How to Become a Flight Attendant?

Working as a flight attendant provides you with many opportunities, such as traveling the whole world and even free stays at fancy hotels and meals. This is why it has become one of the most challenging and competitive jobs over the past ten years, with an estimated 1000,000 applications per year.

When it comes to becoming a flight attendant, training matters a lot. From building a long-lasting friendships with customers to developing life-saving skills, employers' basic hiring requirements keep increasing, increasing the challenges for candidates. Despite such difficulties, getting hired as a flight attendant is possible if you pass the essential requirement and have proper training and experience.

We have broken down the eight steps of becoming a flight attendant.

8 Steps To Become a Flight Attendant

Here are the 8 vital steps to become a flight attendant.

Step 1: Complete Your Higher Education

Although having a college degree is not mandatory for becoming a flight attendant, it can help boost your chances of becoming one. You can still apply for a flight attendant with a GED or High School Diploma. Having good experience in customer service or hospitality remains the most valuable skill most employers are looking for in a candidate.

Step 2: Learn Customer Service Skills

The possibility of getting hired is relatively high if you have experience in high-level customer satisfaction or service. It will help if you showcase a wide range of customer service skills to the hiring personnel during your interview. The more experience you have amassed over time will bolster your chances in front of your prospective employers.

Step 3: Search for Prospective Employers

You can search for flight attendant jobs on platforms like LinkedIn, job portals, or directly through an airline's website. Finding a job as a flight attendant is as challenging as finding any other job, which can vary from place to place. Look out for working conditions, salary, and other factors, as they may vary depending on the airline you are applying for.

Step 4: Apply for the job

Applying for a job can be daunting, especially if you are a new candidate. It contains questions that may take hours to complete. Once you complete the process, you must send the application request along with your resume and cover letter. Since there will be hundreds and thousands of candidates applying for a single position, your goal should be to present a stellar application that includes your previous experience, learnings, training, and answering all the questions perfectly.

Step 5: Research and prepare for interview

This is a challenging process, as you must answer these questions tactfully and confidently. The interviewer will check your soft-spoken skills, how you present yourself, how confidently your answers and your presence of mind. Above all, your answers must showcase your passion for serving in the industry. For example, if you are asked the type of person you would want to serve as a flight attendant, you cannot say I like people who don't complain much. Instead, you have to show that you are an all-rounder and don't back off from a challenging situation.

Some questions asked during a flight attendant interview:

• Why do you want to be a flight attendant?

• Do you like children?

• Can you work for long hours?

• Name three things customers expect from a flight attendant.

• What type of passengers do you like to serve?

Note − We recommend researching some "most asked questions in a flight attendant interview" for practice.

Step 6: Train for Certifications

Although airlines provide training to all their new hire in their flight training center, having a certificate can help you get selected during the job application as airlines usually prefer candidates into whom they need to put more effort.

Having the necessary certifications can help you a lot in getting a job as a flight attendant if you don't have any previous experience in the hospitality sector. It would be a great help for your career to complete a flight attendant training program before applying for a position. These training programs usually take around six weeks to complete.

Step 7: Complete FAA Certification Exams

To board a flight as a flight attendant, you need to complete your FAA certifications. Once you complete your FAA training program, the airline's Director of Operations (DO) will complete the necessary steps on your behalf. This is good news as you don't have to worry about doing it by yourself. You must focus on your training and learning and demonstrate your proficiency in key areas such as evacuation, first-aid, etc.

Basic Requirements for FAA Certification

• Be 18 years and above

• Be a citizen or eligible to work in the respective country

• Have a high school diploma or degree in higher education

• Pass a background check and drug test

• Pass a vision test with at least 20/40

• Meet other requirements set by the airline, such as height, piercings, tattoos, etc.

• Meet required physical fitness standards such as treading water for at least 3 minutes and being able to swim 50 meters fully clothed.

• Any required linguistic skills

Step 8: Work under Reserve Status

After receiving your FAA certification, you have to start your career under reserve status. Under this status, you are mostly asked to fill in for call-offs. Once you display good performance for at least a year, you will be moved from your base airport and presented with more desirable shifts and lucrative roles.

Conclusion

Being a flight attendant gives you several perks that only come after spending a specific time with one airline. The best way to move ahead in your career is by continuously learning new skills. For example, to work on international flights, learning foreign languages will definitely help you.