Career Talk | Emirates: Assessment Day

My alarm started buzzing around 6am. I wanted to be up, showered, and ready in time. Punctuality is very important for things like this. Last night, I slept like a baby with barely any broken sleep. Already the adrenaline is pumping and my level of neves is making me want the toilet every 10 minutes. Sorry people, just keeping it real. I would be lying if I said I was all calm and cool.

All this week, I had been preparing myself with a head full of knowledge about Emirates. I'd read many online forums, Facebook pages and blog posts on what to expect from the day. So my advice would be to do your research but be careful about the information you come across and do not take it as gospel. Use it only for guidance.

I arrived at the Marriott Hotel, in Leeds about 8.30am. The Assessment Day (AD) was due to start at 9am. It was lovely to see some faces that had made it through to this stage. We waited in the hotel foyere until we were all called through into the boardroom.

There were around 60 people who got invited back to the AD. The majority of the room was filled with women, and only 4 men. We all entered and made ourselves comfortable. Take a bottle of water, or something. It'll help you keep the anxieties at bay for the time being. The initial formalities were introductions from the recruiter, house keeping rules and the plan for the day. At this point, you

could also ask the recruiter any questions regarding cabin crew and Emirates. I didn't ask anything as I felt confident with the infomation given to us yesterday. As we were shown presentations on working and living in Dubai, the recruiter split the group into 2 large groups. There were roughly about 25 in each group.

Now for the first round...

The recruiter asked everyone to sit around in a circle of chairs that had already been prepared. She asked us to sit in ascending order. Then, we were put into smaller groups of 3's and a 2. We were given a card with an object on it, and asked to come up with alternative uses. Afterwards, we had to stand up in our group of 3, and present our ideas to the rest of the group. We had a towel. Between us, we came up with a blackout blind, a magic carpet (my idea) and a draught excluder for a door. The recruiter said she wanted to see our personalities in our ideas so do not be worried about using your imagination. We are give 15 minutes to discuss and prepare. In the meantime, the recruiter called us up in number order to complete the reach test, and to confirm if we had any tattoos or not.

Once we had finished, she asked everyone to wait outside the room while she made her decision on who would be returning for the next assessment task. This is when the nerves begin to emerge from everyone as you really cannot tell what they're truly looking for. The small group was very supportive to each other which really made a difference to keeping the sprits high.

10 minutes later and we were called back into the room. We sat down and waited. The recruiter thanked us for our time today, and stated that she cannot give feedback to anyone who didn't make it through. She asked us to line up in ascending order near the door, and gave us a piece of paper which told us if we were successful or not. The recruiter said that she did not want to see or hear any 'whooping' or loud cheers of glee as it would be insensitive to those who did not get through. I took my piece of paper and took a sly peek. Thank god I thought! I'd had made it through to the next part of the assessment. For now, we had to wait around an hour while the other large group had their first assessments. We went outside to get some fresh air, then sat in the foyere again reflecting what just happened.

Now for the second round...

The whole group of people met again in the boardroom. There are still a large number of people here....maybe round 45? This time, we were split into 3 smaller groups of around 12 - 15. I was in the first group again. As the others left, the recruiter asked us to sit in the circle again in number order from 1 - 15. She passed around a laminated card with a scenario. We were the hotel manager. There was a computer error with our booking system and only had 2 rooms left. We had 8 guests coming. As a group, we had to decide on the 2 guests who we would give the rooms to, and why. We all worked together as this point. We had a time keeper, and someone who read out the scenario to the group. During the discussion, the recruiter was watching us closely, making notes each time we said anything.

Keep a check of yourself at this point. Do not be overbearing, and talk when someone else is. Just try calm, and wait your turn. If someone says something what you were going to say, just say yes, I agree with you.

Once the group had come to an agreement on the two guests we would allocate the rooms to, the recruiter played the part of the angry costumers. She said that if you kept her happy, she won't say much at all. We each had to take it in turns regarding the costumers, and their complaints. Some people in our group found this really overwhelming, and stuttered a lot. I felt really bad. It's like being on the X Factor or something. It's so intense. Remember that water, take a sip, and then go for it.

The recruiter thanked the group for our time, and again we were asked to wait outside for 10 minutes, while she decided who should come back again for the final part. It was the same process as before, we entered the room, collected our letters, and left while the other 2 groups had their turn. Again, I held my breath as I read the letter. I couldn't believe it. I was through to the final part. What a relief?! From what I read online, I knew that the assessments would be over, and that the final part would be form filling and booking the final interview. We had a long wait ahead with being in the first group. So we decided to go to the Trinity Shopping Centre which was just opposite the hotel for a coffee and some lunch.

After some lunch, we handed back and waited in the foyer again until we were all called back into the room. There were about 35 people at this point in the day. Still quite a lot of people. It dawned on me that there could be another assessment taking place with this many people left! Argh, the stress! So, back into the boardroom again. The recruiter said congratulations, you've made it through to the final interviews (FI) and told us the next stages of the process.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Phew.

I don't mind the interview stage. That's just standard for most jobs I have applied for. The recruiter handed out some paperwork for us to complete, and bring back on our FI. She also also us to give details of our email addresses so that she could send us a psychometric test to complete that evening. It's so she can ask us questions based on our answers from the test.

If you did not have a GCSE or a National Higher certificate in English Language then you were asked to take an English test after everyone else had left. I already have mine so I didn't need to complete it.

Booking your FI as an assuming challenge . The recruiter said we were going to play FI bingo. Basically, when the recruiter shouts out a date, and time, you call our your number to book that slot. If more than one wants that time, we've to discuss it amongst each other to compromise.

And that's it. I went home feeling exhausted but excited by my chances of getting through the final stages. If you want to check out how my final interview went, click here for further details.

Thanks for reading. Please leave any questions/ comments you have in the comments section below. I'd be happy to answer anything I can.