Belgrade Open Day
Dear Wannabes, (To Bes, Have Beens, Ares and Fellow Would Have Beens),
I'll try to share my experience about the Open Day on the 29th. This post will be long. With that said:
I arrived to the Hyatt in Belgrade about 15 minutes before the scheduled start at 9 a.m. I traveled from a neighbouring country to attend the OD. I was dressed in business attire, and did my best grooming-wise. There were two nice recruiters there, and 160 candidates of all age and gender. I saw people in smart suits as well as in faded jeans and a sweater... We started at 9 a.m. sharp, we were split to two groups and we were asked to hand in our CVs to one of the two recruiters, when hading in the CVs we got a word with our "assigned" recruiter and were given a number as well as an information sheet about Emirates and a feedback form.
During the entire CV hand in, which lasted about an hour-hour and a half, we were shown recruitment videos. After this the recruiter who took my CV spoke about the company, the job, and living in Dubai. She was great, and she got us involved by asking questions (how many locations Emirates flies to, and what type of aircrafts does the company have etc.) I answered once or twice, I tried not to be pushy, and give opportunity to others. During the time the first recruiter was talking, the other was sorting the CVs out. At aroud 1 p.m. after having watched four recruitment videos and having been told a lot of nice things about the company we were asked to find the note with our number on it from among those placed on the tables at the side of the room. My letter said, that I unfortunately did not get through and that I should try again in 6 months. I was sad, but not devastated. I did, however have the following issues with the entire process:
1. The lady to whom I handed in my CV and who actually heard (and seemed to appreciate) my answers had no say in this stage of the selection process. She was the one who saw all of us, she saw our attitudes, heard our English and had a lot of contact with us, while the other lady was selecting based on the CVs only, thus all of our activity, our manners, level of English, smiles, grooming (or lack thereof) really counted nothing at this point.
2. They built us up during those four hours, selling the company to us to a point where I guess even a flying-phobiac would have given an arm to be an FA for Emirates. Knowing that 90% of those sitting in that room will get dismissed at the end of the day, building them up to let them down is not a good strategy, it is a waste of time and it only leaves a bad taste in many people's mouth. I, for one get over things easily but I saw some girls crying after reading their respective notes, and beleive me, they did not cry from joy. Had they not been shown what fun it is to work with Emirates before being rejected, they might have been a bit less disappointed.
3. The recruiter who did most of the talking said, that if we do not get called in for the next day, we should not get sad, because all the CVs will be taken back to Dubai and gone through once more. The rejection notes, however said, that we should try again in 6 months time, so the decision seemed final.
4. My guess (confirmed by some fellow candidates) is, that people who seem "overqualified" are likely to get rejected because it is assumed, that they will not stay on for long. I understand their motives and fears, but it would be good, if this criteria (maximum desireable level of education) would be made explicit prior to people putting energy in applying and attending open days. Would save lots of time for all parties involved in the process.
My follow up: today I have received an invitation vie e-mail to an upcoming Open Day in Vienna. I am confused, for I do not know now if my CV was reconsidered and I am given another opportunity, or whether this is a late reaction to my on-line application and I should just forget about it.
I tried to be objective, and any criticism here is NOT a "sour grape" reaction to being rejected. I merely shared my observations about the process itself, and despite apparently being out of the game, I do give a big thumbs up to all the wannabes out there, and at the end of the day I admire those two recruiters for their stamina, because they really worked hard during the Open Day.
I wish you all the best, and sorry for the length of this post!
Samya