I applied online. I interviewed at British Airways (Heathrow, England) in Aug 2017
Interview
Arrived pretty early as my flight was earlier than expected. Used the free staff shuttle to get from Heathrow T5 to Waterside. Met some other candidates and we chatted until about 11:45 when we were invited into the recruitment part of the building. First thing we did was fill out a quick form confirming if we had any tattoos/piercings and if so where they were. Then we waited about 45 minutes. There was lots of waiting around but I knew this would be the case so just be happy and bubbly and chat to people as you meet lots of friendly and nice people. Then in groups of 6 we did the reach tests. You had to be able to reach a mock-up of the overhead bins, then they measure your actual height, then you have to be able to hold the aircraft door's handle with your right hand whilst being able to touch a red tag on the ground with your left hand (a couple of people struggled here and they really to make sure you have a firm grip so I would advise a quick stretch beforehand), finally you had to sit in a cabin crew jump suit and buckle in and adopt the brace position (they show you how to do everything). After that we chatted more, there was free tea, coffee and water and a vending machine of snacks. We watched a short presentation on the company, it's history, motto, ethos and a bit more information about the role, what a typical roster looks like as well as the difficult parts of the job such as being away from home and fatigue. We were told not to see it as a competition for the role as there were plenty of roles for everyone, it just depends on the person.
Then myself and 5 others were called to do our group exercise. Pretty straightforward, we had to budget for a new route that was starting to Hawaii and choose what we should have to promote it. Cooperating and listening are essential here. You totally forget about the 3/4 examiners in the room. After that we did 1:1 roleplays which I thought were a lot of fun while others didn't. Basically you had to read out PA informing passengers of a short delay and that there had been a mixup with some catering options. The second part involved the examiner playing the role of a displeased business class passenger and you were the cabin crew.
After that we all chatted some more until a list of people's names were read out and taken into another room. Sadly we were told that this time we hadn't made it through to the next stage - the interview. I personally was quite shocked as I thought I had done very well in the activities, particularly in the roleplay as I was praised by the examiner for the manner I dealt with the situation. Approximately half of us hadn't made it through. There really was know way of knowing when our names were being called out on the list. A fair few people I was shocked had managed to stay, I only say shocked just because they came across as ill-prepared and quite overbearing whilst others had done so so much research into this and it was sad that we weren't able to showcase ourselves during an interview. Also they didn't even look at any of our documents - I assume they only did to the candidates who were successful in getting through to the second part of the AD. We were encouraged to reapply after 6 months and politely told it just wasn't our time yet ... but that our time would come! Overall it was an extremely pleasant and fun day. All the BA staff and examiners were lovely and I'm so glad I attended. I hope to reapply whenever I can
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at British Airways (Dublin, Dublin) in Feb 2017
Interview
You will have a phone interview, a F2F interview, and on the manager's discretion - a 3rd F2F interview. Up on the offer they will ask you for 2 references (prepare your references that it will be a tough several weeks for them, full of questions), and background check, which is the criminal record check for the past 5 years. If you lived in Ireland for the past 5 years - great, if not, you will need to request a CRC in each country you lived in over the past 5 years. The whole process can take min 4 weeks, sometimes longer. Do not rely on the first start date you are given as if your background checks are not over by that date, your start date will be postponed to a later one.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why BA?
What motivates you?
What demotivates you?
What is your understanding of the Inside Sales role at BA?
What do you do outside of work?
I applied online. I interviewed at British Airways (London, England) in Feb 2017
Interview
I had my assessment day in Feb 2017 at London Heathrow, I was in the group that got sent home before the interview.
For the first part of the day, we had a group assessment. This part was too bad around 7 of us were taken into a room and together were giving a budget and had to decide together what to spend the budget on because the plane was delayed.
The role play was the part I found difficult, this is a 1:1 with an assessor. First of I was given a card to read out aloud. Then I was given a scenario where the assessor pretended to be an angry customer in business class. The plane had already been delayed for 4/5 hours and now the were no vegetarian options left for business class and the only vegetarian meals available were in economy. The 'customer' was very angry that she had paid for a veggie business class meal and did not want the economy veggie meal but also did not want to go hungry. The assessor was looking too see how well you responded in a situation like this.
Tips for the day, dress smart, hair tied back and neat, well groomed nails. Take spare tights encase yours ladder. When waiting between activity's make sure you talk to all other candidates, smile and be positive.