Hoping to become a flight attendant? If so, you're not alone. Every year, tens of thousands of people apply for the limited flight attendant job openings at airlines around the world. Flight attendant jobs are highly coveted and highly competitive.
As an applicant, it may seem overwhelming to figure out how to stand out from the crowd of thousands of other flight attendant applicants. In this article, I'll talk about how you can use your resume to get your foot in the door for flight attendant jobs. By the end of this article, you'll be ready to write your own flight attendant resume and get the airline job of your dreams!
One of the best ways to make yourself stand out to airline hiring managers is to submit a polished and professional resume that highlights why you'll be a great flight attendant. Hiring managers will judge whether or not they want to meet you in person based on your resume, so it's extremely important that you use your resume to make a fantastic first impression.
As an overview, I'll next discuss how your flight attendant resume should be different than resume you use for other jobs and tell you the three skills you need to put on your resume. Then, I'll give you tips for writing your resume and give examples of an entry-level flight attendant resume and an experienced flight attendant resume. Finally, I'll answer some of the most frequently asked questions about flight attendant resumes.
Should Your Flight Attendant Resume Be Different Than Your Resume for Other Jobs?
One of the most common questions about flight attendant resumes is whether a flight attendant resume needs to be different than a resume for other jobs.
In general, the answer is no—you don't have to drastically re-write or re-format your resume to apply for a flight attendant job. However, you may need to change the language in your resume to highlight specific skills and experiences that airline hiring managers value.
Flight attendant jobs require special skills, like impeccable customer service and flexibility. You'll want to make sure a hiring manager can look at your resume and clearly see that you have these types of skills. That may mean re-writing your resume to show you have those abilities.
Say, for instance, that you previously worked as a secretary. When applying for other secretarial jobs, you highlighted your ability to use programs such as Microsoft Office. However, when applying for a flight attendant job, you'll want to highlight a different aspect of your previous experience as a secretary. You'll want to talk about how you interacted with customers or guests who visited your place of work. That'll show airline hiring managers that you have experience working with people.
In the next section, I'll tell you the three main skills flight attendant hiring managers are looking for, so you know which skills to demonstrate on your resume.
3 Skills to Highlight on Your Flight Attendant Resume
So what skills are hiring managers looking for from flight attendant applicants? In this section, I'll tell you the top three skills you need to highlight on your flight attendant resume.
#1: Customer Service Experience
The number one most important skill to highlight on your flight attendant resume is a passion for customer service. Flight attendants are the face of airlines. They deal with customers more than any other type of airline employee and are responsible for ensuring that customers have a positive flight experience.
Airline hiring managers are looking to see that you have experience dealing with customers, particularly in stressful situations. They want to know that you'll be able to deal with cranky passengers whose flight has been delayed or with people who don't want to check their carry-on bag. More than that, the airlines want to know that you'll represent them well to customers.
Make sure you describe situations where you've had to deal with customers. As I mentioned in the previous section, that could be greeting customers as a secretary. It could also be serving customers as a waitress, or working at a retail store. You need to demonstrate that you have customer service skills that would apply to an airline environment.
#2: Ability to Lead in Adversity
Flight attendant jobs may seem glamorous, but they can be extremely challenging. You'll have to deal with angry customers every day, as well as with potentially dangerous situations. Airlines want to know that you're able to keep your cool when times get rough and that you'll be able to act as a leader in such times. Flight attendants are responsible for not only providing great customer service, but also for keeping order in the cabin. They need to be able to calm down passengers that are violent and recognize dangerous behavior. They'll also need to be able to be leaders in the event of an emergency.
Have you led a team of workers at a retail shop at Black Friday? Or dealt with the Friday night dinner rush? Or maybe you have led a group of teenagers in a volunteer situation? Show that you've acted as a leader and dealt with difficult situations.
#3: Flexibility
If you've flown before, you know that flights often experience delays. As a flight attendant, you'll have to roll with a lot more than just those common flight delays. First of all, you'll need to leave your home to train for up to several months. If you make it through flight attendant training, you'll need to be able to deal with a schedule that's always changing due to cancelled or delayed flights. You may have to report at the last minute for a flight if another flight attendant can't make it. For at least the first few years of your career, you'll have the least desirable shifts and have to work on a lot of dates that you'd potentially rather be at home with loved ones.
Hiring managers are looking for employees who can demonstrate this flexibility and willing to do whatever it takes for their work. Perhaps you show on your resume that you've been able to cover for last minute shifts at your previous jobs, or that you always take holiday hours to help out your boss. Demonstrating flexibility will show your commitment to your flight attendant job.
4 Tips for Writing a Standout Resume for Flight Attendant Jobs
Before you start getting your resume ready to apply for flight attendant jobs, check out these top five tips to make sure you're setting your resume up for success.
#1: Call Out Your Accomplishments
The most important thing to do on your flight attendant resume (or on any resume, really) is to emphasize your accomplishments. You want the hiring manager reviewing your resume to be wowed by your experience and skills and think, "I have to hire this person!"
For each position on your resume, you'll want to focus on your achievements over your duties. Did you lead a special project? Were you named "employee of the month"? Did you have more satisfied customers reviews than any other employee at your place of work?
While you of course want to make sure that you describe what you actually did at each of your previous jobs, you want to focus on your highlights so that the hiring manager reviewing your resume really understands what made you special at your prior workplace.
#2: Tailor Your Resume to the Position
You'll also want to tailor your resume to the flight attendant position you're applying to. That means you need to make sure you highlight the skills and experiences that airlines are looking for in their flight attendants.
When formatting your resume for a flight attendant job, make sure that you're spending the most time on the experiences and skills that'll ingratiate you with hiring managers. It should be easy for hiring managers to tell that you have experience that will serve you well as a flight attendant.
#3: Format Matters
While you don't need to spend hours making your resume beautiful, you do need to make sure it's formatting is clear and logical. Just like grammatical and spelling errors can discount your resume, a confusing, unorganized resume will also make you look unprofessional.
Use clear, simple formatting throughout your resume. Follow the same styling choices throughout; that is, don't bold your job titles in one section and make them pink and sparkly in another. Bullet points are great for organizing your accomplishments and duties for a particular job. Make it easy for a hiring manager to read and understand your professional experience.
#4: Proofread
It might seem obvious, but you need to proofread your resume several times before submitting it as part of a job application. Hiring managers often see resumes with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and other silly mistakes and will dismiss them as unprofessional. Don't get your resume thrown out for a careless error; proofread it before you send it in!
Sample Entry-Level and Experienced Flight Attendant Resumes
Use our sample entry-level flight attendant resume and experienced flight attendant resume to see how your resume should be formatted and what kinds of experience it can include.
Click here to download our sample entry-level flight attendant resume.
Click here to download our sample experienced flight attendant resume.
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Resume for Flight Attendant Jobs
Still have questions about your flight attendant resume? Check out these frequently asked questions.
#1: Should I Have a Flight Attendant Resume Objective?
A flight attendant resume objective is usually one to two sentences long and speaks specifically to the type of job the applicant is seeking. Your resume objective will say what kind of career you desire, and what skills you have that make you ideal for that type of job.
While objectives were once very commonplace on resumes, they've fallen out of favor, mainly because they're more centered on the applicant's needs than the company's needs. If you have a stellar flight attendant resume objective that you think demonstrates why you're a uniquely qualified fit for a particular flight attendant job, leave it in. Otherwise, your experience throughout the resume should be enough to convince hiring managers of your abilities.
#2: What Keywords Should I Use in My Flight Attendant Resume?
You don't necessarily need to include certain keywords in your flight attendant resume to be moved along in the application process. What you do need to do is highlight the skills and experience required in the job description, if you have evidence of having those skills or experiences.
Take note of any words that appear more than once or twice throughout the job description. Examples may be "customer service," "difficult situations," or "flexible," depending on the particulars of the job for which you're applying. If you can highlight that you have experience with those qualities and qualifications, you should include them in your resume.
#3: Is It Okay If I Don't Have Previous Experience As a Flight Attendant?
Yes! All airlines hire people who haven't worked as a flight attendant before to enter their trainee programs. A great way to show that you'd make a great flight attendant, even if you haven't worked as one before, is to highlight your relevant prior work experience.
#4: Should I List My Reference Information on My Resume for Flight Attendant Jobs?
Don't waste space on your resume indicating your references' contact information or saying something like "References available upon request." Checking references is an important part of almost every single job application process these days. Hiring managers will assume that you have references to contact, and they'll reach out to you for that information when they need it (often later in the hiring process).
#5: Should I Include My Education Experience on My Flight Attendant Resume?
Most flight attendant jobs only require that applicants have a high school diploma or GED. You should definitely indicate on your resume that you've achieved at least the minimum educational requirements for the position, and include any higher degrees if you have them.
In Summary
Your resume is one of the first things hiring managers will see when they decide whether or not to move you forward in the flight attendant hiring process. You can use your resume to help get your foot in the door by highlighting how your previous experience has qualified you for the role and ensuring your resume is professional and polished.
Follow these steps, and you're well on your way to securing your flight attendant interview!
