Free Career and Job Search Advice

crew4jets · Last edited by crew4jets on Fri Jun 10, 2005 1:14 pm; edited 1 time in total

Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 the "Major" airlines have not been hiring, and are in fact furloughing their current flight attendants. The prospects of getting hired by a Major are relatively slim for the next year or two.

But the Majors are only 10% of the airlines operating in the US and Canada. The other 90% include the mid-size airlines, regional and commuter carriers and charter airlines. These airlines continue to need and hire flight attendants on their flights.In addition, the fastest growing sector of aviation is the corporate or executive jet Flight Attendant employment opportunities. These luxurious private and corporate aircraft cater to a high-end clientele, and require professionally trained flight attendants as well.

A high-school diploma or GED is a must, so if you're in school now, STAY IN SCHOOL. If you have quit or dropped out, it's never too late to go back and get your diploma. For all airlines, it is a requirement for employment. Additional schooling, which can improve your chances of acceptance, includes sociology, psychology, history, geography, and foreign languages.

Nearly all airlines will train you as a part of the hiring process, even if you've worked for another airline, or attended one of the expensive airline "schools".

What is it then, which makes this job one of the most sought-after in America? Flexibility, variety, and travel are the top three reasons.

Flexibility. Most people work all week, with perhaps one or two days off over the weekend. Most receive one to two weeks of vacation per year. As a flight attendant, you have the ability to group your flights together in a given month, and have 1-2 weeks off every month!

Variety. Since you are able to move your schedule around to suit your personal life, you are also able to escape the nine-to-five, Monday through Friday drudgery. And each flight is to a different city, with different crews, and different passengers.

Travel. Most airline employees receive passes to fly on their own airline for free, or for a small fee. In addition, other airlines will offer you 50-75% discounts on their tickets. Hotels, rental cars, cruises, tour packages all have some discount schedule for airline employees also.

And what do the airline recruiters look for? Once again the big word is flexibility. If you are able to be flexible in your attitude and lifestyle, and work well both alone, and with a group of people, then you have the basic building blocks to pursue your career in the skies. Spend some time in your local library, researching the airlines, or reading the books available on flight attendant careers. You can also find a wealth of information on the Internet, or World Wide Web. When you have chosen the airlines that match your career criteria, contact them by mail and request an application.

TIM KIRKWOOD, currently in his 27th year as an airline flight attendant for a major US carrier, is the author and publisher of THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT JOB FINDER & CAREER GUIDE. For more information on the Guide, call 1-800-7-FLIGHT, or visit us on the web at www.FlightAttendantCareerGuide.com.

Camilla · Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:15 am Post subject:

If anybody in the UK's interested in finding work as cabin crew, there's a really great site that lists available jobs.

You can find it here:

http://www.aviationjobsearch.com/employer.asp?catID=4

Lots of them don't ask for any formal training as training is given by the company so don't believe you'll need to pay out shed loads of money to companies who promise to train you as cabin crew in order to get a job.

Camilla

Cameron · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:23 pm Post subject: Flyer beware, though

An airline used to be a great place to work. Nowadays, opinions are more mixed. The highest employee satisfaction rates among US airlines employees are those at Southwest -- a cut-rate airline that doesn't serve foreign airports.

Because the industry is so competitive, and the airlines historically so poorly managed, bankruptcy is a common theme. Remember Swiss Air? They went bankrupt. Before they announced it, they endured the embarassment of spiriting their planes out of foreign countries' airports and into Switzerland overnight, so that the assets couldn't be attached by creditors. They're now called simply Swiss -- same logo, same company, different name to dodge creditors.

US Airways and United Airlines, two of the largest in the world, have declared bankruptcy in the last few years. In both cases, employees initially wondered whether their pensions would be entirely lost. If it weren't for the US government's pension guarantee agency -- an agency in deep trouble -- employees would have lost their supposedly secure retirement accounts. And the US Congress is far less likely to provide funds these days than it was when it bailed out Chrysler.

The bottom line is that you may want to research an airline's financial condition before signing on. Public companies are easiest to research because they are required to publish their financial information. Whether public or private, it would be a good idea to ask the interviewer what the company's financial situation is like. You might just impress them; they probably don't get a lot of sophisticated interviewers.

What's their stock price been like? If it's gone way down recently, red flag.

Are they profitable? Or losing money? What do they have in the bank? Have they requested any government bailouts? And so on.

What's their employee turnover rate? High rate = lots of dissatisfaction. FYI, more than 20% a year is high.

If any of you apply, let us know how it works out!

Cameron

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