Hello Emirates Wannabes
I attended an OD back in summer of last year. I got to the final interview and unfortunately didn't make the cut this time around. I'm anxiously waiting for August 2011 to try again and I am very excited.
I just wanted to say that I prepared for my interview for about three months. I bought a new suit, did my nails and hair, brought a big smile to the interview the entire time. I had my resume on resume paper and a leather bound folder to keep it in even! I had everything prepared to give to the recruiter at the FI so I wouldn't need to mail anything and made sure my pictures and passport photos were to standard. The entire OD/AD I felt very confident. I seemed to have more research done than most of the other applicants. I read this forum back to front and wrote and practiced all the FI interview questions mentioned on here.
I feel like I am an attractive female with the personality Emirates is looking for. However, when it was time for my Final Interview, I had a very awkward session with my recruiter. She was very hard to talk with and very off putting. There were long periods of silence while she was writing and I feel like I was giving off an awkward vibe. She never smiled or looked me in the eye and asked very vague and confusing questions about my work experience and kept asking me to go into more and more detail. She seemed to be having a very bad, stressful day. I tried very hard to ease the situation and be comfortable but she didn't seem to budge. My interview lasted almost 2 hours and by the end I wasn't very happy with the result. My interview mates who had the
other recruiter (they split up our group, so instead of interviewing with both of them we only had one) said she was friendly and really personable and they all had only 30-45 minute interviews and all made the cut. Me and two other girls that had my interviewer got rejection emails.
I understand that I may not have met the qualifications for the Cabin Crew, however I can't help but feeling I had a stint of bad luck getting this recruiter on this day. Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, please PM me because I would like to have some insight on my next interview. I'm still feeling a bit down about not getting the job this go around.
Some of my downfalls that I feel like may have also contributed to my failed FI:
- My lipstick was not red enough - it was more of a natural color.
- I may have been too confident.
- I had to lie through my teeth about one of my answers because I didn't have an answer for her question.
- I was smiling with teeth during the entire time she was writing (which were LONG periods of time), which may have given off a being 'fake' impression.
- My resume was too long with too much detail- I'm planning on simplifying it next time.
- She mentioned my resume resembled another applicant's resume. I had used to CV builder from Microsoft Word.
- When she asked if I had any questions, I asked her some questions about her job, and the employee living. I should have definitely not touched the topic of her job considering it seemed like she was having a terrible day.
Anyone have any feedback for any of those?
I'm also planning on the next OD/AD to wear something different besides my skirt suit and hair pulled back for the first day and save my suit for the FI. I think it might give off the impression that I'm trying to be myself, more so than someone that reads the forums about the job all day.
I am planning on attending an Air and Hospitality training college near where I live. It's a 5 month course and some investment required but I hope it gives me a little experience into the industry. As of now I only have waitressing and customer service experience. Does anyone know if Emirates considers these schools while hiring?
I have one more question: I am an American female and I don't speak any additional languages besides English. I am under the impression that there aren't many Americans living in Dubai right now and working for Emirates. I noticed that out of the 9 people in my interview, the 3 American girls got rejection emails (along with a couple others that were not American). My question is if I made it to the Final Interview, is the end result purely based on my performance then? or am I going to have more of a challenge because I am an American female? I am not going to give up on this job because I want it more than anything! Thank you for any insight and I hope my experience helps others!