GOOD NEWS to all aspiring flight attendants like me...=)
Cabin crew with an Emirates A380 superjumbo at the Berlin Air Show. The airline will boost the number of cabin crew by a third to 16,000. That means adding 4,000 new flight attendants.
Dubai: Emirates, the largest international airline, is advertising 4,000 cabin-crew jobs via online music provider Spotify Ltd as it strives to attract international staff for the world's biggest fleet of Airbus superjumbos.
Emirates needs to boost flight attendant numbers by a third to 16,000 during the year through March as it adds five double-deck, 517-seat A380s, for a total of 20. Ads on Facebook may follow as the Dubai-based company seeks English-speaking, tech-savvy recruits aged from 21 to 30.
Emirates aims to leverage its status as long-haul market leader to become employer of choice among would-be cabin crew, akin to Apple Inc in computing and Nike Inc in sporting goods, advertising manager Sardar Khan said.
"We've growing rapidly and that presents a massive hiring challenge," Khan said. "Apple and Nike are aspirational brands and we like to think of ourselves as in that league. Your friends are going to think, wow, you're working for them?"
Recognition
Apple rose three places to 17th in last year's 100-company Best Global Brands ranking from Interbrand, posting the biggest gain in recognition, while Nike advanced one spot to 25th. The maker of the iPhone also came 18th in a 2010 ranking of the 50 most attractive employers from recruitment-branding consultant Universum. Coca-Cola Co and Google Inc were placed top of the two surveys, while airlines were absent from both.
Like other Gulf states, Dubai is heavily reliant on foreign workers, who make up 90 per cent of population.
John Strickland, an aviation analyst at JLS Consulting Ltd in London says: "A flight I went on to Dubai in 2010 had British, Malaysians and Brazilians in the crew. Emirates offers a reasonable package."
Emirates flight attendants start on a basic annual salary of about Dh47,000, plus hourly flying pay, a fixed monthly cash sum based on their role and competencies, free housing and transport, and an annual payment from a profit-sharing plan.
The 30-second ad on Spotify matches songs with reasons to seek a job at Emirates, depicting the attractions of Dubai to a background of Black's Wonderful Life and the chance to work with multilingual crew to Sister Sledge's We are Family.
Spotify offers access to 15 million songs and claims ten million users in seven countries in Europe, where it's the No 2 digital-music platform after Apple's iTunes, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. It debuted in the US last month.
"Spotify has the X-factor in that it's perceived as a dynamic brand with a product that's regarded as best of breed," said Mark Mulligan, an independent new media and music analyst in London, adding that the company is luring major advertisers after establishing the validity of a model that, while online, initially "looked and felt pretty much like radio."
Emirates hasn't given up more traditional hiring methods and will hold 77 recruitment fairs through November 5, almost two per day, in countries as far apart as the Armenia, Paraguay, New Zealand and the UK. English is the only linguistic prerequisite, though the carrier employs 130 nationalities speaking 80 languages.
Intelligent move
Crew must also be educated to at least high-school level, be able to stretch 2.12 metres on tiptoe to reach emergency gear, and have "a positive attitude with the natural ability to provide excellent service working within a team environment, dealing with people from all cultures."
Online ad budgets are forecast to total $132.1 billion by 2015, almost double last year's $68.1 billion, and to comprise 22 per cent of total media spending, according to eMarketer, a New York-based digital media and marketing research firm.
"For Emirates, as a public-facing brand, being seen to experiment with these platforms is an intelligent move because it shows that they are willing to understand and connect with people on the topics they're interested in and in the places where they spend time," said Tim Callington, head of digital and social media at public relations firm Edelman.
Emirates has orders for 90 superjumbos with 45,000 seats and a list price of $34 billion. Each A380 needs 26 staff: four pilots, 20 flight attendants and two washroom workers who tend to premium shower cubicles. Its Boeing Co 777s require 16 crew.
The Arab carrier is building the fleet to establish Dubai as an inter-continental hub and win passengers from Air France- KLM Group, British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa AG while fending off Qatar Air and Etihad. It will resist cutting flights as oil prices threaten the profitability of some destinations and instead aims to stir up demand with cheaper tickets, President Tim Clark said.
Dubai airport said yesterday that July passenger numbers rose 9.7 per cent to 4.7 million, with the US - where Emirates serves four cities — the second-fastest growing destination after Saudi Arabia. Dubai ranks as the world's fourth-busiest international terminal and aims to leapfrog Hong Kong into third place this year, with an estimated 51 million passengers.