Flight Attendant Friday: Getting Hired

A very popular reader question is about how to break into the industry and get hired as a Flight Attendant. Today’s questions comes from Adrien, who asks:

Q. I’m a 28 year old male based out of Phoenix, Arizona. I’m interested in becoming a flight attendant. I have worked most of my life in the golf industry so I have plenty of customer service experience under my belt. I’m fluent in French so I would love to work for an international airline. I understand that this is a career where you don’t really get to choose what you want at first, however my goal would be to work for an airline that goes to France often. If you could give me some tips on where to start I would appreciate it.

A.  Given the current state of the economy, and current events in general, this is not the best time to try to break into the business.

Most airlines have Flight Attendants on furlough (laid off) or on voluntary staff reduction leaves.  Before any new hiring is done, all those employees would first be recalled.  How long the furlough lasts will impact the likelihood of whether those Flight Attendants will return to flying or if they’ve moved on to other jobs and will leave the airline.

With those cautions in mind, there are some airlines that are hiring, mostly commuters and airlines needing very specific language qualified Flight Attendants.  French isn’t on that list, though.

So what should you do?

Everything in the industry is based on seniority – meaning when you were hired.  Obviously then, you want to get hired as soon as possible.  And, you don’t want to be job hopping, because every time you change airlines you start at the bottom of the seniority list and pay scale.  But – there is nothing wrong with starting out with a commuter airline, seeing how you like the lifestyle and work schedule, and then moving on to a major.  (That’s what I did.)

I’d recommend that you keep an eye on which airlines are hiring.  The Association of Flight Attendants tries to keep an update status page on which airlines are hiring Flight Attendants, and covers both union and non-union carriers.  Do your research and identify your ideal carriers, then follow their hiring information and guidelines.  Most have a jobs section on their website.  As you track the industry, you’ll put yourself in a position to be at the front of the line when hiring begins once again.

My prediction – Absent some major economic change, I doubt there will be hiring by the majors for about a year.  Until and unless schedules and routes pick up, current furlough levels will continue and possibly increase.

Good luck!