Career Talk | Emirates: My Open Day Experience

A very nervous looking me with bags under my eyes from the lack of sleep.

Although I had applied for an assessment day on the Emirates Careers website I had not heard back. So after waiting around for so long I decided to take some intitative and control. I attended an Emirates Open Day event in Leeds on Saturday 13th September 2014. This is only afew days after my Assessment Day with Etihad so I felt more than prepared for what could potenitally happen.

Things to bring:

CV
A pen
Something to write notes on

Dress in business attire. Appropriate business attire. Emirates like to use the word: Respectable. Keep that in mind.

Here's a run down of the day...

I arrived at 8.30am to the Marriot Hotel, Leeds, and there were already some people that had arrived dressed in business attire. Determined to be more confident and successful then in my Etihad assessment day I decided to try and make some friends immediately. I introduced myself to some of the other girls there. We were all so nervous. More and more people were arriving!!!!

As we entered the room, the recruiter asked us to collect 2 pieces of paper. One had all the information regarding salary, and discussed the benefits of joining Emirates. The other had some required us to fill out some information.

The recruiter kindly welcomed everyone to the Open Day. There was ALOT of people who had attended, maybe around 300? So it was going to be a long day for her. She explained the formalities of the day. She introduced herself and her role at Emirates. She is former Cabin Crew so can really empathise with everyone in the room who is wanting to take on a new and exciting role. Then followed short presentation of Emirates Cabin Crew. This is also available on Youtube. It's worth watching. It'll get you all inspired if you're interested in applying for roles in aviation of this kind.

After the presentation, people started asking questions of alsorts. The common questions seemed to concentrate on the tattoo situation. The recruiter was very patience and tried to explain to the best of her ability what is and isn't acceptable. She will ask you several times throughout the process if you have any tatoos.

Luckily for me, I was sat in the second row from the front. So I was not waiting for long before I was seen with my CV in hand. She very breifly asked me some questions about myself, and why I wanted to be Cabin Crew. I was very honest with her, and explained my ambitous nature. I didn't mention anything to do with wanting to travel the world. I balanced personal and professional goals together.

All those who had been successful on the open day would receive a phone call by 6pm. It started at 9.10 and I was finished at 11am! I spent most of the day walking around Leeds City Centre visiting old and new shopping areas. I miss my home town!! I meet up with a girl called Zara for acouple of hours and but then we decided to go own own ways we so exchanged numbers and kept in touch.

Whether it was my lack of confidence from my AD with Etihad, or whether I was tired and had enough, I started heading home around 3.30pm. I'm not sure why. All the waiting around caused me so much anxiety, that I had conviced myself that I was not successful. I remember being stood at Platform 16 in Leeds heading for the Manchester Picadilly train and thinking 'right, last chance, should I should until 5pm or should I definately go home'. There was no rational thinking going on at the time. Just had the train arrived I recognised two other people from my assessment day. I approach them and we got chatting about the day. They had waited along time to meet with the recruiter.

Our anxiety between us could damped the spirts of the most happiest person in the world. We were all waiting for that phone call. After I checked my phone for the millionth time, I could see the skyline for Manchester. Half way home I thought! Now then, at 4.43pm (exactly) my phone rang displaying a withheld number. I answered it and recognised the voice straight away. It was the recruiter inviting me back for the assessment day! She told me my number (12), and told me to arrive before 9am.

So, after a mini anxiety attack I headed back to Leeds. I booked a local hotel on the train as I headed back to Leeds. I felt slighlty silly for doubting myself. But, now was the chance to prove myself.

Thank you for reading my rambles!