Hello Folks,
Well, this is my first ever post on PPRuNe. I thought I'd chip-in with my recent experience with the assessment/hiring process at BA for CSA's.
First - I applied via britishairwaysjobs.com on Monday October 4th, around 11pm. I was phoned (at work!) on Tuesday October 5th, at 10am. Quite an impressive response time!
The very nice lady at BA recruitment offered me an interview for Wednesday October 13th. Of course, I accepted, even though I had to 'take a sickie'....
Then, I waited...I wasn't really nervous as such - after all, I had a job, just not in the aviation industry. However, come interview day, the nerves finally kicked in, which I think was a good thing, as it cured my 'over-confidence'!
I turned-up at Hatton Cross tube station at 8.15am and waited for the BA4 bus to take me to 'The Rivers'. Upon arrival at 'The Rivers' recruitment centre, I waited in a queue to see the nice lady at reception. I had to produce my passport, school certificates, two passport photo's and all the reference paperwork that BA had sent in advance. My passport was being renewed at the time, so they asked for my UK driving licence instead.
The nice lady took all my paperwork, then I was told to go and wait in a cafe-type waiting area until I was called. At about 9.20am, I was called with five other people to go into a room and sit around a table. We had to have a group discussion that lasted about 20 minutes or so. It was quite strange, as we just chatted amongst ourselves, about a topic that was given to the group on laminates. There were 5 recruitment people sitting around us, just observing us and taking notes. After the 20 minutes was up, we were all shown back to the waiting area.
Next up for me was the 2-1 interview. I was shown to a little room and introduced to the two interviewers. One guy was from an external recruitment agency and the lady was from BA Recruitment. The interview was actually pretty simple - there were no 'what-if' scenarios', you basically answer questions about your past experiences. It was nice not having to blag anything! The 2-1 interview lasted about 30 minutes, then it was back outside to the waiting area and time for more coffee.
After about 10 minutes or so, 10 of us were called into another classroom and there we sat the 'B.A. Checking test', or 'BAC'. I thought 'checking' meant check-in, but apparently, they're 'checking' our ability to decipher information quickly and methodically. You have 50 questions and 10 minutes to answer all of them, which is a physical impossibility. I managed 38, which wasn't too bad, apparently!
After the test, we all trooped back outside and waited...and waited. At 12.15pm, they called about 40 of us (where the hell everyone else came from, I have no clue...) into a large conference room, where we sat through a presentation from 3 Senior CSA's from Terminal 4.
The entire assessment was over by about 12.45pm and they said they'll take about 10-15 days to get back to us. (Note - the BA website states 5 days for response time)
So, I headed back to work.....
The following Tuesday, I called BA recruitment at 10am for an update. I didn't even give my name, but the person who answered the phone just said "It'll be 2-3 weeks still, don't call back'. How rude, I thought!
10 minutes later, I had a phone call from BA Recruitment! "Hello Mr LHR_777, I'm happy to advise that you've been successful, when can you start?"
I advised that I'd be available on or after November 15th, so the recruitment lady said "Fantastic, there's a course starting November 15th, I'll put you down for that and you'll be assigned to Terminal 4"
Brilliant! Next up was a ton of paperwork, including a trip back to 'The Rivers' to complete paperwork for my airside pass. A week or so later, I received my 'First Steps to Excellence' study pack, which I'm currently working on. I start my 5 weeks training next Monday, at 8am!
I hope this is of some use to anyone reading this!
