I fully agree with Bellarina. EK looks for
confident, friendly, approachable people. At my AD, I remember all the people who got cut first were the ones who were nervous, fake, not well groomed, and those that were too quiet or too outspoken. It isn't as hard as it may seem to get the job, and I've been browsing through forums and with my experience with my AD aswell, I have sort of created an idea in my mind of what they might possibly be looking for in crew.
(If you don't want to read everything, the important bits are put in bullet points below. I'm sorry for the long read, but I hope you find it useful)
With all the above in mind, I would advise you to show them that you are a
motivated and a
positive person. If you don't have a job right now and the question "What are you doing right now?" comes up, don't say something like "Nothing at the moment, just looking for work" because it doesn't seem to portray a very motivated image of you. I can give you an example of what I said when they asked me this question(during the height test). At the time I had been unemployed for a whole year looking(barely, because I was a lazy idiot) for a job and I finished studying almost 2 years prior. I could've said "I'm unemployed right now and I have been for a while" or something, but I just said "I finished studying recently and I've been doing odd jobs here and there and I'm looking to work towards a career." The Recruitment Officer looked sort of impressed with my answer and I thought that maybe the fact that I'd not been working would be an issue, but it wasn't and I managed to make it to the next round(it may not have been entirely because I answered this question, but it definitely made me look better).
Be honest when you answer questions. Nothing's worse than lying and being caught out. When I say be honest,
try to not be TOO honest, if you know what I mean. For example; Lets say they ask you a question like "Do you think you handle stress well and give an example?" Now you may be one of those people who get stressed out easily, and if you were fully honest you'd say something like "I get very stressed out and can't sleep because of it" or something along those lines. While you might think that the fact that you're being honest about how serious you take things that it stresses you out, to them it comes off as "They might not be able to take the stress this job would bring." In this case, I'd rather be honest, but leave out the extreme scenarios and pick a time where you've been stressed and handled it well. I can't think of another example just now, and I'm sure there must be better ones, but I hope this makes sense.
You need to show them that you
pay attention to details. This is a vital skill for crew. For example; in your interviews make it a point to learn the names of the other candidates and the Recruiting Officers and use their names whenever you can. Something as simple as this could go a long way. You could also make sure that you keep track of time. I remember the RO's telling us that we needed to finish our discussions in a certain period of time. Making sure that the group is aware of the time we're taking(without seeming too pedantic and overbearing, of course) is also another way to show the RO's that you pay attention.
They also want to make sure you can
follow instructions. If they tell you to tell your group to mention 2 things that interest the person on your left, tell the person on your right very clearly the 2 things required and find out 2 things and if the person elaborates, make sure you point out the 2 things and leave out the unnecessary bits. This is slightly hard because you might think that this may make it seem like you're paying attention and can absorb a lot of information, but if they ask you for something, they want exactly that, nothing more.
Being Friendly is a given. Try to mingle with everyone. Don't be quiet and shy. This isn't the job for you if you are. There was a woman who came in and she was absolutely stunning to look at, very intelligent and spoke very good english for someone from one of them Slavic countries(I don't mean to generalize), but when we were put in groups, she suddenly because very nervous, shy and when asked a question, responded with 1 word answers and didn't come off as if she really wanted to be part of this discussion. She unfortunately got the boot in the first round, and what a shame for she would've been excellent had she not been so reserved.
I think this may have been my downfall aswell since I was asked to come into another AD midway where we had no time to feel comfortable or get to know the people we were in groups with other than their names from the stickers since 1 girl and I were the only 2 to make it through to our AD and there weren't enough of us for the next group discussion. Crew work with new faces everyday and this situation is commonplace, so don't make my mistake and try to dissolve effortlessly into your new team. On the other extreme, there was another chap who knew people who worked in EK as crew and a few members of his own family tried for the CC position before so he came in fully confident that he knew everything and that he would get the job. During the first group discussion, he was very arrogant and sometimes condescending. He would interrupt people occasionally to say "YEAH BUT THIS IS WAY IS BETTER!" and he too, despite all his confidence got the boot, and I can only assume it was because he behaved atrociously for someone who might possibly be crew! He also seemed to be very self absorbed and focused on himself and as mentioned before, the "I'm right you're wrong" kind of attitude, which brings me to my next point.
Teamwork is very important, so when in a group discussion, NEVER EVER think that your answer is better and NEVER EVER disagree with anything that clashes with your opinions. Every bit of input is important, and usually the answer isn't important but how you act.
Clearly state your answers and NEVER interrupt anyone. Of course this happens by accident, but if you notice yourself doing this, apologize and ask them to continue. If you're in a situation where an idea suggested is absolutely retarded, for example; During my AD we were asked to discuss 2 destinations EK should fly to that it doesn't already and why they should. Someone suggested "Antarctica"...Why? I don't know, her explanation was "Because there it is very cold and the icebergs are everywhere and penguins." This was obviously a very silly location and explanation(everybody was in awe and it went awkwardly quiet for a second) and as stupid as it was, I piped in saying "That's a brilliant idea, but may I suggest a place like Barcelona instead? What do you guys think?" This way I didn't make the other person feel stupid or seem to be to the rest of the group, but suggested something else instead. This will keep your team motivated and encourage others to speak up as well as keep that silly person thinking about something else they could offer instead of how embarrassed they feel because their silly answers suddenly hit home.
Other than this, all you need to do is
smile like you never smiled before.
Look sharp and make sure you
come well prepared. One guy came to the interview slouching and he had drool stains on corners of his lips(or maybe that's just how his skin was??? I'm not so sure), his suit looked as if it had just been rolled out of a ball and he had a really silly distracting label on the back that looked very very tacky. This chap didn't seem very motivated at all and it was very obvious. Don't forget the importance of
good posture aswell. It makes you seem so much more motivated and confident.
Do a bit of
research before hand so you can
ask intelligent questions, unlike one person during my AD who asked "How many times does EK fly to *his home country* because I can't go back and forth so many times and also, how many times can we leave the plane in one day"...seriously... - I might add that this person also got the boot first round. Make sure the RO's know that you know how prestigious EK is with their safety record, their awards for service, their multicultural team, their rapid growth, etc. If you check some news about EK, it might also help and show them that you are on beat with everything happening with EK.
You also need to
show them why they need you, not why they're good for you. This doesn't mean you avoid mentioning how great the perks are, or the travel opportunities are, or whatever, just don't dwell on that without putting in why you are good for them in the process.
Don't go in with some sort of strategy and rehearse everything beforehand because you might come to a point out of the script and it might be your downfall, so just keep these things in mind, but
be comfortable,
be yourself and try to
enjoy the experience. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot easier to
be genuine this way. I don't know what to expect for the FI since I have only gotten to round 3 of the AD's, but the same should apply. Just remember to look good, be friendly and SMILE.
EDIT: If you want to find some more information on the FI's jump back to page 14(or read the post here: http://www.pprune.org/6531362-post273.html)
So lets review and, for those "tl;dr" people here's the whole thing in a nutshell:
- EK usually looks for confident, friendly, approachable people
- Show them that you are a motivated and a positive person
- Be honest but try to not be TOO honest(don't lie, just avoid any unnecessary details which makes you look bad)
- Pay attention to details
- Follow instructions
- Be Friendly
- Teamwork is very important
- Clearly state your answers
- NEVER EVER think that your answer is better and NEVER EVER disagree with anything that clashes with your opinions and NEVER interrupt anyone!
- Look sharp
- Come well prepared
- Don't forget the importance of good posture
- Do a bit of research
- Ask intelligent questions
- Show them why they need you
- Don't go in with some sort of strategy and rehearse everything beforehand
- Be genuine
- Be comfortable, be yourself and try to enjoy the experience
- Most importantly; don't forget to SMILE!
That's pretty much all you should need to keep in mind going into an AD. Please add more if you feel I missed anything out, or correct me if I'm wrong, after all, this is only what I assume judging from other people's and my own experience with the AD's.
Good luck and I hope this helps!