So, you want to be cabin crew? You’re certainly not alone. The lure of being paid to travel makes it a competitive field. When you’re one of thousands of CVs landing in a recruiter inbox, many echoing similar experiences, how do you stand out from the crowd? According to our resident Occupational Psychologist and Career Coach, the way to make an immediate impact, is to craft a standout personal statement.
Right at the top of your CV, the personal statement should serve as a powerful introduction and summary of your skills, experiences, and career achievements. It highlights the unique value you will bring to an airline and should ensure recruiters keep reading.
Unfortunately, Hannah finds many applicants making similar mistakes in their personal statements so here are her top 5 tips for standing out from the crowd.
You’ve undoubtedly amassed a variety of skills and knowledge from previous work and life experiences. Your personal statement should succinctly highlight only the most relevant. Within 1 minute of reviewing your personal statement recruiters should understand how your previous experience makes you a stand out for the role on offer and exactly why they need you on their team.
You may want to be cabin crew to travel more, but that is way down the priority list for your potential new employee. They want to know you have what it takes to do the job they’re recruiting for. Look at the ethos, mission and job description of each company you’re applying to. Consider how your past experiences help you fulfil their needs and adapt your personal statement accordingly.
You may have exceptional organisational and communication skills but prove it! The reality is, most CVs make the same claims, so ensure you standout by being specific. Have you had feedback from employers or the public? How do you ensure your communication is effective? Try to highlight how a couple of your previous duties have helped you develop skills the airline is looking for e.g. perhaps working as a customer service agent honed your ability to resolve problems quickly and efficiently whilst remaining calm under pressure. This can all be expanded in your career history section but grab the recruiter’s attention early.
If recruiters got a fiver for every time they read ‘I work well independently, but also as part of a team’ or ‘I am honest, hard-working and conscientious’ they could probably retire after a few years. These statements may be true but they are also vague and do not make you stand out from the crowd. Think outside the box and either find other ways of highlighting your strengths, or if you really can’t then we’re back to ‘prove it’ (see point 3).
Keep your personal statement to one to two paragraphs. You’re trying to be concise yet impactful so recruiters want to find out more. It’s basically a snapshot of the most important elements of your skills, previous employment and experiences that set you apart from other applicants and make you an easy ‘yes’ for an interview. Write down everything you want to say then go back over it 2 or 3 times, taking out unnecessary words, statements and sentences until you have a clear and brief summary. It’s always useful to ask others to look over your CV also to ensure you’re getting the key points across whilst avoiding unnecessary spelling and grammar errors.
Cabin Crew Wings can also help with that as we know how daunting applying for your dream job can be. If you’re not sure your CV is going to get noticed then why not try our ‘Cabin Crew CV Review’ service? Our experts will give your CV a thorough check over and give you practical and actionable advice on how to make it work better for you.