The author is vice-president, India and Nepal, Emirates Airline
It was not very long ago when the entire service industry was severely hit by the global economic slowdown. Specifically, the travel and tourism segment went through the worst time in recent past. However, as per the latest reports, the entire industry is picking up and is at par with the pre-recession times. Emirates Airline, however, had been one of the very few airlines who were profitable even in the times of recession. This epitomises our commitment towards customer service and comfort.
Specifically in the aviation business, the service standards have always been paid a lot of attention, considering the profile of the customers, which has a lot of diversity. Therefore, the process of hiring cabin crew becomes a very crucial task as they represent the company in front of the end customers, or travellers in our case. At Emirates, our standards for everything are very high and even in hiring cabin crew we seek dedicated employees who are open-minded and service oriented. Helpfulness and friendliness are very important personality traits that we look for in candidates as the job requires them to interact with a variety of people in a pleasant manner.
For recruitment, Emirates’ looks for candidates who are at least 21 years of age, preferably with prior experience in airline or related industries. The candidate should be educated to at least high school level with strong problem solving skills. Since they are required to interact with customers from different parts of the world, they should at least be fluent in English; however, knowing another language is always an asset. As far as physical traits are required, the cabin crew should be medically fit to meet aircrew requirements. They should be of minimum arm reach of 212 cm (on tip toes) so that they are able to reach the emergency equipment on all aircraft types.
Personal grooming is another very important aspect of the job profile as the candidates are expected to be presentable at all times. The cabin crew is responsible for taking care of the passengers on-board and, therefore, should have a very pleasant personality, which is integral for any job profile that involves client interface.
Catering to the vast network we operate in, Emirates employs close to 12,000 multi-cultural cabin crew, of over 131 different nationalities, speaking over 80 languages. The cabin crew go through extensive training of 7 weeks, very specific to Emirates standards, during which they are trained for different aspects of their job such as safety & emergency procedures, medical training, inflight service etc. They are also given specialist training on how to communicate with and serve people from different cultures. Our medical training is accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Cabin crew are presented with the GCCA licence upon successful completion of their training.
As a career, the opportunity to work as cabin crew with Emirates is highly rated in the industry as it provides immense exposure to the employees. They are exposed to a staff of over 150 nationalities of different cultures and religious backgrounds. They are also given a lot of perks including tax free salaries as per best industry standards, furnished accommodation on sharing basis with other crew, life and accident insurance, annual confirmed tickets to home country, comprehensive medical and dental services, end-of-service benefits and many more. Moreover, Emirates is one the fastest growing airlines in the world which ensures many career opportunities and fast career growth.
I strongly feel that with the upswing in the global aviation industry, the young talent flowing into the industry has great career prospects in the industry and a greater success awaits them if they have the will to achieve it!
The author is vice-president, India and Nepal, Emirates Airline
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