Making conversation with other candidates at a cabin crew Assessment Day is an essential skill, but advice like “Just mingle and let your personality shine” is easier said than done if striking up conversation with strangers doesn’t come naturally to you.
If the idea of a room full of 50+ people you’ve never met, all expected to strike up easy conversation, fills you with dread rather than excitement, this guide is for you.
None of this is about faking a personality you don’t have. It’s about having a few reliable, low-effort tools ready, so you’re not improvising from nothing the moment you walk through the door.
Why This Actually Matters
Recruiters use the mingling time before an Assessment Day properly starts as a real, if informal, part of their assessment. Saying too little is a real and common mistake, largely because candidates freeze up rather than because they have nothing to offer. The good news is that you don’t need to be the loudest person in the room. This isn’t about being the main character: you just need to show you can hold an easy, natural conversation, which is the same skill you’ll need with a nervous passenger on a delayed flight.
Safe Topics That Almost Always Work
These are low-risk and easy-to-sustain conversation topics that give you natural room to show warmth and interest in the other person (exactly what recruiters are quietly watching for):
- Travel. Nearly everyone in the room is there because they love it. Ask where people have been recently, or where they’d go next if they could.
- The day itself. “How are you feeling about today?” or “Have you had far to travel this morning?” is an easy, universal opener that works on literally anyone in the room.
- Local recommendations. If you’re travelling for the event, asking for a decent coffee or lunch spot nearby is a natural, friendly opener.
- Hobbies and interests. What do they do outside work? This tends to open into more conversation than almost any other topic.
- A specific, sincere compliment. Not generic flattery, something specific: their energy, something thoughtful they said in the group, how they handled a moment well.
- The weather. If you’ve ever spent any time in the UK, you’ll know that the Brits love talking about the weather. It’s one of the easiest and politest ways to strike up a conversation.
Top tip: Keep two or three of these conversation icebreaker topics in your back pocket before the day. Then decide in advance what you’ll ask the first person you talk to. Having an opener ready removes the hardest part, the first ten seconds, before the conversation has any momentum of its own.
Topics to Avoid Entirely
Some subjects carry no real upside and real downside risk as they can alienate someone, reveal a strong opinion you didn’t mean to broadcast, or just derail an otherwise easy conversation.
- Politics, in any form, however lightly raised
- Religion
- Money, including salary expectations, how much this job pays, or how much other airlines pay
- Criticism of anyone, the airline, a previous employer, another candidate, or the process itself, even as a joke
None of these do you any favours if a recruiter overhears them, and several can noticeably put another candidate on the back foot in a group you’ll be assessed alongside for the rest of the day.
The Tricky Icebreaker: “What Other Airlines Have You Applied To?”
This one comes up constantly, entirely naturally, and it’s worth having an answer ready for. It’s not really a trap because most candidates are asking out of real curiosity, but a clumsy answer can make you look uncommitted.
There’s a subtler risk too, one that catches people off guard because it doesn’t feel dangerous in the moment. This question can easily tip into talking about a rejection or a disappointing assessment day elsewhere. Once you start down that road, it’s surprisingly easy to spiral – one disappointment leads to another, your energy drops, and your body language follows it down without you noticing. You can walk away from a five-minute conversation about “what else you’ve applied for” in a worse headspace than you started, right before you need to be at your best.
The safest approach is answering directly without oversharing: acknowledge you’ve applied elsewhere if you have (most people have), without dwelling on it, explaining why it didn’t work out elsewhere, or talking up a rival airline’s package. Redirect quickly and warmly back to why you’re excited to be here, specifically today, with this airline. For example:
“I’ve put a couple of applications in, but this is the one I’ve been looking forward to the most.”
Short, direct, and it closes the topic rather than opening a longer conversation about a competitor.
Insight: This is really the self-inflicted version of the problem covered below, negativity that drags your own mood down rather than someone else’s. The same fix applies either way: acknowledge briefly, then redirect toward something that actually helps you, rather than letting the conversation set the tone for the rest of your day.
Posture and Approachability
Our essential pillar guide to the Assessment Day covers the formal posture recruiters are assessing during exercises. This is different: it’s about how approachable you look to a nervous stranger deciding whether to talk to you during downtime.
- Uncross your arms. Crossed arms read as closed off, even if you’re just cold or comfortable standing that way.
- Angle your body toward the group, not away from it, even slightly turning in signals openness before you’ve said a word.
- Make brief eye contact and smile as people pass. You don’t need to say anything; it’s often enough to invite someone else to approach you first.
- Put your phone away. Nothing signals “don’t talk to me” faster than looking at a screen, even if you’re just checking the time.
Worth knowing: If approaching people first feels particularly difficult, open body language does a lot of the work for you. Standing visibly open and available, rather than in a corner with your phone out, means other candidates, often other introverts, are far more likely to approach you instead.
Dealing With Someone Who’s Negative
Occasionally, you’ll end up next to a candidate who’s complaining, gossiping, or being openly negative about the process, the airline, or another candidate. It’s tempting to nod along to be polite, but agreeing, even passively, can reflect on you if a recruiter is nearby, and it doesn’t do much for your own mood on a long day either.
A simple approach that works without being rude:
- Acknowledge briefly; a short “yeah, it’s a long day” is enough. You don’t need to validate the specific complaint
- Pivot the conversation to something neutral or positive: ask them a question about themselves, or bring up one of the safe topics above
- Move on naturally if the negativity continues; excusing yourself to speak with someone else is completely normal and expected during mingling time
You’re not being cold by doing this – you’re protecting your own energy for a long day, and quietly demonstrating exactly the kind of composure recruiters are looking for anyway.
Your Safe Conversation Checklist
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Prepared two or three easy opening questions in advance
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Decided on a short, straightforward answer for “what other airlines have you applied to?”
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Practised open body language: uncrossed arms, angled toward the group, phone away
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Planned a simple way to redirect or exit a negative conversation without being rude
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Reminded yourself that showing warmth and interest matters more than being the loudest person in the room
This page is part of CCF's Assessment Day Hub, covering everything from the group exercise to what to wear on the day itself. If you're getting ready for your assessment, here's where to go next.
