What Does Cabin Crew As A Career Implies?

Posted by Applied Professional Training (APT) on February 3rd, 2020

Airlines carry on cabin crew recruitment regularly, however this is not a simple job to land. It is an extremely specialized job that can only be done by people with extremely special qualities, and airlines are truly finical about the people they hire in this sector.

Cabin crew are not respected food and drink servers or glorified trolley pushers. The job is much more advanced than this. They are the very first point of contact on the airplane between the airline and the passenger and the piloting staff. They can be considered as the ‘face’ of the airline and are representative of the type of quality service they offer to the passengers.

Many passengers are scared of flying and these specifically trained people after substantial cabin crew training have to take care of this. One of their most vital performance areas is the safety and security of the passengers. They are trained to deal with critical situations and also on-board assistance, setting down and boarding.

The cabin crew is given a briefing before every flight regarding a specific situation that might be expected, like weather etc, They also make sure that the cabin of the plane is properly cleaned and is neat and well stocked before the passengers board. They also check important cabin equipment, comprising of emergency medical items.

They also have to mediate with many other ground staff regarding the flight, safe handling of luggage, and check that all the passengers are safely belted. The fun begins with the demonstration of safety procedures and in-flight emergency. That always make me smile, and I marvel how they are able to maintain a straight face. They provide duty free products to the passengers, which are for sale during the flight, check their convenience, deal with scared and hard passengers and assist with flight reports and immigration papers. They are trained in these tasks during their cabin crew training course.

The duty hours of a cabin crew are never the same, they depend on the flights and there is no such thing as a normal working day, week or month. A pro rata system usually controls their shifts, but this may change any moment.    

Weekends, public holidays, nights are all normal for the cabin crew members and they need to be flexible in their approach regarding their work just like the airline is to their flights. Some cabin crew work short term, others work long term and some work both.

This is emotionally and physically taxing work and this is why you need to be ready to do it. It is also a very exhilarating work atmosphere where you meet new people and visit new places all the time.

Salaries are not that incredible, but they are good and experienced cabin crew members earn well, and have the added advantage of allowances for different expenses like flights, meals and extra qualification. They also get incredible travel deals, and viewing the world is costly nowadays.

Airlines would not be able to exist or run properly without the help of cabin crew, and that’s why they are so finical about the recruitment of the cabin crew members. This is an incredible job and it needs the services of specialized people. If a passenger is unhappy with one airline, there are many competitors out there they can switch to.

Cabin crew is responsible for the safety and convenience of the travellers, and this is much more involved than just serving food and drinks.

They are highly trained people from the best cabin crew training institute in India who realize that passengers might have a fear of flying and their key role is to deal with security and safety of all the travellers, specifically during situations of emergency. They also help in boarding as mentioned above.

Other responsibilities include coordinating with the ground staff in respect to load weight and passengers check, checking safety belts and safely securing the hand luggage. They also aware the passengers about the in-flight safety precautions, communicates between passengers and pilot, dealing with aggressive passengers, specifically if they are disturbing other passengers, assisting with immigration documents and flight reports, and they all work as a team.

Recruitment

Most of the airlines follow the same recruitment process. Crew candidates will send their resume through email or through post. When all the applications have been received, the airlines generally make a short list the applicants to invite them for the interview. The interview will generally be with two interviewers, and might need that the crew candidate carries out a short presentation.