Qantas cabin crew recruitment

[Biggles_in_Oz]

Was perusing a daily fish wrapper, when I noticed this half-page advert.
Qantas Cabin Crew (UK) Ltd is recruiting for Flight Attendant positions in our London baseblah blah blah and then this sentenceTo be eligible you must hold or be eligible to obtain an EU passport, a UK ancestry visa or a UK citizenship

What puzzles me, is why Qantas would bother advertising in Australia for those UK positions.
Firstly., my perception is that Europe would be an relatively expensive place to operate out of, and secondly, wouldn't the visa/citizenship requirement greatly restrict the number of potential Australian citizens who could apply.

:confused:

[Tainlovestofly]

I already know two people who have gone for and got the job with Qantas UK from my base in the last fortnight. They both have British passports and or UK ancestry. They are both super excited to be moving to the UK.

I think maybe they are advertising in Oz because Qantas is an Australian company? Just because they are advertising in Oz doesn't mean they're not also advertising in other countries as well.

[Going Boeing]

When the London CC base was first set up, the large majority of crew were Australians (existing QF/AO crew) who signed up for a 2 year stint (with an option to extend by 1 year). They provided an experienced core group which was vital in the setup stages. Now those crew have returned to Oz and the current crews are 95% British and due to a high turnover, the members promoted into CSS (22yo) and CSM (25yo) positions are younger & less experienced than they are on the rest of the network. The lack of experience (& high turnover) is one issue that will be hard to rectify while the pay remains low, but the problem of a "British product" on Qantas services can be corrected by having an improved balance of Cabin Crew (wrt their culture). The London base needs more crew as the A380 (aka Dugong) is about to replace the B744 on more of the London services and obviously the number of CC on the Dugong is considerably higher.

[Biggles_in_Oz]

Tainlovestofly Just because they are advertising in Oz doesn't mean they're not also advertising in other countries as wellValid point, but when I tried to use the website that was in the advert, it didn't work., so I tried the alternate International from the UK - Essential Requirements - Qantas Flight Attendants (http://www.flightattendants.qantas.com/International-from-the-UK/Essential-Requirements.aspx)
where it states you need to meet the following minimum criteria to operate within the unique aircraft environment
...
# The legal right to live and work in the UK
# A valid passport with unrestricted access to all Qantas destinations
...
# A demonstrated fluency in at least one of the following priority languages will offer a distinct advantage:
* Mandarin
* Cantonese
* Thai


so., just how many Mandarin/Cantonese/Thai fluent applicants with legal right to work in the UK would there be in Australia to make it worthwhile advertising here ?
I naively thought that they were after people for the UK-Australia route, but the language priority seems to indicate a different route.

Thanks going boeing., I've always thought that Europe was more expensive than Australia (based on my holidays there).

[standard unit]

The Kiwi based crew who have not traditionally been permitted to apply for the London base have recently been given the blessing to do so.

Twenty or so are heading up for the two years.

Whilst they aren't quite Aussies at least they won't be welcoming and farewelling the passengers with " Hi, ya" and "T' rah" :rolleyes:

The Kiwis are likely to be a welcome addition given their experience and work ethic.

[blow.n.gasket]

http://www.planeticketsnow.com/airlines/logo-qantas.gif (http://www.qantas.com.au/)
Makes a mockery of Qantas' own advertising doesn't it :eek:

Maybe time for an update on the corporate slogan?

The Spirit of Corporate Australia?


Downsize, Transmit business, off-shore and screw employees?:ooh:



Got to keep those KPI's stacking up to get that management bonus!

[stubby jumbo]

This is hardly a surprise !

This has been going on for the last 10 years-ever since some "genius" came up with the idea of off shore based crew for LANGUAGE /CULTURAL ....and wait for it....BUSINESS imperatives.
We didn't swallow it then and we don't swallow it now.
*Japanese Based crew(now gone)
*BKK based crew(now gone)
*AKL based crew
*LHR based crew
*QCCA

This is all about the race to the bottom.

The LHR base has been an unmitigated disaster from the customers perspective. Sure, they may give better....."white with one's"- with a longing smile. And yeah....the cost savings brought in some KPI bonuses for the bean counters on QCA/9.

But when Qantas is forced to position SYD based crew into LHR for extended slips as a continuous tour of duty to "support the base".......then you realise things are crook:hmm:
Have a yak to Josh up there......he will give you the facts.....on an aero bridge with no one around.:oh:

As usual its say nothing, do nothing,keep your head down and pray like hell it will all just fix itself and go away.........the Spirit of Australia Way.:zzz:

[AirborneSoon]

So having Oz based crew in LHR for extended slips without a base there would be somehow better? :ugh:

[air bender]

Its surprising that they haven't tried the same thing with pilots

[standard unit]

The extended slips [layovers] that are being referred to are what are required for what is in effect a 56 day trip ex SYD.

Nice rort if you can get it and those Australian based A380 crew are lapping it up.

Allowances and hotel costs for the whole duration except when on an aircraft.

[Taildragger67]

Biggles,

I naively thought that they were after people for the UK-Australia route, but the language priority seems to indicate a different route.

QF flights between the UK and Australia land in places where they speak Mandarin (Singapore), Cantonese (HK) and Thai (Bangkok). Clearly they will try to sell tickets to London in each of those markets.

That said (and without wanting to generalise), I would've thought most people in those markets who can afford an air ticket would be the educated ones who probably speak more than passing English anyway (thus rendering the language preference largely irrelevant)?

EU passport / UK ancestry permit would mean that the applicant could be employed in the UK, on UK conditions, without the employer having to bear the expense & time of sponsorship / transfer.

Re pilots - don't bet they haven't thought about it. However that would be EU crew, operating VH- aircraft on an Australian AOC which may raise other issues.