HIGH FLYERS: easyJet Welcomes Career Changers On Board

An opera singer, a former chef and an ex-radio presenter are the stars of a new easyJet cabin crew recruitment campaign, which aims to tackle stereotypes about the profession.

The airline is looking to recruit over 1,000 new cabin crew this year with career changers among those being encouraged to apply.  The campaign highlights that life experience and transferable skills, such as customer service, communication, teamwork and people management, make many ideal candidates for the role.

A former dental nurse, optician and Paris police officer also feature in the campaign.

The initiative follows on from easyJet’s work last year encouraging people over 45 to consider a career as cabin crew, and since then the number of over-45s flying with easyJet as crew has increased by 28%.

The new campaign, featuring multi-talented easyJetters who started off in different careers, aims to showcase the potential for anyone to turn their skills and passions towards becoming cabin crew.

As part of the recruitment drive, easyJet polled 2,000 British adults about the job, which revealed that there are still widely held misconceptions about the role.

Research from the airline found that 75% of Brits believe there is still a misconception that cabin crew is typically a role for women. As a result, 4 in 10 (43%) British men say they would not consider doing the job because of the traditional gender stereotypes around the role.

However, close to half of men surveyed (45%) say that they would have considered being cabin crew if there was more visibility of male representation in the job and a third (33%) would be tempted to consider giving up their current careers to become cabin crew so that they could see the world.

The vast majority (97%) were unaware that changing their career to become cabin crew would only take four weeks from beginning of training to first flight. In fact, three quarters (73%) thought that it would take in excess of 6 months to train for the role.

Further research from the airline found that two thirds of Brits (63%) believe delivering a warm welcome is the number one skill they would need as cabin crew, whilst around 4 in 10 (38%) believe that making passengers feel comfortable is a key ability to be able to do the job.

When asked about the skills required to be cabin crew, over 40% believe that being a people person is an important skill.

Thiago, a former opera singer, knows this first hand from his experience performing in a choir. His background in working with people from all over the world make him perfectly suited for working with colleagues and flying passengers of all nationalities across Europe.

Thiago is just one  of the real-life cabin crew who joined easyJet as a career changer who features  in the new recruitment campaign, which has been launched with a series of new ads.

Also featured is former chef George, who joined easyJet in January this year having spent five years handling the heat of a busy restaurant kitchen, meaning he’s a natural at taking on the multi-tasking skills required of a high-flying service in the sky.

While former dental nurse Nicole’s experiences dealing with nervous patients in the dentist’s chair, has equipped her for being a calming and reassuring presence to any first-time or nervous fliers.

Health and safety skills are core to the role of cabin crew and former Parisian police officer, Aurelien shows that understanding safety and looking after the public,  vital skills for a police officer,  draw parallels with the priorities of cabin crew.

easyJet’s Ian spent time on the airwaves as a radio presenter and producer for 18 years, most recently with Kingdom FM, before deciding to become cabin crew. His previous career experience has seen Ian take his friendly presence from the radio into the cabin and make customers feel welcome on board.

Ian joined easyJet at 49 years old and became a full-time Cabin Manager at 57, showing that anyone, at any age, with the right skills can become crew. easyJet is encouraging more over 45s to apply, as their life experience and wealth of transferable skills make many a perfect fit for the role, despite over three quarters of those surveyed (76%) still having the misconception that it’s a job for people aged between 18 and 25.

Michael Brown, Director of Cabin Services at of easyJet, said:

“At easyJet our people are at the heart of everything we do, and our cabin crew play such an important part of that, taking care of a quarter of a million customers flying with us every single day – and there’s a good reason they are famous for their warm welcome and excellent service.

“All our brilliant crew who are part of this new campaign are the perfect example of how the skills you can learn in all walks of life makes being cabin crew a fantastic new opportunity for everyone, so we want to encourage even more people like them to join us.

“If you’ve got a passion for people and want a job that’s different every day, then we can’t wait to welcome you on board as part of the team.”

Thiago, easyJet Cabin Manager based at London Gatwick, said:

“Being an opera singer and performing in a choir for 8 years was a great experience of being a team player and a people person which is an important skill for cabin crew. I love meeting people and as cabin crew at Gatwick we get to work with new colleagues every day and meet customers from every nationality.”

 Ian, easyJet cabin manager based at Edinburgh, said:

“I had reached the stage in my career when I was looking to do something different, but where I could still use some of my skills and experience. I enjoy travelling and meeting people, so being cabin crew seemed the ideal opportunity. I joined easyJet at 49 years old, showing that anyone at any age with the right skills can become crew. In my first week of working at easyJet someone handed me a birthday dedication to read over the PA as they boarded and I remember thinking how my previous experience on the radio was going to come in very useful in my new job!” 

For more information about a career as cabin crew with easyJet visit:

careers.easyjet.com/cabin-crew/

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