vacancies for ground staff, newbie!

[sheikah]

hi, i hope this is the right forum....im interested in working as ground staff for a major airline at manchester airport (gulf, qatar, emirates etc). I dont know where to find these vacancies, the only vacancies i can find are for staff in the UAE etc, which doesnt suit what im looking for.

When flying from Manchester I always wondered where these people found vacancies, but i've never dared ask! Can anyone help? Should i just send my CV to the HR/Personnel dept, are these vacancies advertised with the Jobcentre, airport directly etc?

Are these vacancies few and far between?

thanks for any replies

[DeltaIndiaSierraPapa]

Typically speaking you nailed it on the head, these jobs ARE in fact few and far between. Most of the staff that you see in the respective airlines uniforms are in fact handling agent staff in the airlines unis (Virgin, PIA, Etihad, Emirates etc etc...). I know that these airlines also do employ their own staff but these tend to be only in supervisory / management type roles and then it is a case of not what you know but whom....

If you wanted to work directly for an airline on the ground, SAS and bmi are about your only hope at Manchester (AA havent hired in dog's years!). A bit of a word of warning though... SAS handling is on shaky ground at best and whilst the concessions are reasonably ok, the pay is horrendous (bordering on insulting) at bmi. What good are concessions if you cant actually afford to go anywhere?

My suggestion would be to try handling agents as they are the easiest to get into (on the pax service side at least) and there is more potential for career progression. I work for a handling agent, having previously worked for an airline, and I love every minute of it with absolutely NO regrets

Hope that helps!

[sheikah]

thanks for the advice, i think bmi will have to be the way forward, never heard of SAS

these smilies are scary

[32SQDN]

The best route maybe to get a job in passenger services with one of the larger ground handling agents and then apply for positions in load control when they come up.
I know a few ppl who have got in that way as it seems easier to get a job in check=in etc.

[psa-baby]

hi i contacted the airport direct and asked for their recriutment dept got in that way as a passenger service agent i have got to do a 3 week training course though as only worked for travel agent before, but it might be worth a go...