Cabin Crew Qualities go far beyond presenting yourself well, travelling the globe, or serving passengers during a flightBecoming a cabin crew member requires more than presenting yourself well, travelling the globe, or serving passengers during a flight. The most successful airline candidates need clear communication, the ability to work well under pressure and deal with various passenger types, proficiency in following safety instructions, and the ability to contribute effectively as part of an airline team.

So, what are the most key cabin crew qualities an airline expects from candidates during a recruitment process?

There are a variety of competencies which contribute greatly to the way a candidate presents during an interview, a group discussion or assessment day, and later when performing tasks onboard an aircraft, ranging from teamwork and communication to emotional intelligence and problem-solving ability. The good news is these cabin crew qualities are developable with practice and correct cabin crew training.

Passenger service and important safety and emergency responsibilities both form part of the duties of cabin crew qualities as illustrated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). They identify key cabin crew training components to be Crew coordination, communication, passenger interaction, safety procedures and non-normal events.

Take a look at the 12 essential cabin crew qualities an airline wants to see when employing cabin crew:

1.Communication Skills

Cabin crew  and passengers, other crew members, cockpit and ground crew all interact throughout the flight, meaning communication plays a vital role for each cabin crew member. They must relay instructions directly and clearly, actively listen, and make sure critical information is well understood during conversations between passengers and airline staff.

Whereas you might talk calmly to a passenger trying to get to their seat, an emergency demands clear and immediate speech, so communication cabin crew qualities for cabin crew qualities will be examined to identify clarity of speech, confidence, and English command.

Listening abilities, following instructions, dealing with passenger queries and asking informative questions contribute to these strong communication abilities, as outlined by the IATA guideline regarding Cabin Safety Cooperation, Communication, Coordination and Commands within cabin operations.

To further cultivate this skill, daily English dialogue is important and for candidates it means partaking in interviews to ensure confident replies while practicing common interview questions for this position.

2.Teamwork

It’s very important to realize that there is never a single cabin crew member on an aircraft; the flight operates around and with an entire cabin crew team. Teamwork is essential in every phase of the operation, be it boarding and meal times, safety protocols and duties, or resolving passenger requests and during any emergency scenarios. Therefore the airline hopes to find candidates that embrace co-operation, rather than the capacity of always needing to work alone.

Good teamwork means that candidates respect colleague’s individual opinions and can therefore share a range of ideas and responsibility to support their co-workers within busy environments while respecting the chain of command.

An excellent example of this is when certain urgent duties conflict with assisting a passenger, effective teamwork means this conflict can be managed as needed.

Emirates Airlines states that a strong sense of teamwork is integral in finding the right cabin crew members, and uses group discussions or assessment days during which they explore how candidates are working together to reach a resolution or perform a task effectively.

3.Customer Service Skills

Every passenger who encounters airline staff during their travel can have different opinions of your airline. Cabin crew act as the primary touch point to the brand, which means your customer service will represent a substantial section of a passenger’s travelling experience. That is what brings customer service to the forefront of cabin crew skills, as each staff member must aim to keep travelers at ease and content while adhering to safety and policy requirements.

Your customer service cabin crew qualities will consist of demonstrating friendliness, patience, asking questions of passengers and resolving their issues positively even if it means taking feedback into consideration and responding with appropriate customer care actions.

You are not however expected to answer ‘yes’ to every demand; the well-being of passengers always takes priority, as it does to the IATA’s training in airline customer service where communication, customer contact, emotional competences, understanding customer needs and cultural diversities are central themes.

4.Emotional Intelligence

This relates strongly to dealing with stress when faced with worried passengers in a difficult situation, whether you’re handling an emotionally agitated traveler or those nervous about flying.

The emotional intelligence required by cabin crew means candidates must be aware of how people are feeling, both physically and mentally, and respond accordingly in an approach that aims to build positive interactions even when a situation appears otherwise challenging. An airline seeks candidates capable of showing the same amount of consideration to a passenger as they expect for themselves.

Such ability includes showing respect for the emotions of the passenger and therefore also a candidate that has a strong awareness of not letting emotions take control of any situation you find yourself in at all; a suitable response is to be prepared to remain patient no matter what and keep your own reactions calm so that any difficulties you face can be addressed efficiently.

5.Problem Solving Ability

Although some flights are expected to be smooth from check-in through landing, some can encounter unexpected difficulties. If these are to do with passenger requests, connection difficulties, lost baggage concerns or even special traveling needs, cabin crew are required to be able to identify where to begin when solving them and think quickly and rationally to make rational decisions that adhere to airline regulations. When assessing your cabin crew qualities, airlines aren’t necessarily searching for just one perfect solution.

They desire candidates capable of reasoning and finding logically and pragmatically the source of a problem and the appropriate measures toward finding a suitable remedy-sometimes candidates will have to explain what makes them suitable when asked certain kinds of questions by their recruiter during the selection process as the interview assesses the thought process you have developed in such instances.

5.Safety awareness

A common myth among passengers is that an airline cabin crew’s sole task is to serve drinks and meals; this couldn’t be more wrong. Passenger safety and well-being during a flight are of utmost importance to airlines and all crew members are meticulously trained in emergency procedures.

A reliable cabin crew member will possess the traits like discipline and situational awareness needed to handle potential hazards like turbulence, fire onboard an aircraft, or unruly passengers safely. It requires following directives carefully at all times and exhibiting extreme discipline and readiness to learn all safety-related duties fully, since airlines want you to present your role as one critical to flight safety and an equal level to those you assist on board.

6.Confidence

When addressing passengers and ensuring commands during an emergency are easily overheard and understood, the ability to exhibit self-assurance comes a long way with recruiters determining whether you’ll be a fitting cabin crew member, and especially during this job interview.

7.Attention to detail.

In aviation, there are a number of small details to pay attention to. Cabin crew need to check safety procedures, follow them properly, monitor the cabin, as well as take notice of cabin conditions and any passenger requirements accurately. For a small but significant detail to be overlooked it could have consequences to the aircraft safety, or passenger service. There are multiple ways attention to detail is seen by employers:

• Working on tasks with instructions to follow.
• Checking that information is correct before it’s relayed.
• Remembering things.
• Paying attention to what’s going on in the cabin.
• Having a keen eye for the smallest tasks and duties assigned.
• Being prompt and organised.

This cabin crew qualities is vital because cabins rely greatly on cabin crew who have to follow the safety regulations and standard procedures all of the time. In IATAs cabin operations guidance, all of the following are covered in separate sections, and you can clearly see that each one contains tasks that requires one to be attentive: pre-flight, inflight, post-flight, equipment for safety, passengers and how to treat them correctly, and finally, procedures during an emergency.

8.Stress management.

This line of work can certainly be glamorous, but it can be hard as well. Working long and unnatural shifts, changing time zones on an everyday basis as well as busy cabin spaces with challenging passengers require high mental and emotional control. Good stress management skills enable cabin crew qualities to do their jobs in the most professional way. Those with strong stress management cabin crew qualities will be able to demonstrate the cabin crew qualities shown below:

• Remaining cool in difficult and stressful situations.
• Establishing clear priorities for tasks required of them.
• Receiving instructions coherently.
• Focusing on their duties.
• Controlling feelings and responses to customers/colleagues.
• Knowing when they require help.

A naturally nervous person could find themselves under a lot of pressure, because in every difficult situation cabin crew are required to calmly analyze circumstances and make logical decisions. The main thing about good stress management is that this doesn’t mean cabin crew members aren’t stressed; it only means that they can still operate effectively.

How can these skills be observed in recruitment?

Having looked at which cabin crew qualities will be taken into consideration; aspiring candidates would certainly want to know how airlines interview those cabin crew qualities:

The interviewing process, for each airline will differ from the other, but in most cases, there will be several levels:

1.Checking applicant details at application screening stage;

There’s a primary set of basic standards that a candidate has to meet to be accepted to interview in first place. For example in Emirates, fluency in English and having some knowledge/experience within customer service and the airline sector of hospitality are basic requirements.

2.Group interview;

Tests communication with group members, team working, leadership skills, observing and listening skills, along with many more. Remember, dominating group work is never the key to getting your leadership skills recognized as it is perceived as a lack of confidence; let everyone participate and you will come across as a better candidate.

3.Personal Interview;

It’s a more informal round, where your personality and knowledge are tested. Usually, you’ll be asked about experience you have working in customer service and team environments, and about certain problematic/conflict related situations. For any behavioral questions like these, remember to always stick to the SAR (Situation-Action-Result) formula.

4.Situational/role play test:

You’ll sometimes be given a passenger problem-scenario, and then it’s the test-givers turn to watch how you manage it. Such simulations evaluate a candidate’s overall manner, empathy, clear communication, decision-making ability, and confidence in a typical scenario where they would be dealing directly with passenger questions/ complaints.

5.Interview of communication skills:

A candidate might be tested on communication skills, cabin crew qualities verbally at various different stages. The essential factor you need to possess to ace this area of interview is how to talk in a way that passengers will find most easily understood, without having an academic knowledge of a vast vocabulary or using slang words excessively.

6.Are the above cabin crew qualities teachable?

They surely are! Cabin crew is not a job where there are specific qualifications already made to a perfection. Communication cabin crew qualities may need more practice, team work cannot be manufactured instantly, customer service must be educated and it can take a long time for one to improve their problem solving, yet it’s something that can only be gained after having encountered many of the situations.

With professional training they should be able to take some of these cabin crew qualities to perfection.

Cabin crew training in the IATA courses cover subjects such as teamwork, communication, passengers (interactions), safety and emergency procedures (SSEP), and awareness of anything that could be harmful for the flight (dangerous goods). So you must also develop the skills of the profession, not only preparing for the interview itself.

Conclusion

Most of the cabin crew members you will see today didn’t necessarily get appointed just because of how glamorous they look or sound. Airlines want calm, competent cabin crew who can communicate well, work in a team, work under pressure, find solutions for any difficulties encountered along the day, show respect for passengers, and above all, who can take safety into utmost account. All 12 skills for cabin crew members mentioned here should be well-grounded:

1. Good communication skills
2. Teamwork
3. Positive attitude towards customers
4. Emotional Intelligence
5. Problem-Solving cabin crew qualities
6. Safety Awareness
7. Confidence
8. Ability to adapt
9. Diversity/Cultural Awareness
10. Patience and Professionalism
11. Attention to detail
12. Stress management

If you would like to begin a successful career working as a cabin crew member in the airline industry, train those cabin crew qualities and it will certainly help you when interviewing for airline positions; during these, you can showcase your  cabin crew qualities quite naturally during the group discussion and personal interview which are a fundamental part of recruiting new cabin crew. If you would like to learn more, then please see the cabin crew training by Zeal Wings.

Frequently Asked Questions.

1.Which Cabin Crew skills should you pay most attention to?

Communication, teamwork and customer service skills were singled out, as also problem-solving, safety, emotional intelligence and a positive attitude, adaptability and stress management, that one might expect for all airlines.

2.Is communication a really important skill to the cabin crew?

Yes, communication is quite fundamental to their work. They should know how to engage into an in-depth interaction, speak precisely while still using simple language and listen to the passengers carefully.

3.How can I train Cabin Crew qualities myself?

Apart from practicing each communication exercise, especially conversations in a foreign language, take up customer service jobs and participate in all activities possible when you’re at your service, such as role-play and mock interviews at home with a few friends. These actions will gradually transform your behavior into one that reflects true cabin crew qualities.

4.Dairlines test their Cabin Crew candidates for such specific skills as teamwork, personal experience and others, even during their interviews?

Yes, these are basic requirements and the cabin crew qualities that airline recruiters look for when screening new flight attendants. Most airlines conduct preliminary background checks, along with group tests, personal interviews and sometimes simulations of flight conditions to ensure that the candidate is capable of effectively performing all of his duties.

5.Are Cabin Crew training programmes essential to learn all required skills and behaviors?

Cabin crew qualities training is undoubtedly useful if you wish to embark on the aviation industry as flight attendant; but certain qualifications, be they in communication cabin crew qualities, skills or how to behave in various crisis situations while communicating with passengers will not necessarily be assessed. Nevertheless, it can definitely come in handy when preparing for an interview and the subsequent on-the-job training procedures that go along with it.