Richard Yeomans

We get lots of emails and calls from people wanting to become flight attendants. As in any aviation job search you will need to do some research before you can make the right career choices and we welcome people visiting the site and asking questions.

Life as a Flight Attendant

As a flight attendant, your role is primarily to ensure the safety of the passengers. There have been many stories where flight attendants have acted heroically and saved many lives when aircraft find themselves in difficultly. The most notable recent story was of a flight attendant who found herself in the co-pilots’ seat after a pilot became ill!

Training

With safety being the priority, flight attendants spend many hours learning the drills and procedures that will be used in the event of an incident. The training is serious but can be fun. You will learn how to detect and fight a fire, how to use the special equipment, how to give first aid and how to evacuate an aircraft on the land and water. There are many airlines that offer some extra enrichment and introduce some principles of flight and aerodynamics.

The side of the flight attendants job we see most of is the service. This training varies massively from airline to airline. You will be introduced to the correct etiquette and the style of service expected by the airline.

Language

If employed as expat cabin crew there is often some language training and some cultural instruction so you don’t inadvertently cause offence to the passengers. There are some really good schools out there that tailor their courses to the Aviation Industry such as our partner Aviation English. If you need to improve your English its worth checking them out.

How do you get a job as a flight attendant?

Research is the key, check out the online resources and keep up date with the news online. Keep up to date with sites like Flight Crew Finder that do the research for you. Currently both British Airways and Emirates are recruiting.

Network

Develop as many contacts as you can by using online tools and get in touch with friends of friends who may work for the airline. You never know who may hear about a recruitment process first. Stay in touch and exchange experiences. Ask them to let you know when they may be recruiting.

• Engage on bulletin boards and ask questions. Experienced Flight Attendants frequent these places and are always willing to offer advice to new recruits. If you are an experienced Flight Attendant then help others follow their dreams.

• Once all your research has been completed, draw up a shortlist of the companies you want to work for. Find out who is responsible for the recruiting of cabin crew and send them a personal letter.

Look into companies such as Swan Heights who specialise in providing premium Flight Attendant training. As a complimentary service they also offer a placement solution such as the jobs listed here.

The life of a cabin crew can be exciting, interesting and it will give you the opportunity to travel the world. Like most jobs, getting on the first step of the ladder can be hard but with some research and determination you can find yourself in the fastest moving industry in the world.
 

Aviation companies are having a hard time at the moment as cash is in short supply. There is going to be a end to the stagnation in the industry and employers are going to have to prepare to invest in getting the right staff. The ones that have stopped investing may well be in for a shock. I am not talking about planes and infrastructure but people. People make companies grow, give them the personal side and people make the difference to how people perceive a company. If employers need highly skilled employees they need get them now and training as the skills in our industry cannot be taught overnight.

Boeing has recently increased it’s forecast for predicted pilot and maintenance engineers for the next twenty years. They reckon that there will be a need for an additional 448,000 pilots and over 500,000 engineers to cope with the larger world fleet in the forthcoming decades. It has been reported that the global industry is already expanding and this can be seen with the recruiting that is going on in the Middle East. Emirates is currently planning to recruit over 700 pilots in the next few years. They won’t be looking for 200 hour pilots but, they will want the pilots with 1000’s of hours and these will come from the traditional airlines, creating vacancies.

I met with a German general aviation operator last week and he is concerned that the German regional airlines may tempt away his flight deck crews as they are starting to interview. If the German operators are planning for growth there is hope for rest of Europe.

With every expansion there will be a requirement for new cabin crews. I met with the Emirates recruiting team in Nice recently and they are touring around Europe looking for as many good cabin crew members as they can find. They have a significant requirement for people and asked me to direct all applications to their website. They are prepared to invest now to get the right people to work as cabin crew and they are planning to continue expanding over the next few years.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe, just maybe and we at www.flightcrewfinder.com will be watching very carefully. We have seen some increased recruiting activity on the website and it augers well for the future of our industry.

Good luck and have a good week.  

There has been a reported forecast of a shortage of pilots for the expanding global aviation industry. The reality very different. Unless you have thousands of hours in command of heavy jets and you are type rated and current and willing to travel to the other side of the world, there are precious few aviation jobs around. The flying schools have been producing hundreds of freshly qualified pilots very month and that makes the competition very tough for the few flying jobs out there.

It has always been the age old problem in the aviation industry, what aviation jobs are available for qualified pilots whilst they are looking for work flying? I will explore some possibilities that are open for people to work within the industry and hopefully build some contacts on the way.

Baggage Handler. The most easily available aviation job is that of the baggage handler. It appears to be pretty mundane but you will get an airside pass and spend time on aircraft. You will gain a greater understanding of how large aircraft work and the importance of correct mass and balance loading. There are opportunities to move into other ramp based jobs that may utilise you acquired skills as a pilot.

Aircraft Dispatcher. A friend of mine was ‘between jobs’ and applied to become a check in assistant but was told she was over qualified and was offered a job as a dispatcher. This is a very busy job that will require all your skills as a pilot plus other qualities. You will make decisions with the aircraft commander as to the safety and economic viability of the flight. You will check the flight plan, check the mass and balance and discuss the fuel load and weather with the captain. This job will place you in the cockpit and it is the place you really need to be. You will meet the right people and you will hear first if there is going to be any expansion and recruiting in the airline. Your skills will be enhanced and you have some relevant experience to bring up at interview.

Handling Agent. Many small operators don’t have their own ground staff and they use handling agents. They assist the crew with all the jobs that have to be done when an aircraft needs to be turned around. They deal with passengers, fuel, weather and catering. They assist the crews and can make a big difference to the smoothness of the operation. As an handling agent you will use all the skills you learnt when you were planning flights at flight school. You will interact with the crews and will be able to build a relationship with some of the pilots. They can assist in putting you CV forward and you interview will be considerably better if you know the person interviewing you! If you are looking for jobs within the general aviation sector, this could be a good option for you.

Flight Attendant. There are very many pilots I know who started out as cabin crew. This will give you experience of how an airline works and you will know when and if the airline is looking for more pilots. You will have shown a degree of commitment to the company by working as cabin crew and a reference from someone with the airline will be worth it’s weight in gold. As a qualified pilot you will bring some real awareness to the role and your safety critical functions will be better performed as a result of your pilot training.

There are many more jobs out there for the jobless pilot that will enhance any CV. At www.flightcrewfinder.com there are some non flying jobs that can be applied for. Good luck with looking for you new job in aviation!