“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
– Albert Einstein
When I speak about applying for, and then quickly failing in the cabin crew recruitment process I speak from a place of experience. My problem, it turned out, was that my resume was failing me… Badly.
I was pretty sure that I had the necessary skills and all the qualities that the airlines were looking for but every application I made ended in a quick rejection.
What was going wrong? It was time to review my past applications and evaluate everything:
- Work experience ✔️
- Photos ✔️
- Personal interests ✔️
- Appearance and grooming ✔️
- Body language and demeanour ✔️
As I reassessed my past performance I knew that something had to change if I were ever to stand a chance of being shortlisted.
My attention was soon drawn to what turned out to be a woefully inadequate resume. Reading over it again I began to cringe with embarrassment. Why did I ever think that it was good enough?
I convinced myself that I didn’t have the ability to write my own resume. Spending money to hire a professional writer seemed like the easiest choice.
What could possibly go wrong? I would have a winning resume without any of the stress or hard work.
It turned out I was wrong. The professional resume was bland and bloated with unnecessary information.
I submitted an application and waited. And waited some more. It soon dawned on me that I was never going to hear back.
Every application had a common theme – I had submitted tired, repetitive resumes. I had learnt the hard way that making the same mistake time and time again would end in the same result – rejection.
It was time to rethink my approach to resume writing. It took time and tens of rewrites before I had crafted a resume I was happy with. Finally, my resume was tailored to the needs of the airline; it showcased my skills, experience and passion in a format designed to be easily read by both the human recruiter and the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
Now, all I had to do was see if it would work. So off went applications to five major airlines – in some cases I didn’t even wish to pursue a career with the airline but I needed to see if my resume would work.
Several days had passed and as I woke on the 4th morning I grabbed my phone to turn off the alarm and then casually glanced at the junk emails I had received during the night. And there it was, glowing in my inbox – An invitation to attend an assessment day.
And that wasn’t the only invitation I received. In fact, my success rate was 100%. The time and effort had been worth it after all.
I am convinced that you cannot underestimate the power of your resume. It is so important to tailor your resume in the right way to ensure success in this process.
Now It’s time to get started…
- You Deserve the Best Resume – Here’s How to Get It
- How to Format Your Resume to be ATS Proof
- The Best Qualities to Highlight in Your Cabin Crew Application Resume
