Cabin Crew Selection Process: Ten Top Tips For Assessment Success

In order to become Cabin Crew you’ll need to pass a number of stringent assessment tests and interviews. Airlines place enormous importance on the quality of their staff – as cabin crew are customer facing, and important representatives of the airline itself. In this blog, we’ll provide you with ten top tips for passing the cabin crew selection process. Using these tips, you should be able to walk into an airline interview or cabin crew selection process full of confidence!

Cabin Crew Selection Process Guide

Here at How2Become we’ve created a fantastic guide that will help you to pass the Cabin Crew Selection Process. Our book is packed full of tips and tricks on how to pass. You can check it out at our official Cabin Crew Selection page.

Tip 1 – Show Off Your Communication Skills

Strong communication skills are essential to the role of a cabin crew member. Of course, the role is customer-focused, so in your application you will need to demonstrate that you can communicate effectively at all times, despite the challenges and pressures of the job.

Try to think of an occasion when somebody has annoyed you. How did you react? Do you have the ability to stay calm in a situation where someone is angry or upset?
Of course, everybody feels uncomfortable when faced with a confrontational person, but it is your ability to defuse these situations that will set you apart from the rest of the candidates.

Tip 2 – Know How to Complete the Application Form Correctly

Over 90% of candidates fail at the application form stage, a fact that can be put down to a few reasons. Let’s explore them now. In the majority of these unsuccessful cases, candidates fail to demonstrate that they have the right customer service skills to become a cabin crew member. Remember, airlines place a huge amount of importance on the quality of their customer service – it directly affects their profits!

This is why it is so important that you take your time when answering customer service-related questions in the application form – they will be make or break for you. Even if you have very little experience with customer service, you can still make a good impression in this area by discussing its huge value to an airline.

So, understanding the importance of customer service and being able to prove it throughout the selection process is vital. As well as this, be aware that working in a customer-focused environment for many years does not automatically mean you are good at providing it – make sure you are not complacent and say the wrong thing! So, before completing your application form, read my section entitled ‘The application form’ for a detailed explanation on how to tackle the questions.

Tip 3 – Choose the Right Airline

If you decide that you want to apply for several airlines all in one go, you might not be able to give each application the preparation it deserves. So, by demonstrating at interview that you have researched the airline in question thoroughly, you show a higher level of enthusiasm and commitment to working with them. The mistake too many people make is that they focus their efforts on just ‘becoming a cabin crew member’, when they should really be focusing their efforts on ‘becoming a cabin crew member with x airline.’

Try to imagine yourself as a member of the recruitment staff at an airline. You are presented with two candidates to choose from. They have both passed all of the assessments and would be good for your airline. By their responses, you can tell that one has applied for four different airlines and the other has only applied for yours. Which one would you choose? It’s a no brainer!

Tip 4 – Know How to Handle Complaints Effectively

It is an unfortunate fact that cabin crew staff face complaints of some kind on most flights. So, part of the job is knowing how to deal with them correctly. You’ll also need to be aware of how these situations can arise.

For example, if a flight is delayed, passengers are far more likely to complain about trivial things they wouldn’t otherwise bother about. There are a whole host of reasons why people complain during a flight, but the fact is you need to know how to deal with them effectively and efficiently, no matter what state of mind you may be in.

So, try to imagine being on your way to the airport for a scheduled flight when your car breaks down. Eventually, roadside assistance arrives and your car is repaired, but already you are late for work. Eventually, however, you arrive and board the flight ready to commence your duties.

Obviously, you are not going to be as calm as normal following situations like this, but you will still have to provide the same high level of customer service. The passengers do not know or care about your difficult and aggravating morning.

Again, it is your ability to perform in situations like these that will set you apart from the rest of the candidates.

Tip 5 – Know What to Wear for Your Interview

‘You only get one chance to make a first impression.’

This is something that you should keep at the forefront of your mind at all times during the selection process.

When you walk down the high street of your local town, you will see people from different walks of life. For right or for wrong, we all form opinions of people without even talking to them, just by judging them on their appearance and what clothes they are wearing. In an interview situation of course, this phenomenon is magnified. Not only does an interview open you up to intense scrutiny anyway, but the role itself involves maintaining a neat and impressive appearance.

So, it is only natural the interview panel will form an opinion of you as soon as they see you. In anticipation of this, you will need to work to create the right impression immediately.
Whilst you will probably have a good idea on what to wear and how to present yourself, you should still take the time to re-assess your appearance prior to interview.

Tip 6 – Create an Effective Introduction

During the actual group interview day, you will be required to introduce yourself to the rest of the candidates and the selection staff.
This is done for a number of reasons. One of them is to allow the recruitment staff to see how confident you are and how well you present yourself. Secondly, it acts as an effective ice-breaker.

Everybody will be nervous during the interview, that’s a fact. But you still need to create a good impression right from the offset. The airline recruitment staff will be watching you and assessing your abilities right from the word ‘go’.

So, it is important that you write down and practise your introduction beforehand. Try standing up and performing your prepared introduction in front of your friends or relatives, and you will see how difficult it can be. However, the more times you practise it, the better you will become at putting yourself across in a positive and confident manner.

Tip 7 – Understand Teamwork

What does the term ‘teamwork’ actually mean? Here’s a good explanation:

“Working as part of a group towards a shared goal. In order to achieve this goal, different members of the team take on different roles.”

So, when you are cabin crew member, it is vital that you can contribute as an effective team member. The common goal in mind is of course providing excellent customer service while ensuring the safety of everyone on board. If you are ever placed in an emergency situation, then you will need to be able to work closely as a team to overcome any problems and make sure that all safety precautions and procedures are followed.

Some more questions to consider:

• Are you able to create a rapport with any team you work with?
• Can you bring something valuable to that team?
• Do you make an effort to mix with the team and do you involve others?

Airlines will assess you in this area by incorporating a lot of group work into the selection process. You may be asked to take part in team discussions, and you’ll be monitored in relation to how you react to these situations and scenarios.

Throughout this guide I will show you how to work effectively in a team environment.

Tip 8 – Research the Airline Thoroughly

Many people do not spend enough time researching their chosen airline. Then, when it comes to the interview, they fail to answer specific airline-related questions effectively, and end up failing the whole process. You will be asked questions about the airline, how it operates, where they fly to, and other important facts that you need to know as a cabin crew member. This is no different to any other interview that you attend. The first and most important topic to research is the company and the role you are applying for.

Try to imagine what it must be like for those people who apply for 4 or 5 airlines at a time. Can they give sufficient preparation time to each one? Probably not. Within the ‘Interview’ chapter of the guide, I have provided you with a template that contains all of the areas you should research. Make sure you do so thoroughly. Remember – knowledge is power and confidence!

Tip 9 – Know the Interview Questions

Imagine being told the type of questions that you will be asked prior to going into your interview. Now stop imagining – I am going to do just that for you! I have spent hours talking to current serving cabin crew staff, recruitment staff and applicants who have failed the process, in order to obtain as many interview questions as possible. I have also spent the time researching how to effectively answer those questions, so you don’t have to. Read the ‘Interview’ section of this guide thoroughly, paying particular attention to the sample responses. Then, use the provided template to create your own personal and individual responses to the questions provided.

This will involve quite a lot of work but it will help you to get in the right frame of mind for the interview.

Then, to help you prepare fully, arrange a mock interview with a friend or relative. Get them to ask you various interview questions and spend time practising the answers.
Try to choose someone who will give you constructive feedback as opposed to someone who will only tell you what you want to hear.

Tip 10 – Finally, Don’t Give Up!

Too many people give up at the first attempt. Yes, it is disheartening when you fail things in life but if you want to succeed, you should never give up. There have been many examples of people eventually getting hired at the 6th attempt, or even more. The key is to keep learning and improving your skills. If you fail something in life, look upon it as an opportunity for improvement. Consider the following:

• Where did you go wrong?
• What can you do next time to improve? Did you ask for feedback?
• Can you learn from others?
• Are you prepared to learn from your mistakes?

If you want something enough, then you can eventually get it. Sometimes it takes people years to get where they want to be. But by staying focused, motivated and driven, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.