|
|
|
|
| HOME > Career Stories > Phyllis Li |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
* The interview was conducted in Jun 2004
Bachelor of Science (Biology), HKU, 2000 Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd - Flight Attendant, 01/2003 - present Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd - Customer Services Executive, 10/2001 - 01/2003 Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd - Flight Attendant, 10/2000 - 10/2001
About 1.5 hours before departure all Flight Attendants have to attend a briefing, at which the In-flight Service Manager will introduce the objective, procedures and special points to note for that particular flight. For example, any special guest will attend the flight and corresponding preparations have to be made. The briefing is followed by ground preparation i.e. checking safety equipment to make sure there are no defects and checking meal sets to ensure that there are sufficient and correct sets for the passengers.
After boarding, we welcome the passengers; help them store their luggage in the overhead compartments or other proper places; distribute landing cards, menu cards, etc. We also confirm with passengers with special requests, e.g. vegetarian meals, that their requests are being attended to. Afterwards we distribute drinks, snacks, headphones, blankets, pillows, gifts and other supplies to the passengers according to the schedule given at the briefing session. Cathay Pacific's objective is "Safety First". Therefore, throughout the journey, we have to pay full attention to the safety of the flight and passengers. For example, we need to make sure the dining carts and the dishes are kept in safe place and would not cause danger to the passengers. What do you do in your spare time before the return journey? It is wholly my rest time and I would go shopping, meeting with friends, etc.
Usually I have 4-5 round trips a month, including long and short distance flights. For long distance flight such as trip to London, we would stay there for about 5 days. Then we will have a rest period of 3-4 days after returning to Hong Kong. For shorter distance such as going to Taiwan or Singapore, we would stay 1-2 days there, followed by a rest period of 1-2 days.
The biggest challenge is coping with passengers who have a lot of requests. Since they are our guests I cannot disappoint them but I have to listen to them patiently and do my best. Therefore controlling your own emotion is very important. One of the challenging passengers whom I managed to satisfy was one who got phobia when going on board. The Flight Captain and I tried our best to comfort him. Finally the flight took off successfully after being delayed for 1.5 hours.
The thing that I enjoy most is the new friends whom I constantly meet in the course of my work. On every flight we work with different crews of colleagues; therefore I have the chance to know people from different countries and of different personalities. For example, I have now made friends with people from many Asian countries, including Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. Another satisfying aspect of my work is hearing passengers say "thank you", or seeing them give us a pleasant smile. It makes me feel recharged after an exhausting and busy flight.
I like working with people more than working with documents. This career allows me to face and communicate with many people everyday, which I find most enjoyable. This job also fulfills my desire of learning the culture and knowledge of different countries.
He / she must enjoy meeting with different kinds of people. He / she has to be outgoing and like to work as a team. Politeness is also essential.
I would like to continue to develop my career in Cathay Pacific by doing my best on every flight to earn a good performance evaluation report from the section leader. My immediate goal is to keep on improving myself and provide professional in-flight service. On every flight, we are being evaluated on our service performance, teamwork spirit, event handling performance, etc.
Language ability is very important because you have to serve passengers from different countries. The working language is English, even with fellow Cantonese speakers, as it is impolite to exclude non-Cantonese speakers from your conversation. Putonghua is increasing in importance because more and more passengers speak Putonghua nowadays. Apart from language ability, the person must also have good communication and interpersonal skills. Personal qualities such as teamwork, being easygoing and open-minded, optimistic and good-tempered are also important. Moreover, he / she should be ready to accept new knowledge, new challenges and be good at handling unexpected cases, for example fire alert and unstable flight due to airflow or bad weather. Above all, the person must enjoy working in the service industry. You probably have realised why these skills and personal attributes are important from the examples that I gave in the earlier answers.
The Cathay Pacific website provides a lot of information for those who would like to know more about this industry. Besides, recently there is a TV programme "City to the Sky" produced by RTHK which talks about different aspects of the Flight Industry. The programme is aired every Friday evening on TVB Pearl at 6:30pm.
There are 3 rounds of selection procedures:
Remember always say "thank you" and "please". In our workplace they are called "the magic words". Keep smiling on your face, no matter you are being challenged or rejected. During group interview, when you are disagreed by someone, don't just think of fighting back with him / her. You may take it easy by accepting his / her idea and, at the same time, try to defend yourself mildly. The interviewer will judge on your teamwork spirit and attitude when coping with other people.
|
|||
