SWISS interview

[Floaty]

Looking for info regarding SWISS c.c. selection process. Any help highly appreciated!!!... Interview date November 20th.
Thanks in advance.

Mrs. FloatJockey :D

[nickmelb]

good luck floaty!!!

get em tiger:):p

[ksd333]

Hi Floaty,
i hope this message finds you well, sorry for lack of contact recently but new job, fulltime, kids, husband, its all been hectic lately. i hope you have great success in europe and would love to see you again one day.
ciao, keep in touch xxx:D

[Floaty]

Hello and thanks, friends from Oz! :D
I've been quite busy since I touched base (base=a cupboard in the world) and I already had a few surprises:
- a call from SWISS (followed by a free ticket in the mail with a confirmation letter)
- an e-mail for a group interview with BRITANNIA this week-end in London (God bless Easyjet and its low fares!! Mmmuuuaaah!)
- and I still have 3 application forms to fill in, sitting on my desk since mid October (JMC, GB AIRWAYS and BMI)... :D What to say? Let's hope I don't make a mess as usual and sit at the wrong table or worse, turn up to the wrong interview at the wrong time!!!.... doh! :eek: :eek: :D We'll see what comes out!

BY THE WAY, I RENEW MY (-distressed) CALL FOR ANYONE ABLE TO HELP WITH INTERVIEW TIPS CONCERNING SWISS (which worries me the most 'coz nobody seems to know anything about it. Uh!?)

Otherwise, I miss Oz and all the fantastic friends (and drinking buddies) I left behind... Last night, on the net, hubbie and I discovered a forum for aussies in Switzerland. We got in touch with the Webmaster and guess what? His wife is a flight attendant here! This is a small small world! Anyway, we ended up drinking VB at the only Aussie pub in Zurich! (A bit disgusted to find Emu, Crocco and Skippy on the menu though! ... and quite upset by the bill: 7 CHF / 8 AUD per can... but in life some stuff is priceless, isn't it? ...now hubbie can finally quit calling me "cheap date"!! :D )

Take care! I'll keep you informed about the outcomes...

Mrs. FloatJockey

[kjay]

Hi Floaty

Good to see you back, dont know anything about swiss cc but just wanted to wish you all the best in europe.

Keep us informed of your progress.

Cheers:)

[pilot007]

HI Floaty!

I hope its not too late... just drop me a line

[email protected] and I'll try to get you some info.

C U over the clouds.

[nickmelb]

floaty!

good luck....im in your old town for a few days...

let us know how u go cheers :)

[DASHSYD]

Ms. Floatjockey,

My partner has just come out of FA training with SWISS (Airbus - Europe). I shall ask him next time about the interviews...

Training is about four weeks - if you have one official language (i.e. German or French) in addition to English you will most likely be placed on the Crossair fleet. Airbus graduates usually have numerous languages behind them.

I will be leaving for ZRH next week - can you tell me where this Australian pub is?

[cloud nine]

Best of luck Floaty, I'll have my fingers crossed for you.

DASHSYD.....lucky you! Going to ZRH, havent seen you around the crew room for a while. Enjoy your holiday. ;)

[Floaty]

DahsSyd, you have a private message. Check your mail.
The Aussie pub is called The Outback Lodge, Australia Bar & Food House, Stadelhoferstrasse 18 (close to Bellevue tram station), Zurich. Ph. (41)- (01)-252 15 75. www.outback-lodge.ch

Thanks Nick, Cloud9, ksd333 and kayj! I returned this morning from London Gatwick and my interview with Britannia went veddy veddy well! Very relaxed atmosphere, nice chaps, ugly uniform... I scored a stage 2 (panel interview) in the afternoon and missed my flight in the evening... WHO CARES! I'M HAPPY! We were 7 by the end of the day... don't know the numbers but they said something like: "If we like all of you, we take all of you, if we don't like anyone, we won't take anyone!"... Uh? :confused:
The only thing that really really suxxs about them? During training, you don't get paid and you have to pay for your accomodation the last 3 weeks... Pfiuh! That means you waste your first month salary in expenses for your course... then you're employed for 6 month... then who knows? Bah! Whatever!
Now I'll have to be patient for 3 weeks and check the mail with dreadful anxiety every day! I hate that! :eek:

Now I've to get ready for the interview with SWISS! Btw, I found out today that the interview date is the 27th of November and not the 20th... Gotta call pilot007 (got your e-mail! Thks!)...

Miss you all!

Mrs. FloatJockey

[blue cheese]

Floaty,

"If we like all of you, we take all of you, if we don't like anyone, we won't take anyone!"...

Yeah yeah... the interviewer from EK said the same thing to 40 of us... but only 10 manage hold on to our seats! :( :(

Good luck with your interviews.

[dejvu]

YES YESS!!!!!!!!!!

the interviewers of EK said the same thing in hongkong as well!~~they said their manager didnt set a limit of recruiting people

so horrible they only took 3 out of 600 applicants!!!!!!!! and for both of them couldnt speak good english...my god...

if we like all of you , we take all of you, if we dont like any of you, we wont take any of you


sucha bulls*it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vdd]

Hello Mrs Floaty

Great to see you back on Pprune!

All the best with Britannia and Swiss - you know that I'll have my fingers crossed for you!

I've applied to QF and I received "the call" - thank god! Now like the other Ppruners am waiting (patiently, but wish the days would go faster!) to see if I make it to the next stage!

Will let you know.

Take care
vdd:D

[Floaty]

I had to cancel my previous message 'coz for the first time ever (...or the third...) I was sooo furious I lost control and wrote heaps of things that I regretted afterwards... :(

Just a few points:
- SWISS is about to fire 300 to 400 people of which a third are pilots... therefore another third will be cabin crew :(
- interviews are going on anyway :confused:
- we were told that the market fluctuates enormously therefore, when the company will start hiring again, probabily around may next year, we will be considered for the position... (try to say that to the people you fire!!!...)
- SWISS rebirth happened because of Swiss tax payers and the government wanting to rescue their national airline, however 90 percent of candidates were French... Swiss stated many times in the last few months that the company would have privileged Swiss citizen... bah!

During the interview, we had to complete a general knowledge test, which had questions like "which of these mountains is in Switzerland?" (I didn't recognize any of them... all the names were spelled in Swiss-German, which is a dialect), put together countries and airlines (where QANTAS was spelled Quantas...) and mention in which city is the Eiffel Tower located... eeeeehhhhh???!!?? What is this??? A joke??
The rest of the test was related to languages. A huuuuuuuge test in German, 30 questions of grammar and 20 of comprehension and synonyms... while on my application I clearly mentioned I was NOT fluent in German. Then we had to write half to one page about a current event in English...

I am a bit surprised (and disappointed) that none of the excersises we did were involving a group discussion or our previous customer service. Everything was focused on language knowledge...

I then had a 20 minutes interview with a recruiter (very nice lady). She asked a couple of irrelevant questions in french, then english, italian and finally german... since the questions were leading us nowhere, I asked her if the aim was to test my languages... and she nodded.
I went straight to the point: since my German is no good, what are my chances?? Aaaahhh... The answer was something like "you should start right now an intensive course of German conversation and come back in May for a test. At that stage we can offer you the position and you would be based in Zurich, where you can fly better types of aircraft and have a quicker and better carrier (on long-haul after a year)"...

The old story... learn German or get lost! I bet people from the Swiss-french and Swiss-italian part will understand what I am talking about, here... the old conflict that never dies! Talk about a rebirth!! My neck! It is not enough to be fluent in French, Italian and English... even if was to speak Cantonese, Russian, Arabic and Japanese as well I wouldn't be hired! And then you fly long haul to Asia on their MD11 to find out that "Brot" and "bread" is pronounced the same way... by shaking the bun under your nose... :D

Bah! What was I doing there? I don't remember...

Mrs. FloatJockey

[Floaty]

...yeah... I like this version better... :D

[flightbunny]

sorry to hear about the run around with SWISS....

but i'm sure you'll get something else..

just wanted to let u know that Virigin Atlantic is looking for juinor f/a's as long as you are btw 18-33..

u might want to give it a try.

also another good web site for airline jobs in europe is

www.aviationjobsearch.com


might want to take a look at that..there is a job going with Continental airlines in zurich, but it is for airport agents/concierge


anyway good luck with all your interviews!!!!

[Xenia]

Hi Mr. Floaty :)
Wow ... hope you feel better now after you wrote all that.
Ahem ... regarding the german bit ... I posted about it before, I thought you knew about it honey :(
Anyway, good luck in your job hunting my dear. Keep us updated and .... let's move the Eiffel Tower http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/MexWave.gif
Vive la France de Flyblue http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/francais.gif

Ciao http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/onewing.gif

[Floaty]

Well, believe it or not, I got a positive answer from SWISS...

Funny enough, the letter mentions "congratulations... however..."!

Can't write the whole thing down but in a few words, it says that I got the job, but not now because there is no job!! http://www.smilies.nl/sad/nixweiss.gif
So, I'm in a waiting list.... right... then it says maybe in March, if the companies starts hiring again (they still have to fire...). Bah!

On top of that, they also mention I should in the meantime work on my German so that I could receive a position with better career opportunities... and that I should call a specific number in a few month time, when I am ready to undergo another German test!!!!....... So... is this another condition BEFORE I get the job? http://www.smilies.nl/tales/grdmartien.gif

LONG STORY SHORT: WAS I SUCCESSFUL OR N O T ???? Shall I celebrate with bubbly stuff or simply stuff myself with chocolate brownies till I vomit and sink my frustration in Vodka-Cranberrie??

By the way, this was the only interview I really hated and I would happily refuse this "offer" if ONLY I had another option coming out of my 9 interviews..... buuuuuu-huuuuuuuu......... :( :(

Mrs. FloatJockey

http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/stick.gif

[kjay]

Sheesh nothing like getting the run around.
Id go the whole hog as fair as the bubbly and chocolates are concerened.

Hope something positive comes out of this for you.

Cheers Kjay:confused:

[DASHSYD]

Gruezi Floaty!

Firstly I must apologise about not getting back to you with tips for the interview - but you obviously didn't need help anyway...CONGRATULATIONS!

I was interested to read of your experience with LX. A friend of mine in SYD received his offer in the same fashion. He has an EU passport, speaks the language of that country but has hardly any knowledge of German. He's learning and very keen mind you, but it's not conversational. I speak German and can hold a conversation beyond simple textbook stuff, but still cannot understand TV, radio or the newspaper properly. I would doubt my ability to gain a position with LX based on this, so I have been wondering how my friend got the job. You on the other hand should not have to speak German if you have French and Italian - the website stated either French/German but if you want a ZRH base I suppose you will have to improve your German. It sounds like you have a knack for languages so I'm sure you won't find it too hard. Are there any openings for GVA or LUG bases? At the end of the day though the official onboard and company language is English (you'll be pressed to find any FA manual in German, trust me!).

I just flew SWISS home this week and got chatting to the purser. He said that one should wait till about May before accepting a position as the company is still in a shaky phase. My partner has just started with the airline and he says the same - he cannot understand why they still interview if they plan to fire.

With regards to this letter just accept it as the company's intention to hire you. My partner hadn't even received a contract with his start date - which means that he could have turned up and the company say that he wasn't needed. As a Swiss himself he admitted this was an unfair and inconsiderate practise. My Australian friend has the same condition attached to his offer - that he improve his German.

I'd love to work for them as they have a real network etc (don't get me going about Qantas at the moment...) but if you're keen on learning German, Switzerland is not the place. Dialect is not even similar to Hochdeutsch and you won't get much practise in onboard either. That's the only thing holding me back from applying. Floaty, whatever you decide I wish you luck. My advice is just to be very careful with SWISS - I'm sure they have the right intentions as a great airline, but staff numbers will be affected by how well they get themselves out of their financial mess (remember that the new SWISS was funded entirely by taxpayers and that's a sore point for the Swiss at present as I'm sure you'd know).

Let us know...tschüs!!!

[Floaty]

Thanks Dashsyd!

A petty we didn't have a chance to meet earlier, when I was living in SYD! We could have practised Schwiezerduetsch together :D And congratulations both to your partner and your friend! Hope to catch up one day. ;)

Definitely a good idea improving my German at this stage, however I'll have to do it in Zurich 'coz I don't pay rent there! If I have no luck with all my interviews in Britain (another one coming up in January with GB airways btw) then I'll have to seriously work on learning this bloody language! Maybe taking lessons in the morning and making friends in the afternoon is the way to go... worse case scenario, if Swiss withdraw their offer, I'll have one more language and no job! I've seen worse...

At this stage, SWISS seem to be offering future positions in Zurich or Basel only. To say the truth, I speak ITA/FRE/ENG and I shouldn't have to be fluent in German in order to fly for Swiss 'coz if things were going better for them, I could have been based in the french or italian part, but from what they said during the interview, there is a long waiting list for GVA and LGA based crew... and with the cuts currently taking place, it will get worse and worse.
Secondly, I mentioned during the personal interview that I am interested in L-H and not really in S-H. In that case, I would have to live in Zurich because it is their international airport (even if for the first year I would have to fly short-haul only... rules are rules!). Yeah, it all makes sense somehow...

...still I feel bad and guilty writing back saying "thank youuuu for the no job" knowing that others (probabily more qualified and better paid) are currently getting sacked!!!... Not pretty, tsk tsk tsk! :(

You say: "the official onboard and company language is english".
This is unfortunately incorrect. I thought so as well and asked... I got replied: "The official company language is German. German after all is the first official language in Switzerland and the headoffice is in a german-speaking area of Switzerland. Courses for cabin crew are given in German and/or English". Blablabla...

If you have recently flown with Swiss, you might have noticed that onboard, the staff speak Swiss-german together, but the announcements are made in both German and English. Only a few of them have English knowledge to a conversational level... not a pretty picture... To my opinion, as long as you speak Swiss-german and waffle 3 words in English and French, you're in! Grr...
Never mind... not worth it...

What about you? Did you find the Outback in Zurich? Did you have a skippy steak?? :D :D How was your trip over here? Send me a private message if you wish, so that we can goss a bit! :rolleyes:

ciao for now!

Mrs. FloatJockey

[DASHSYD]

Hi Floaty,

That's strange re the official language - yes, German is the predominant language in Switzerland but I read in crew newsletters that the official language of communication is English and, for example, all on board reports etc are to be submitted in English, not German. I also read their manuals and they are in English - I'm not sure that any are published in German. I can check though...my other half says that if an Italian Swiss doesn't speak German let's say, there's no point printing a documents auf Deutsch. As everyone is expected to know English they have deemed IT to be the language of communication. I'll find out more too...

I tried this private message thing but it won't work...ZRH was fun - I stay in Adliswil when I'm there. Didn't got to the Australian bar you mentioned, but did go several times to the Wings Airline Bar and Lounge opposite the Rathaus almost...everything is served on Swissair crockery and the cutlery is ex-SR too! Cool place...maybe you know of it...it was set up by former SR crew. Wanted to go to the sale of all the SR equipment but missed out this time again (bit difficult to bring a trolley home to play with!). Don't know when my next trip will be but I do feel very much at home in Zurich.

Mail me on [email protected] and we can chat later,

Tschues!