CSA Interview

[Bonnatron]

Hi there, I have an interview shortly with BA as a customer service agent, presumably ready for the opening of T5 the positions will be for.

Basically im after any tips on how the day goes, obviosuly group activity and one to one id imagine as the bulk. What kind of activities do they get you to do? Any ideas on what questions they are likely to ask that you may not be expecting?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Platinum206]

Unfortunately I can't help with the specific BA CSA Interview, but having interviewed people for CSA positions at other airlines, one of the most important things is to be smily, happy and show that you really want the job.

This is all fairly standard stuff for any interview but extra important for this position.

You may be asked questions such as how would you deal with an irate/angry passenger. Say something along the lines of; I would always listen to the entire story, find out exactly why the passenger is not happy, and work from there. You cannot solve a problem without knowing what caused it. They love hearing that kinda stuff. Being a CSA is sometimes about being able to resolve problems, the systems and procedures can be taught in the classroom but being a "people person" cannot!

P206

[Bonnatron]

Thanks, thats really useful info! Ive actually bought a new suit and stuff today ready for it as Im quite young at the age of 20 going in, i wasnt sure if it would be more middle aged people going for it.

So at least i'll fit the bill alright, and im definately a people person, been in the customer service line ever since i started working, and spent the last 16 months on the tax credits helpline, so i've already had loads of training and practise at dealing with 'situations' shall we say!

When you did the interviewing, was it quite long? i believe its 4 hours and a quarter there for this particular one. And how sort of long was the one to one interviews when you did it? I get really nervous about those!!

[Platinum206]

No prob.

We didn't actually do any group interviews at all so can't really help you on that one I'm afraid.

One on one, or one of you on two of us as we had it (so we could compare notes after!) Strange how some people, not many, can come across different to two different people.

This normally didn't last much longer than 25-30 mins, and most of that is informal chatting, to 1/ get the person more relaxed so they can be themselves, and 2/ to gauge what that person is really like.

Although it can never be ascertained during the interview what someone is actually like day to day, i.e. not sitting in front of you so upright and proper that they look like they have a sweeping brush up their :mad: but the general chit chat about anything and everything can help.

There is generally the standard questions everyone gets asked too. I our company, the HR person normally asked these, whereas the a Duty Manager or Supervisor or someone senior from that department did the rest.

Again this is only an example, not necessarily the way the BA interview will go, but can't be too dissimiliar (sp?)

Let me know how you get on.

[Bonnatron]

Yeh I will do, useful website this! thats good, i dont mind there being a couple of interviewers there otherwise i find my contact lens start drying up and make my eyes water because im looking in the same place for too long which is annoying!

Coming from Cornwall apposed to a local nearer heathrow that should give a starting point on why I want to move and work for them i guess! I dread that question!

[LHR_777]

I joined BA as a CSA in 2004, and have interviewed at 'The Rivers' many times since then, for various internal positions.

Group interview

You'll be split into groups of 6-10 candidates. You'll have a scenario for the group, probably involving some items on a table, and you'll need to decide what items to use. Half way through, some new information will be given to the group, and it usually buggers things up, because some of the decisions made in the first half will now be contradictory to the information presented in the second half.

An example - first half - a train journey from London to Scotland. You can take 10 items. You have a bunch of different people. You decide to dispose of the (unused) Japanese phrase book, as there are no Japanese tourists on the train.

Second half - the train stops, a group of Japanese tourists board the train. You're now sitting there wishing you'd kept that phrase book!

Here's the key though - whatever items you're left with are irrelevant. This isn't a test of choosing items for a train ride, or whatever the scenario is. It's a test of your team skills, listening, reacting, speaking up, but not shouting-down. Be happy and smiley, get your point across, but be sure to listen to others. A good tip - use the names of others in the group, and use eye contact.

The Interview

It's a standard British Airways 2-to-1 interview. It will last about 45 minutes. There will be two people, usually a BA Customer Service Duty Manager, and a HR person. They'll take it in turns to ask questions. One person will speak for the first half and the other will take notes. They'll swap half-way through.

At the end, you can ask some relevant questions. It's good to have a few prepared, just don't ask about salary at this stage. Shift pay is around £4000, by the way. Ask about shift patterns, training, career progression, stuff like that.

Finally, be yourself, be confident and remember that this is YOUR only opportunity to sell yourself to BA. It's just you and them, so go for it!

Good luck!

[Bonnatron]

Cool thats really good info there, and was actually how it was!

Unfortunately becauseI had to travel up yesterday afternoon about 3pm i didnt see your reply in time, and have only just got home as went into bristol to see a few people on the way back.

We had a presentation first and the bloke doing it was really good, relaxing and bit of a joker so it made it feel alot easier, i did ask some questions and stuff aswell, he wanted soemone to answer in a question from the presentation, and there was the silence, so i volunteered myself, and he goes what was the name of the captain, and obivosuly i didnt kow because he didnt say, and he just goes 'ah damn i was hoping to know so i could use tat next time' or something, made everyone chuckle a bit.

Then I had the group discussion thing, and an observer in each corner of the room, again luckily i did all what you said, keeping eye contact, and i took the lead for a while there aswell.

Next up was the interview, I had the same chap as presentation which i was pleased about and one of the observer people, and he made it alot better, on one question he knew i was struggling a bit on what sort of answer he was looking for and then we went over a bit and i could do it, felt like he did really want to pass me there today, and finally a little test thing, just spot of the difference basically from a ticket to a computer screen.

Then home :) all in all was a good day, maybe even slightly enjoyable! as it was effectively a day out of the office for me! lol.

2 weeks to wait now to see if i did actually pass though!
:D

[Bonnatron]

Cool thats really good info there, and was actually how it was!

Unfortunately becauseI had to travel up yesterday afternoon about 3pm i didnt see your reply in time, and have only just got home as went into bristol to see a few people on the way back.

We had a presentation first and the bloke doing it was really good, relaxing and bit of a joker so it made it feel alot easier, i did ask some questions and stuff aswell, he wanted soemone to answer in a question from the presentation, and there was the silence, so i volunteered myself, and he goes what was the name of the captain, and obivosuly i didnt kow because he didnt say, and he just goes 'ah damn i was hoping to know so i could use tat next time' or something, made everyone chuckle a bit.

Then I had the group discussion thing, and an observer in each corner of the room, again luckily i did all what you said, keeping eye contact, and i took the lead for a while there aswell.

Next up was the interview, I had the same chap as presentation which i was pleased about and one of the observer people, and he made it alot better, on one question he knew i was struggling a bit on what sort of answer he was looking for and then we went over a bit and i could do it, felt like he did really want to pass me there today, and finally a little test thing, just spot of the difference basically from a ticket to a computer screen.

Then home :) all in all was a good day, maybe even slightly enjoyable! as it was effectively a day out of the office for me! lol.

2 weeks to wait now to see if i did actually pass though!
:D

[Crystal-Cat]

Hi, I had this interview too. I'm just confirming how long they're going to take to get back to me whether I've got the job or not. Did you say it was 2 weeks? As the website said 5 days.

[LHR_777]

The website says 5 days. I've known people that find-out the outcome a couple of hours after interview, and others that know after a week or two.

For Customer Service positions at BA, I'd say 5-10 days is pretty normal. It just depends on the workload at Cranebank. Don't despair, you'll hear soon enough.

I just waited 29 days to hear the outcome of an interview. After that length of time, you really think "I blew it". Then you get the magic phone call. ;)

[Bonnatron]

I didnt get the job :( Bloody annoying! After all that i went too aswell galivanting up there. They wouldnt give any reason for not passing either which bugs me, how can you improve on something you have no idea what you did rubbish on?

Crystal-Cat: Good luck, hope you get better news then i did! what date or time didyou go to the interview on?
I was on the 11.45-4 one, last Thursday, 28th Feb

Im Gutted :( and you cant apply for it for another year aswell just to add to the pain.

[Crystal-Cat]

I didn't get it either. Did you phone them up for feedback? I'm presuming the reason why I didn't get it is because I told them I could only work for 16 months as I wanted this job as a placement for part of my degree. I wish I didn't mention it now. :ugh:

[LHR_777]

Sorry to hear that guys. Really sorry. It's sad when people like yourselves, passionate about the role and the industry, make the effort to prep for the interview then don't get the job. I'm really sorry to hear that.

Still, there are always opportunities around the UK airline industry, so it's worth keeping your eyes open for those. Please, do re-apply back to BA in a years' time.

Oh, and don't mention placements or only staying for 16 months. That's a no-no in a BA interview, unless you're on a graduate scheme.

[Bonnatron]

Looks like neither of us made it then, I wonder out of interest who they did take on.

I cant find anything thats as good as that job to go for that isnt sat in a office all day. I literally dont know what I could have done wrong, I know i messed up a question on the interview, but thats due to where i live and we dont have many cultural people down here, so was very hard to give an example for that.

Also on the forms of ID, i took my driving license, but not that paper part, it didnt even cross my mind so i hope its not something as little and stupid as that lost it :(