FA Interview Prep
What can you bring to this company
I went off of my patience as being my best quality and you have to have a lot of patience with this job. Being patient, being on time, being able to work with other people and different types of people
Why do you think you would a good fit for this position?What would make you an ideal our FA? Name 3 adjectives that describe why you would be a good fit for a FA? Why would you be a good addition to our airline? 3 of your biggest strength that make you stand out among other applicants. Tell me why you think you are a good candidate to be a FA?
Do you know everything about the company ..Have you research about the company. Do you know what is the latest trend in the company or what is the mission or the vision statement of company so that's the basic understanding that you need to be able to answer this question . Do you know what you are about to get into . And then how you actually stand fit if they hire you today for the role of the FA or for any role that you are applying in the company. Talk about your skills and your experience. Kind of gel them together with the mission and the vision of the company so you want to bring forth your passion your dedication towards what you are applying for you want to make you a suitable candidate for this particular job and then kind of tie it up with what the company is all about so it becomes like a whole complete circle when you are trying to tell them. I had great communication skills and in the past I have been told by my customers and clients that I have always exceeded and their expectations and that is what I look forward to do when I become a FA .
What are your career goals?what are you most proud of in your career? What is one of your career success? Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
Being a FA is very challenging job in itself you will be traveling the world you will be sitting away from your family so what you really need to basically sure the airline interviewers in this particular answer is that one you are passionate to do your job second you are here for the long term because they could invest a lot of time in training you. They really want to know whether you have it in you to stay with them for a long duration of time they basically want to know whether you have any commitments from here so what you really want sure that is basically how passionate you are to be in this industry and how do you see yourself growing in this industry. You don't free to talk about you see yourself going to another stage to begin with you will put your best food forward to learn to make sure that all your colleagues are happy with you, Are you passionately satisfied with you and of course once you know your job are equals your next step would be to try and fo beyond the expected level of service. So that's like one level up from what you already exist that what you already should be doing as part of your service so the nest step would be that I would become better I will enroll in course i will make myself a bit better and then from there on you can also talk about our work toward promotion if there is an opportunity in 5 years a while over the company but the main thing that you need to make them realizes that you are here to stay for long and you are not here for short term. It's really about how you see yourself with them in 5 years.
What are 3 characteristics that a best customer service should have? what is your philosophy on customer service and how do you apply this?
Customer service is not just about giving people or your customers or your passengers what they need. It's really about ensuring that they are happy at the end of the day so whenever there would be a customer or a passenger who is difficult who is complaining or is upset I personally loved to be there because I wanted to make sure that we can ensure with whatever we cam do to to make sure at the end of the day that this person leaves the aircraft happily or even with my other customer service experience that I had I always wanted to make sure that the interaction ends in such a way that the customer remains the customer and he wants to come back and fly with us or come back and take the service from us.
How to handle angry customers in-flight
Dealing with customers who are upset or difficult. Don't think of just taking care of the problem. Think of a long term relationship that you want to build with your customers so you want to provide like an end-to-end service recovery when it comes to handling these kind of customers or passengers. Step 1: STRESS NOT: what we really need to realize this when the person on the other side is angry when the person on the other side is complaining or is already stressed out, the only thing that we don't want to do is get stressed out from that situation. I don't get angry I don't get upset. I have to remain calm so that's the first and the most important thing you need to remain. Don't take any of this personally. You need to remain professional at all time because that's when you will be able to think and understand what you can do next based on what is the situation that you are facing. Step 2: OPEN YOUR EYES AND EARS: one of the first things that we always want to do is basically either jump in to give our defense or we want to basically jump in to find a solution but i trust me that is not one of the first things that you want to do. What you really want to do is open your eyes and ears to basically listen to your customer. Let them finish what they are saying. When s customer is angry and they want to go on and on and on but they can not be going on taking nonstop for hours and hours. They probably be just went in out for a few minutes so allow them to vent when they are venting out don't just listen from your ears but observe with your eyes as well. Look at their body language because you might want to adjust your body language according to their body language a little bit if the passenger is really angry and if you keep standing in a Thor ative position and keep listening to your customer then this is not gonna help so what you want to do in that situation is you might want to go down a little bit kneel down a little bit go down to their eye level to be able to listen to what they are saying . So these are some small things that you might want to do when it comes to basically just observing with your eyes and ears as to what the passenger is saying making them just feel that you are basically listening to them. Step3. LEARN APOLOGIZE GRACEFULLY AND GENUINELY: This is really important. A lot of times when passengers or customers are upset we always feel why should I say sorry this is not my fault. But saying sorry genuinely is very important. making the customer feel that at the end of the day even if it's not my job even if it wasn't my responsibility I am the one who's representing my airline my industry my company at this point in time our organization at this point in tine so I am here apologizing to you gracefully and genuinely but I am sorry for the inconvenience that in cost to you. I am really sorry that you felt this way . I'm really sorry that you had to go through this now. I understand that the passenger or the customer might not be rational at all times . You are not basically telling them or by saying sorry that you accept whatever he's saying is right all that you are trying to tell them is that whatever inconvenience has been caused to you I do apologize for it on behalf of my organization so that I am here to tell you what I can do for you. step 4: UNDERSTAND: What exactly is the customer issue. It is not always the problem that instigate your customers it could be a lot of things that could be involved so asking questions is how you will be able to understand what is going on with this passenger or customer. Trying to understand the passengers concerns by asking him. I am not really offering a solution but I am asked questions to basically understand what could be the passengers concern. EXAMPLE: If a passengers tells you I am really upset because you guys didn't give me an upgrade one of my first few questions would be "May I check with you who did you approach for the upgrade? May I understand when did you try and do the upgrade? so I have enough information to be able to give him an alternative give him a solution so that is what you need you to do guys you need to understand by asking questions exactly what is the real concern of your passenger or your customer. Step 5: TIME TO RESOLVE: Instead of jumping to those solutions remember when you ask questions and make them feel that you genuinely care for them you are not just here to give them solutions or you are not just here to you know approach your supervisor or your manager but you generally want to try that is why you are asking questions. You would want to go ahead and proceed with giving them solutions or giving them the resolution. Talk to supervisor or colleague and then what the alternatives that we have in the galley or what exactly can we make using some meals from business class to be able to accede to passengers request of wanting to eat vegetarian food or what can we get from the snacks cart that you know will be okay this passenger to eat then I will go ahead and tell the passenger that I completely understand because of your religious concerns that you would like to have a vegetarian food. I really appreciate that you are okay to be Western vegetarian. I am gonna go ahead and try and put a meal together for you right now so give me a few minutes I will come back to you as soon as possible but in the meantime may I just offer you some snacks or may I offer you a drink so by the time I can go ahead and prepare the meal for you? So you see I am not just offering a solution but I am also trying to take care of the passenger in the meantime which is very important. step 6: I AM ALWAYS HERE: Making sure even after you have provided a solution even after you have made sure that the passenger has eaten you go ahead and do a follow-up after a few minutes after a few hours you continuously keep yourself engaged with that customer with that passenger to ensure that there is nothing else that can possibly cause an inconvenience because you have put him through an inconvenience before and you don't want to do that again so do a constant follow-up in this scenario what I would probably do is I will check with the passenger when is this next flight or does he have a connecting flight so at least I can ensure that there is a vegetarian meal catered on that particular flight so you know he wouldn't have to face the similar situation again so follow-up is really important . An important aspect of service recovery is follow-up to let the customer know that there is more that you want to do for them not just provide a solution to a particular situation so remember that I am always here Step 7:OTHERS ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT: This is something that we always forget when we we are dealing with our customers in general because suddenly when a passenger gets angry when passenger gets irritated or upset we are focus all our energy and attention onto that particular customer and we completely forget about everyone that is around us. So what you also need to do is you need to ensure that one you maintain that smile on your face so that when others are looking around you they can see you as a professional. Remember to smile at other people as well when you are taking care of this particular passenger don't just do not look at other people don't avoid an eye contact from other people because you might think that somebody else might complain and now that you are handling this kind of situation. You don't want to get involved in any other situation and that's what the first thing people do is a while eye contact with everyone else because they just want to go ahead and resolve this issue. Remember every passenger every customer is equally important Step 8: NEW PERSPECTIVE: Once you are able to handle a situation once everything is okay then move on you have to understand that you can not just sit with that emotion that you know the passengers shouted at me and I can not carry on with my duties I can not do the rest of the day because I feel really emotionally down I feel like the passenger should have been nicer to me things like that. What if I faced with these situation throughout the day you can't think like that you have to understand that every situation is an isolated situation. Deal with it and move on but that smile back on your face put that pride back in your uniform put that passion into your action and get back to work. That's what you need to do to ensure that all the other passengers all the other customers are taken care of at all times so that is .
Why are you leaving your current position?
Do not ever tell the interviewer anything negative about your previous job. What you really want to focus on in this question is to tell them as to why do you want to become a FA why do you want to make a career switch to becoming a FA so the focus on this question should not really be on why do you not want to do your current job but the focus should be on why do you want to do the job of the FA . EX. In my current job I have learned this business this this and I would like to bring all this experience to becoming a FA because that is my dream job that is something that I've always wanted to do I believe that I have the skill set especially from my past experience that i have gained and it given an opportunity with your airline I would do my best to showcase all these skills and make my passengers really happy and be a proud face for the airline that are working with.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Do you have some of the most important skills that are needed for this particular job so when you talk about strengths it's very important that you focus on some of the positive qualities that you have which will make you a suitable candidate in the position of a FA. EX. I'm very patient or I have effective interpersonal skills. Or I'm good at taking initiative. You can actually support it with an example. My strengths is to be able to work under pressure. Interviewer genuinely actually interested in knowing your weaknesses so you don't have to sugarcoat it but they r looking for how do you handle your weakness. EX. If you are someone who likes to keep everything clean and because of that sometimes you end up working extra so this could be one of the weaknesses but showcase it in a positive light. So always ensure to begin with that I keep my area clean and I advise people as to how they can keep their things clean as well because that's gonna help us as a team to work together in a very clean environment and at the same time no one will end up working extra.
How are you going to handle a nervous passenger or first time traveller?
Don't focus too much on people and solution but process. EX. There's a nervous passenger first of all as a joke of a FA I want to make sure that all of my passengers have taken care of so if I happen to see a nervous passenger I will make sure that I give a little bit of an extra care and not just from my input also I will make sure that all of my colleague take care of her whenever they see her so I will sit next to her I will talk to her a little bit try and understand what is making her nervous and instead of focusing too much of what is making her nervous I will try and distract her by giving her a book to read or telling her as to how she can be bit more comfortable at the same time I will regularly check on her every few minutes or every few hours and I am not available I will ensure that my colleague do that on my behalf .so at the end of the day when there is a nervous passenger the idea is to make sure that as a FA we tell the passenger that we are here for you we will take care of you whatever the situation might be.
When did you realize that you wanted to be a flight attendant?
EX. If your reason or inspiration to try to become a FA is travel the world I meet new people what you really need to tell the interviewers is that when you do that and when you get that kind of cultural exposure what is it that you are gonna do with it. The cultural exposure that I get from meeting new people is what i use to have better communication with other people so when I become a FA with this airline I will be able to handle passengers in a much better manner because I will be able to communicate with them effectively because of the cultural exposure that I get when I travel the world. You have to align your reasons to the need of the company what they are looking for it. It has to be what you want and a mixture of what the company wants.
A time you dealt with a difficult co-worker
Ex. You want to compromise with your coworkers. You are able to communicate work together and reach compromise.
Went above and beyond for a customer?tell me a time you experienced a great customer service
Ex.told a story about how i helped an elderly and senior person to the restroom like i walked with them brought all their things with me and walked walked them to the restroom and once they were done i even walked them to their car that I went above and beyond for a customer that wasn't our policy was in our procedure but because they were the elderly and they needed extra help that day
What are the qualities of a FA?
FA has good communication skills n good body language n good grooming n FA knows how to smile at their best , FA knows how to handle pressure and emotions , how to be approachable, has a active listening skills , how to anticipate the needs of the passenger , how to make people smile , how to perform beyond people's expectations , empathetic, alert, very observant ,humble.. Ex. How you actually have those qualities in you. The reason for asking this questions is not just to understand whether you know the qualities but also to understand whether you have these qualities.
Tell me about yourself or introduce yourself. Tell us about yourself. Tell us something we don't already know about you?Why you decide to become a flight attendant? What in your past experience makes you qualified?
First and foremost it's very important that you actually summarize your resume for them when they ask you this question. Look at the key and the important aspects that will actually make you a suitable candidate. Talk about something that you have learnt in your previous experience because that is something that they might not be able to understand by looking at your resume so that would make you stand out. They want to relate to a personality they want to see whether you have it in you to become a FA with their airline . Bring that personality out with your body language with your grooming with sharing something interesting about you.
What do you foresee the challenges of being a flight attendant
How the reserve might be on. Might be a challenge for me because you are just on call you don't know when you are gonna work and you can never plan anything but then I brought it back to but I can easily adapt to those situation wouldn't have bothered me missing holiday wouldn't bother me if I'm called and had to be at work in 3 hours like that I can just adapt. I know Flight attendant job you need to go through challenge. I know that flight attendant is like to be, so I know the good part and bad part. There are two things are the most important in being successful flight attendant. The first thing is to be on time and to be flexible. Things always change and you need to go with the flow. Things come out of nowhere
What is the United brand and what does it mean to you? How will you represent United? What else would you like United to know? In a perfect world, if you were to be a perfect FA what would be the quality you would pick up?
I have a particular interest in your airline because of your strong reputation in the industry dedication you have to positive customer experience . I have flown your airline as a first choice for the past five years and have not disappointed in the quality service delivered. I'd love to be a part of that.
Would you relocate?
I'd elaborate a little bit more on why relocating wouldn't be a problem for me. I am more than happy to do what it takes for the good of my company. I am very fortunate to have a flexible family life at home and the ability to work when called upon. I would love to accept the popular and maintain positive attitude.
Why should we hire you and not other candidate?
I'll always understand that the reason why I am asking you this question is not because I want you tell me that other candidates are not better than you. You always should want appreciate the opportunity that you got to be here with everyone. You can always talk about that the other candidates I have learned so much from them while I was sitting outside with them while I was talking to them . They've shared their experiences so there are a lot of people in this room who deserve to be a FA and I feel the same for myself because I believe that I have the qualities that it takes to become a FA. You can talk about quality you have you can give examples of the qualities you can use skills from your past experiences.
How would you handle this situation
If a customer who refuses to close their laptop during takeoff . You can ask again and if they refuse you would put in to person into perspective for them why that's a policy why that's a procedure so for us that's a policy or procedure because it's for their safety as well as the safety of those around them so maybe if once you put that into perspective they will
Why do you want to become a Flight Attendant?
In my previous job experience , my favorite moment in my job was when I was working with people and Flight attendant is you get a unique opportunity to work with people from all over the world and explore their culture and learn about it and I think it's an exciting opportunity. My story: I had met a flight attendant i was teaching her daughter some lessons I became more interested in that and every time I met her she would tell me about her job and I became more interested in.
How did hour previous job prepare you
List the qualities that are the same for being a FA and the qualities that are similar to your previous job so once again if you have any safety related experience . i had a lot of safety related experience though i talked about that and to me I always kind of told myself being a lifeguard and being a FA. It was very similar in the term of seniority was everything you had to be flexible you know safety was our number one concern you always dealt with different types of . What it's like being applied to me important qualities of that to your old job somehow tie together . Even if you don't have a customer facing job , there are times when you deal with customers. It's not in your job description and so you could use those examples. My previous job taught me that there are a lot of different types of ppl that you are gonna interact with and sometimes they are not in the best mood and sometimes they take things out on you and the important thing is to not escalate it and kind if not react necessarily. Maybe you are teacher. You work with kids . You can also tie in how you have to be patient with those occupations and you have to be patient with being FA so you can even tie that in.
If you are not selected today, will you reapply?
They want to know how much passion fo you have for this job. It is okay to say you would be disappointed because this is something that you have really worked hard for but I am sure that there is a learning experience here I will go back and reflect on this interview and see what can do to make myself perform better if i will not be given an opportunity again which I hope there there will be or you could also say that I will not be disappointed because I have learned that to be able to make yourself better you should not get disappointed and sit on things but you should move on and move forward but don't want to move on to another airline. My dream is to work for this airline so I will go ahead and reflect and I will do whatever it takes to perform better when I hear in the next time .
Why do you want to work with AA,UA,Delta...
This company has unique culture in this way and I would agree with the type of person that I am
A time you adapted to a difficult situation
You had a challenge and there's gonna be challenges as a FA as challenges and pretty much any job and okay and you were at a crossroads and you had to decide how are you gonna overcome this challenge .ex. I would have difficulty again fitting it in the allow a lot of time that i had so that what would i do is ask someone that was more senior than me if they can teach me some tricks to be quicker or i would just study on my lunch break . Devote more time on my lunch break and get better at it somehow so you had a grow as an employee and over to come this obstacle. Ex. Just keep your cool . I continue to kind of put a smile on my face in front of the customer
