Dressing to Impress

“Dear Candidate. You are invited to attend the Cabin Crew Recruitment & Information Day”

I got this news whilst checking my emails on my phone in the middle of Big W after yet another particularly boring waitressing shift. I had to steady myself by putting a hand up against the bags of Starburst beside me to contain my excitement. “Please dress in business attire” it said – well I already had that covered with my classy Cue dress that knocked the socks off even my older brother, whose usual response to my questions is a grunt.

The recruitment day was not for another month, which gave me plenty of time to prepare. I pondered where to even begin. Then I remembered I actually already knew two people who were flight attendants (the luck of it all!). Seeking them out through Facebook, I pummeled them with an endless stream of questions and waited eagerly for their replies. But I was disappointed. One didn’t even bother replying which I can now put down to my first taste of cabin crew snobbery. And the other proceeded to scare me so much with a long list of what I should and shouldn’t do at the recruitment day that for a moment I had second thoughts.

But only for a moment. What would become a trend within me over the next six months, her sobering advice only drove me to greater heights and made me more determined. And now, looking back, I am so glad that this happened. Because you need to be driven for this job. You need to really want it. I was half assed about school and sport and university and boyfriends and…well, everything. But not this job. Because if you are they’re going to turf you out and slam the door in your face.

I got online and researched the airline. I prepared answers for the interview. I spent hours perfecting my hairstyle for the big day. I even changed the way I spoke to people. It took some practice to get the bogan sounding ‘no worries’ that I said to every customer I served in my waitressing job out of my vocabulary. I knew slang like that wouldn’t make a good first impression.

By the time the day finally rolled around I was the most prepared I’d ever been for anything. I was miles too early of course – I hate being late for anything, but the day of the recruitment day I’d allowed extra extra time, just in case – and sat jittery in my car for half an hour before I even needed to approach the door of the building.

I watched in my rear vision mirror as women – and a single lonesome guy – rocked up. Almost everyone was dressed like they already had the job – a little tool of the trade that I found really worked for me and helped with my confidence. Dress like you already have the job and you fool everyone. I got out of my car nervously and approached the group. Seconds later the building’s doors opened and we all took seats awkwardly in the foyer, barely speaking a word to each other.

We tried to disguise it, but we were all sizing each other up and sussing out the competition. It was easy to tell who had experience in the industry already. They were the ones dressed the most appropriately and who had the immaculate hair and make up. They talked the most, reassuring the newbies like me that today was going to be a cinch. I appreciated the guidance and observed the entire group of twenty candidates the whole day long and applied their mannerisms to myself constantly. Ohhh she’s sitting up nice and tall, that looks good, I better sit up tall too. It was an exhausting day just constantly thinking so hard about my appearance and the way I spoke and moved.

Six smartly dressed crew ran the recruitment day. J and L were clearly the head honchos and I took a liking to J straight away. She was never without a smile and looked uncannily like a woman I used to work with which seemed like a good start for me. When she sat at my table to observe during group exercises I was pleased. She spoke so enthusiastically about the job and was so encouraging, telling everyone all the things she loved about her role. But there was no sugar coating either – we heard the bad stuff too. The aircraft break downs, the spur of the moment overnights with no clean clothes, or even a suitcase to pack your dirty ones in, the sprint across the tarmac at 5am in pouring rain in high heels. The thought of these things almost made me cringe, but at the same time I appreciated her honesty. I was under no illusions that this job was way less glamorous than people think and I am not afraid to get my hands dirty anyway.

L was an intimidating force of frizzy haired nature. Tall and skinny with the highest of high heeled shoes on her feet, L spoke with an English accent and seemed to fumble over her words because her teeth were too big. I wondered if this was why she had her lipliner drawn so far over the natural line of her lips, dangerously close to her nose, as if to accommodate for her big chompers. Her hair was equally as attention grabbing, frizzed and coiffed into a high French roll. L was a veteran of the skies, having flown for years with airlines in the US and Britain. The straight forward way in which she spoke totally intimidated me and I prayed she wouldn’t do my interview – if I got that far.

I was so aware the whole day that I was being watched and scrutinised every second, not only by the cabin crew running the day but also by the other candidates. It was quite unnerving but through the group activities and all the discussion I had a good feeling. Then when we spent far too long talking about the glamorous side of being cabin crew – the uniforms, the travel and the status – I found myself getting more and more excited, the energy swirling around in my stomach like nothing I’d ever felt. I think it was then I realised how much I wanted this. It was an awesome feeling.