Sorry if I created confusion Notsovapid! In fact my sentence is not correct. AO was an exception to the permanent residency visa' rule with QF.
Yes, I went through stage II but no, the visa was not the reason for the rejection. I do not speak any of the languages AO required and had somehow few problems related to the relocation to Cairns, due to my husband's profession...
The registration stage at AO was very strict. Candidates not in possess of at least a 2 years work visa could not go further. If my visa had been the problem at that stage, they wouldn't have kept me until stage II.
I however tried several times applying with other QF subsidiaries, as well as MAM and NJS, but without success. I even had a lady from Eastern calling me for an interview but, when I mentioned my visa type, she said she had to withdraw the offer..... sigh!
I finally found the courage to call QF recruitment (and consulted other insiders...) to understand why I could not apply with them, but this seems to be an inflexible condition, due to some problems occured in the past... won't say more about that here 'coz the answer is not official anyway.... and somehow I can appreciate the fact that the Australian national flag carrier prefers to give jobs to Australian citizen.... therefore I won't complain...
Hope to have clarified the visa thing.
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Returning to AO:
It is true the percentage of asian language speakers hired by AO during 2002 was quite high. There where however heaps of "non-language speakers" or people with "below intermediate" levels, - therefore not qualified as language speakers - but they also got offered a later starting date (as flitegirl mentioned earlier).
On the other hand, AO was just starting and, as a matter of fact, needed to select qualified cabin crew for Pursers positions. I got told that several ex-AN people got hired, even if non-language speakers, to cover these positions. (which is a good thing!)
This time around, my guess would be that only language speakers will be selected, and only as junior cabin crew, since internal promotions will happen for language speakers!! ...but as usual this is just a guess....
Mrs. FloatJockey