recruitment day in Sydney on 2 June
Hey all,
I recently attended the recruitment open day in Sydney (Saturday 2 June) and I just wanted to post my observations. I have actually worked in human resources and personnel recruitment for some 12 years, and I actually attended the Sydney open day, not because I want a job with Emirates, but because I know a couple of people who went along in Melbourne, and because I was interested to learn how a company like Emirates would conduct an open day. Before going I also read a lot of the posts on this forum...
Now, let me say this at the outset. I do not believe that this is an effective or fair means (for either the company or the individuals) to conduct a meaningful recruitment process.
At Sydney, some 300 men and women, approximately 50/50 turned up. The group was so large it was split into two. The second group being asked to wait until the first group was finished. There was a description of life in Dubai, a little bit about the recruitment process and an attempt to show a video on the airline (but the equipment did not work). Then people went in order of seating to either one of the two recruiters to hand over their CV. Before this all people under 21 or without documentation were asked to leave. The whole thing for each group took about 2 -2 1/2 hours.
Firstly, the internet site said that places were limited so book a place. However, on the day it seems it was not necessary to have booked. The recruiters (a New Zealand woman and South African woman) even stated their surprise at the number that had turned up ! In fact, there seemed to be no point in registering for the open day and submitting the CV online. Given this, they should not have been surprised at the numbers - and what the purpose is of submitting a CV online and registering is anyone's guess - it seemed to have no bearing on the outcome.
In fact, even though each candidate handed in their CV personally, there was no way that the two recruiters were going to be able to assess properly each individual according to Emirate's criteria and their CVs, given that each recruiter could only have obtained the most superficial impression of each candidate in the twenty seconds each had to present their CV, and given the fact that there were over 300 people present (even if they had finished the general proceedings at 2pm and intended to call everyone by 6 pm - this would not give enough time to peruse each CV in any meaningful way). I should say that if anyone says there is any meaningful ojective criteria by which to assess people in these circumstances, then they are wrong. If the criteria were simply that a person appears neat, well dressed, smiles, is mature, seems to be a team player, and seems to have a nice personality, then on superficial viewing as was only possible on the open day, this would have meant nearly everyone there! There was just no opportunity for either recruiter to assess those present fairly and equally in any meaningful way.
In fact, I was watching the procedure (when people went to present their CV) very closely. I noted that there were a few really outstanding applicants who seemed to fit in with the general criteria outlined by the recruiters (although they were not very specific in describing the criteria). For example (and there are some other examples I could cite), one guy in particular looked good, presented himself very well (appeared with an open friendly manner - no arrogance), spoke excellent English and (I later discovered) spoke Arabic fluently (they said they were desperate for Arabic speakers - and in my discussions, he was about the only one there who could). He also appeared friendly to other people present. In fact, I fly Emirates business class frequently, and he seemed to fit perfectly the image of cabin crew I have dealt with. However, when he went to the recruiter (the SA woman) to hand over his CV, I noted that she did not even look at him, and when she did so, she only gave him a forced, highly artifical smile. This she did time after time - and it was evident to me that she did not give most people a chance. It was plain to me that this recruiter was making her choice based on nothing more than how the individual approached the table and whether she liked 'something' about them - and believe me, she was deciding her pool of applicants then and there! (I met this guy after the session and got his phone number (among some others there) to find out whether they were successful in this first round - and suprisingly he was not!). This happened with many of those I thought would have been sure to be included in the next day's session.
What all this means is this - the first round (whether a person gets through to the second day when the group session/ interviews/ tests are conducted i.e., the real recruitment process) is entirely subjective to the recruiter - whether there is something about you that the recruiter just happens to like - this determines whether you get an invite to come back the next day. It seems that the decision is actually made when you approach the recruiter to hand over your CV. It makes no difference whether you smile or not, whether you chatted nicely to the recruiter or not, whether you ask questions of the recruiters or answer questions... if she does not like you, then forget it for another six months...
I know this because of my own experience in recruitment - as I said, given they way the day was conducted it was not possible to undertake any meaningul assessment of all those present other than on subjective criteria. So what I would say to you all is this - dress nicely, smile naturally, be yourself... if you dont get through on the first day, dont despair, it probably does not mean that you were not an excellent candidate or that you are someone that Emirates would not have wanted had they actually got to do a proper assessment of you and your skills.
One more thing, I note that many people stated how friendly the recruiters were at various open days. This was NOT the case at Sydney. While the New Zealand recruiter did appear to be genuinely amicable, the South African looked distinctly unhappy, as though she did not want to be there - when she smiled it was the most forced (and unfriendly) attempt that I have seen. I actually felt sorry for anyone who had to approach her with their CV !
As I said, I dont think that the open day was an example of an efficient or fair process. Emirates would be better to stop wasting everybodies time (including their own) and to undertake a more meaningful process that would probably give them better results - for instance, taking 50 or 60 candidates who registered on the internet and restricting the actual recruitment procedures (such as group activities etc) to them. At least there would be a chance to assess a person based on their CV with some actual criteria; and in my experience they would get just as many good applicants this way then they would from an entirely subjective decision randomly made by a recruiter in a process that, frankly, treated most of the applicants like cattle and just wasted their time. All the more the pity since I could see the real effort that most of the candidates had gone to in presenting themselves well. The fact that the present system is not giving Emirates good candidates is proved by the fact that the recruiter said that most Australians did not stay in the job more than a few months ! and I can assure them this is not because Australians are not hard workers, do not behave professionally or becuase they find life in Dubai too hard... it is simply that the process does not actually identify sincere mature candidates who are trully interested in the job.
Sorry for the length of this... I hope it is somewhat helpful to you all...
Regards
C.