11 Tips for Pilot or Cabin Crew Interview

Tips for  Pilot or Cabin Crew Interview : Flying as a pilot/cabin crew is very exciting and glamorous.Cabin crew or pilot job is an interesting and challenging Job. Its exciting as you get paid for watching the world.
Just want to share some tips which will be very useful for cracking any pilot or cabin crew interview :

1. Grooming Standards :  Grooming Standards for Ladies Hair: Should be neat, well styled and should appear professional

• Hair should be trimmed regularly, neatly combed and in place always.
• Shoulder length hair should be neatly pinned to keep away from face.
• Hair longer than shoulder length should be cut straight evenly and tied at the nape of the neck.
• The bun must be secured at the back of the head or slightly above the nape with a black net.
• Do not use colored / plastic bands.
• Hair should be clean, non- greasy, free of oil, color and streaking.
• Permed and curly hair should be kept neat and restrained.Finger nails: Well maintained and clean. This is a very important aspect in pilot or Cabin Crew Interview.
• Neatly cut , shaped and clean
• Excessively long nails are not allowed.
• Use only light and neutral color of nail polish
• Nail polish should cover entire nail, never chipped

Jewellery on hands: Conservative and Elegant

• Only one ring on each hand, rings should be sober, conservative and not too large.
• Watches should be conservative and not flashy or too large.Other Jewellery.Useful in pilot and Cabin Crew Interview.
• Only one set of earrings
• Dangling or flashy or large size not permitted
• Two thin bangles, either of gold or silver, permitted.
• One thin gold or silver chain.
• Only a small nose stud.Footwear: Proper footwear should be worn all the times
• Closed black leather shoes
• Always well polished and in good conditionToenails
• Short and maintained clean
• Nail polish should match finger nail polish and should not be chippedMakeup: Simple and basic make- up
• Appropriate foundation suited to each skin type should be used to avoid oily looks
• Eye shadow to be subtle and not too loud
• Eyeliner to be thin, straight and applied neatlyUniform: Immaculate,(perfect and clean) Smooth, Clean, without creases or stains
• Light color Formal shirt, full sleeves
• Formal Trouser, front creased
• Matching silk scarves
• Sari to be pinned neatly
• Pins should not be visible
• Sari to be worn in a way that the navel is not visible
• Blouses with high back (no deep cuts), sleeves up to elbows.Grooming Standards for menHair: Conservative and well maintained, short neatly cut
• Should not fall on forehead, touch the ears or touch the collars.
• Neatly combed, not oily, not premed.
• Only conservative hairstyle permitted.
• Moustaches neatly trimmed.
• Should not cover upper lip.
• Face clean shaved
• Beards only permitted as part of religious sentiments.Nails: Trimmed and well maintained
• Clean and dirt free
• No nicotine, carbon or ink stains on the fingers.Ornaments
• Only one simple ring on any one hand
• No bracelets or bands (excepts for religious reasons)
• Watches should be conservative and not flashy or too large.
• Leather strap should either be black, brown or tan
• Metallic strap should be gold or silverFootwear: Well maintained, well polished, in good condition
• Only black shoes are permitted
• Socks to match the color of the shoes or trousersUniform: Immaculate, spotless, well ironed
• Light color Formal shirt, full sleeves
• Formal Trouser, front creased
• Matching Tie
• No loose threads or broken buttons
• Cuffs and collars to be stain free and clean.
• Belts should be plain black or brown, not  cracked or dull, simple non flashy buckle, not more than 1.5 “wide.
• Always wear a vest. (cut banyans)

2.Communication skills: 

Communication is an important facet of life. Communication skills are essential in all spheres of life. Be it an interview or dealing with the project leader or working out a solution with a team or writing a report, getting across the point effectively is what matters.
Would like to share some important points on communication during a group discussion as major of the airlines has group discussion round.
The following skills are assessed during the group discussion.

Communication skills Soft skills Inter-personal skills Team building skills Conflict – management skills Taking initiative and drive Leadership qualities. Presentation skills Negotiating skills Observation skills public Relations techniques and Strategies Language skills

In addition to be above, non-verbal communication skills are also watched with meticulous care.
Smile Shake hand Your posture Eye contact with the interviewers Avoid fidget (Fidget means – moving hands, your nervousness, unable to remain quiet, playing with key chain or pen top, adjusting hair, lip movement. Nervousness will be judged as well.

3. Right attitude :

With a positive attitude we experience pleasant and happy feelings. This brings brightness to the eyes, more energy, and happiness. Our whole being broadcasts good will, happiness and success. Even our health is affected in a beneficial way. We walk tall, our voice is more powerful, and our body language shows the way we feel.
If we have d right attitude while our interviews we feel confident n the way we present ourselves,will attract the interviewers as well.
So think positive.

4.Listening skills:

Its one of the important factors in interview.We should have active listening when the interviewer is talking.So that we can reply straight to the point.

STOP TALKING – you can’t listen while you are talking DON’T GIVE UP TOO SOON – give person time to say what they want and don’t interrupt CONCENTRATE ON WHAT THE PERSON IS SAYING – actively focus on words, ideas, feelings of the speaker LOOK AT THE OTHER PERSON -even without vision people can tell whether you are facing them or not GIVE SOME VERBAL RESPONSES – such as “Aha” or “Yes” but don’t overdo it LEAVE YOUR ISSUES BEHIND -as they can prevent you from listening well GET RID OF DISTRACTIONS including pen and paper SHARE RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMUNICATION – try to understand and if you don’t, ask for clarification REACT TO IDEAS, NOT TO PERSON – don’t let your reaction to person influence your interpretation of what they say LISTEN TO HOW SOMETHING IS SAID – a person’s attitudes and emotional reactions may be more important than what s/he says in so many words. Listen for personality, likes, dislikes ALLOW PEOPLE TIME AND SPACE TO THINK – avoid temptation to fill silence. If you have time constraint let person know in advance AVOID JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS – people don’t always think, feel, use words in the same way as you do DON’T JUDGMENTS – the person who is speaking to you may not be responding in the way that you would RESIST FEELING THAT YOU HAVE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM -if you are focused on finding answers then you are not listening

5.Interpersonal Skills:

The ability enabling a person to interact positively and work effectively with others. Development of the interpersonal skills of employees is a key goal of training and development initiatives for many companies, and is considered a constructive manner in which to handle office disputes and other personnel issues. These skills include the areas of communication, listening, delegation of tasks and leadership.
A pilot and cabin crew should have a strong interpersonal skills.

6.Handling multiple tasks :

Crew can encounter many different situations whilst working on board an aircraft and must be an excellent team player with the ability to work on their own initiative using quick thinking and organizational skills.
A cabin crew or a cockpit has lot of work on aircraft such a greet passenger,flying aircraft, guide them to their seats, meal service, if emergency on board there are so many things that a aircraft crew has to do.So this is also an important quality that an interviewer looks in a candidate.

7. Awareness between cultures:

Cultural awareness can also be considered as a foundation of communication itself. In order for us to have effective communication, it is essential to have the understanding of why we are the way we are, our beliefs, practices and values that make up our cultural background (self-awareness). Being culturally aware also involves trying to gain information about how we are different from other people or other nationalities(cross-cultural awareness. It is especially essential for cabin attendants to have this skill because they belong to a business that deals with giving quality service to passengers who come from different cultural backgrounds. Your airline may not require you to be fluent in other

languages but they will be extremely impressed by a cockpit or cabin crew member who has taken the time to learn their passengers’ customs and/or traditions.

8. Polite/friendly nature :

An interviewer always looks for a friendly nature in their candidate.I am sure that we all behave polite and friendly with our near and dear ones but in this field we have to be polite to strangers even if they are angry on us. but try to be polite and friendly if the passenger is comfortable.

9.  Information about the organisation that we applied for job :

We should always do some research of the company or organisation that we are applying for. As sometimes the interviewers ask us a question”why you want to join this airline?”
this question is just to check what all you know about this company .So always be ready to answer this question.

10.Information about aviation sector:

In some airlines instead of group discussions there are impromptu speech, which means you will be given a topic and you have to speak on that,no time to think at that time these types of topics come up so we can be prepared for that as well. Or the interviewer may ask us about it to check our knowledge for the industry we want to be with.

11. General Knowledge :

Most of the airlines have the questions based on General Knowledge. Keep reading newspapers and subscribe to aviation blogs for updated information about aviation.

We expect these tips should be helpful in cockpit and cabin crew interview. Best of luck, Happy Landing.

Cabin Crew Interview. Share,comment if you like it.