as popular airlines, SIA and SilkAir

topic: (read above) its about mobile phones. but the topic changes on every interview

pictures: if u read previous threads, they did mention tt u got to submit a formal picture of urself. its always one full length and one passport size photo.

[angel_cambiel]

it was my first attempt for emirates ytd but i did not got thru the discussion was very much dominated by 5-6gals, and all of them got pass to the next round. but there's actually a gal who did not spoke any, but got thru too! seriously, i do not know what are they looking for. and the discussion was barely for like 5-6mins and we were cut off.

actually for those who wanna say something, but are not fast enough, maybe you could try raising your hands (not as in fully raising it straight. jus raise your palm to ear level). this would catch enough attention from the rest, and TA-DA, you can voice out~

Great idea to raise the hand but would a person be able to raise faster than the speed of the motor mouths? wahaha...

I myself did go for the interview yesterday and sigh.. I didn't get through after the discussion. I spokeup twice and even raise a point which the guy, Andrew, even commented further on at the end of the discussion. Not trying to be arrogant here but I really felt I did quite well. Was wondering was it because I sounded stiff... Coz I was so nervous as it was my first time.. I thought they were going to ask us to do self-description. Didn't expect a topic like tht (as if JC General Paper type of topic for essay hahaha...). But really, for those who wanna go next time, what I suggest is don't keep trying to comment on someone's stuff rightaway, if not u might not be fast enough to state your views unless you are super sure about what u wanna comment on. Maybe you can talk about something else that is still related. Like tht you'd have sufficient time to think about how to phrase your answers and be prepared and fast enough to speak up.

For my team of 15, 4 got in to the next round. I actually thought they had a quota of 4 from each grp but based on previous post (about only the korean girl who got in), I guess they didn't have a quota from each team. Yes, I agree that the way they selected was rather inconsistent. It's like you don't even see any similar strong points in each of the girl who was selected. One of them was super pretty but only spoke like once? Furthermore she was more of summarizing and repeating what others had already said. And her Eng cldn't make it too.. The rest were not that bad in the discussion round but looked quite ok. There was a pretty girl with a friendly smile who was rather involved in a way that wasn't dominating didn't get in too, which I found it weird. Possible to tell a person's personality based on a topic like that? I never knew personality tests were so easy. Hahaha...

Oh ya, I don't know if it's necessary to really have your hair tied into a bun. Esp. if it's really long... U wouldn't want a huge ball at the back of your head.. Probably not. Because 3 out of the 4 who got in wasn't in buns. However, I suggestion investing in a blazer. Believe me, you might feel awkward and unsure when you're at home or outside in the blazer but once you're in that venue, it's not considered overdressed at all. You would feel and look more professional. 2 of the 4 who got in were in blazers. Need not be black blazer too, can be other colour so long as it matches the bottom. I myself wasn't in one yesterday, just in a formal long sleeved collared white top. However, I will be getting one for the coming SIA interview. It wouldn't be a waste if I don't get in because I could still use it in other job interviews.

In general, I feel that it all boils down to luck. Some people just have the charisma even if looks are so- so only and even if they don't speak much, eyes would still fall on them. I don't know if the korean girl mentioned was the one I saw. The one I saw (don't even know if she's Korean or Jap or whatever Asian country, unlikely to be Sporean that's for sure.. sounded rather westernized) was really tall and she's got this super confident and outgoing look. Had a blazer on just like many other girls but with a different bottom. She simply looked fabulous! If I were the person doing the selection, she would definitely catch my eyes w/o having to say anything and I'm only a girl but already feel this way, much less a guy who's doing the selection? However I don't know if she got through or not since we were in diff. groups.

The thing about Emirates is, so long as you can stretch out your hands above to reach a height on the wall, it's enough. They don't specify a min height requirement. The ladies who were directing us were rather encouraging too. There's the lady in white who's very nice and the other who looked more serious. Even the latter was encouraging towards girls who were trying to stretch like mad on tiptoes but were still short of 1 or 2 cm. I think they used the height of the poster to determine and judge. She was saying "somemore.. somemore..". I mean she didn't just strike off these girls rightaway whereas I heard an airline company would just ask u to leave if they feel u aren't tall enough. But of coz, it's easier to filter off those who don't meet the mark if there's a min height requirement involved compared to this tiptoeing and stretching "exercise".

I don't feel that disappointed about not getting in. I feel that it was still a good experience and although no feedback was given, at least one could see what people were wearing and maybe could do the same? Such knowledge can give more confidence the next time round as one wldn't feel worried about whether one is over or underdressed. However no jeans please... Jeans just look so sloppy no matter how formal your top is.

Haha.. I'm still thinking about what went wrong on my part though

[Flyer]

it was my first attempt for emirates ytd but i did not got thru the discussion was very much dominated by 5-6gals, and all of them got pass to the next round. but there's actually a gal who did not spoke any, but got thru too! seriously, i do not know what are they looking for. and the discussion was barely for like 5-6mins and we were cut off.

actually for those who wanna say something, but are not fast enough, maybe you could try raising your hands (not as in fully raising it straight. jus raise your palm to ear level). this would catch enough attention from the rest, and TA-DA, you can voice out~

Great idea to raise the hand but would a person be able to raise faster than the speed of the motor mouths? wahaha...

I myself did go for the interview yesterday and sigh.. I didn't get through after the discussion. I spokeup twice and even raise a point which the guy, Andrew, even commented further on at the end of the discussion. Not trying to be arrogant here but I really felt I did quite well. Was wondering was it because I sounded stiff... Coz I was so nervous as it was my first time.. I thought they were going to ask us to do self-description. Didn't expect a topic like tht (as if JC General Paper type of topic for essay hahaha...). But really, for those who wanna go next time, what I suggest is don't keep trying to comment on someone's stuff rightaway, if not u might not be fast enough to state your views unless you are super sure about what u wanna comment on. Maybe you can talk about something else that is still related. Like tht you'd have sufficient time to think about how to phrase your answers and be prepared and fast enough to speak up.

For my team of 15, 4 got in to the next round. I actually thought they had a quota of 4 from each grp but based on previous post (about only the korean girl who got in), I guess they didn't have a quota from each team. Yes, I agree that the way they selected was rather inconsistent. It's like you don't even see any similar strong points in each of the girl who was selected. One of them was super pretty but only spoke like once? Furthermore she was more of summarizing and repeating what others had already said. And her Eng cldn't make it too.. The rest were not that bad in the discussion round but looked quite ok. There was a pretty girl with a friendly smile who was rather involved in a way that wasn't dominating didn't get in too, which I found it weird. Possible to tell a person's personality based on a topic like that? I never knew personality tests were so easy. Hahaha...

Oh ya, I don't know if it's necessary to really have your hair tied into a bun. Esp. if it's really long... U wouldn't want a huge ball at the back of your head.. Probably not. Because 3 out of the 4 who got in wasn't in buns. However, I suggestion investing in a blazer. Believe me, you might feel awkward and unsure when you're at home or outside in the blazer but once you're in that venue, it's not considered overdressed at all. You would feel and look more professional. 2 of the 4 who got in were in blazers. Need not be black blazer too, can be other colour so long as it matches the bottom. I myself wasn't in one yesterday, just in a formal long sleeved collared white top. However, I will be getting one for the coming SIA interview. It wouldn't be a waste if I don't get in because I could still use it in other job interviews.

In general, I feel that it all boils down to luck. Some people just have the charisma even if looks are so- so only and even if they don't speak much, eyes would still fall on them. I don't know if the korean girl mentioned was the one I saw. The one I saw (don't even know if she's Korean or Jap or whatever Asian country, unlikely to be Sporean that's for sure.. sounded rather westernized) was really tall and she's got this super confident and outgoing look. Had a blazer on just like many other girls but with a different bottom. She simply looked fabulous! If I were the person doing the selection, she would definitely catch my eyes w/o having to say anything and I'm only a girl but already feel this way, much less a guy who's doing the selection? However I don't know if she got through or not since we were in diff. groups.

The thing about Emirates is, so long as you can stretch out your hands above to reach a height on the wall, it's enough. They don't specify a min height requirement. The ladies who were directing us were rather encouraging too. There's the lady in white who's very nice and the other who looked more serious. Even the latter was encouraging towards girls who were trying to stretch like mad on tiptoes but were still short of 1 or 2 cm. I think they used the height of the poster to determine and judge. She was saying "somemore.. somemore..". I mean she didn't just strike off these girls rightaway whereas I heard an airline company would just ask u to leave if they feel u aren't tall enough. But of coz, it's easier to filter off those who don't meet the mark if there's a min height requirement involved compared to this tiptoeing and stretching "exercise".

I don't feel that disappointed about not getting in. I feel that it was still a good experience and although no feedback was given, at least one could see what people were wearing and maybe could do the same? Such knowledge can give more confidence the next time round as one wldn't feel worried about whether one is over or underdressed. However no jeans please... Jeans just look so sloppy no matter how formal your top is.

Haha.. I'm still thinking about what went wrong on my part though

Hi angel_cambiel,

May I know which groups are you in and what was the question.

[flyaway]

The selection conducted yesterday was on behalf of Emirates Airline. The people you met yesterday were from the airline-assigned agency and they've been doing this pre-screening for EK for years. They kind of know what EK are looking for so that when the EK personnels come to SG to conduct the actual interviews they won't have to screen the whole walk-in crowd.

Well how much can you tell about a person in a short session? No offence to anyone, really. Some of you may even agree - there are ladies who are simply eye-catching. (Whatever this (Korean) lady looks like, or have worn, surely had the interviewer's attention too.) In a span of 5 - 10 mins (even the part you hand in your CV), the impression is extremely important and this needless to say has to go by appearance. Looks (not supermodel look but perhaps a face and an expression people enjoy looking at...) play a huge part at a quick process. You got to look friendly and approachable - imagine someone you'd love to work with! The open discussion gives you a chance to get the interviewer's attention if you haven't, and let those who have ascertain their chance or otherwise.

So imagine you're the interview doing the initial screening - hundreds of candidates in a day. How will you go about doing it?

Those who got through Open Day - congrats! Remember, the actual stringent EK interviews have yet to begin!

[vya`vermouth]

cool. thanks everyone for sharing

angel cambriel, your post is really detail. thank you! it is nice to read such a clear explanation.

and congratulations to all who got in

[vya`vermouth]

Well how much can you tell about a person in a short session? No offence to anyone, really. Some of you may even agree - there are ladies who are simply eye-catching. (Whatever this (Korean) lady looks like, or have worn, surely had the interviewer's attention too.) In a span of 5 - 10 mins (even the part you hand in your CV), the impression is extremely important and this needless to say has to go by appearance. Looks (not supermodel look but perhaps a face and an expression people enjoy looking at...) play a huge part at a quick process. You got to look friendly and approachable - imagine someone you'd love to work with! The open discussion gives you a chance to get the interviewer's attention if you haven't, and let those who have ascertain their chance or otherwise.

So imagine you're the interview doing the initial screening - hundreds of candidates in a day. How will you go about doing it?

Those who got through Open Day - congrats! Remember, the actual stringent EK interviews have yet to begin!

wow, so if your appearance match with their criterias, they will still choose you even if you don't do well on the discussion?

[septemberrr]

the airlines r looking for people who look pleasant and has great body posture and poise. they are also looking for people who know when to be a team player, yet be firm at the same time too. from grp discussions, they can tell if u r too domineering, over-assertive etc.. all in all, they want u to have the looks, brains, ability to speak in a tactful yet firm manner and most importantly, a wonderful personality. its an overall 'package' that they're looking for. not just focusing on one aspect.

[Plavt]

As for my experience for Emirates:
Group discussion, the moderator throws a generic title "Should Mobile phones be give n to teenagers and at what age", this was the topic given to my group. Believe it or not I wasnt given a chance to speak at all. I was kinda of frustrated with the fact that, how to discuss and talk among 15 gals? Well in my group i had about 8 people who were juz DOMINATING the whole discussion, they didnt give a chance to those like me who had not opened my mouth to say anything coz whenever i was about to say something 1 of these dominating ladies will have to add on something extra...they all spoke like as though only they knew what they were talking about and well at times they went out of context too...the whole discussion was so much like a debate(think of the Channel 5 TV show: ARENA) with gals seconding and rebutting etc. I felt the moderator who should have said to give every1 a chance to speakup but he was juz walking around looking through the application forms / resumes / photos There were a handful of other pathetic souls like me who werent given the chance to make our viewpoints be heard. As from what i heard from friends who have gone for cabin crew interview, candidates shouldnt be dominating a discussion and the recruitment team wont be selecting those people who are dominating / super out-spoken and talk too much etc. in a way 1 must limit how much they talk give others a chance to have their say too.After the group discussion was over, we were told to wait outside for results and guess what? Too my horror out of the 15gals who were in my group discussion, ONLY 1 pathetic soul, a Korean gal (Who juz barely spoke 1 sentence which was not even in standard English) was selected for the next round!!! There were a few potential candidates in my group i must say but only 1 was selected???Tatz juz too much.

This wasn't boring at all but I am not surprised; dominating a discussion and not allowing others to speak is not only rude but very arrogant. Those who didn't get word in should have made more of an effort - difficult I know but you need to establish communication. I suspect such an event was no easier for the interviewers, life can be rough sorry you got such a raw deal.

[flyaway]

the airlines r looking for people who look pleasant and has great body posture and poise. they are also looking for people who know when to be a team player, yet be firm at the same time too. from grp discussions, they can tell if u r too domineering, over-assertive etc.. all in all, they want u to have the looks, brains, ability to speak in a tactful yet firm manner and most importantly, a wonderful personality. its an overall 'package' that they're looking for. not just focusing on one aspect.

Totally agree with you. I remember there are girls who look very promising, but ruined their own chance at the discussion either by dominating it or not participating (usually the former). It's quite a challenge to put all of it together - poise, charisma, friendliness, brains - but yeah if you do it and they noticed then you succeed! For the screening round at least