More than pilots, mechanics, and ticket agents, the job of an Airline Flight Attendant can get your travelling the world for free and an interesting career in aviation.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Airline hiring on the rise

Your First-Class ticket out of a depressed job market.


Many regions of the country experience slumps in the local job market, making it difficult for applicants to acquire quality jobs. Long periods of time spent looking for a career can render the applicant unable to uproot themselves to a new city or state, in which to pursue a healthy career market. Low-income families may also find these costs out of the reach of their limited resources. Consider then, the career as an airline flight attendant, as a first-class ticket out of a depressed local job market.


During the past two decades, vast changes have come about in the airline industry, especially in the area of flight attendant hiring practices. Previously, applicants were required to be under 30, single, childless, and skinny. Changes brought about by flight attendant unions and equal opportunity legislation has brought an end to these discriminatory practices. Now the airlines are hiring flight attendant applicants in their 30's, 40's, and 50's, and they're no longer required to quit when they marry, or have children. Weight restrictions, while more vague, have also been relaxed.

Delta Air Lines, USAirways and American have begun hiring or recalling their furloughed flight attendants. Meanwhile mid-size airlines such as jetBlue and Virgin America have been hiring during the past year, along with regional airlines such as Mesa, SkyWest, Alaska, Mesaba, Pinnacle and others.

Tim Kirkwood, author of The Flight Attendant Job Finder & Career Guide, a career guide for flight attendant applicants, displays current job openings for US and Canadian airlines on his webpage: www.FlightAttendantCareerGuide.com/jobs.cfm.

For world-wide flight attendant jobs, he recommends: www.AviaNation.com/student.


Most airlines conduct their recruiting process in various cities across the country, and many will offer space-available passes on their own route system, to enable qualified applicants to attend interviews in out-of-town locations.


Once hired, these applicants are assigned a domicile city, and housing guidance is provided by the airlines. Most applicants group together with the friends they've made in training and rent apartments.


The minimum requirements of the job are basic:


A high school diploma or G.E.D.
Minimum of 18 years of age
US citizen or resident alien with a work permit
Fluency in English


While additional education and public-contact work experience is preferred, it is not a requirement for employment. Knowledge of a foreign language is also beneficial, but not required.


After a short probationary period, travel benefits are available to the employee, offering free or reduced-rate travel on other airlines as well as their own. These benefits also may extend to the employees' immediate family- thereby offering another first-class ticket out of a depressed job market.

Tim Kirkwood is in his 34th year as an airline flight attendant. He is the author of The Flight Attendant Job Finder & Career Guide -a step-by-step career guide for flight attendant applicants.

For more information e-mail Tim: crew4jets@aol.com.
www.FlightAttendantCareerGuide.com

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