Former opera singer and radio presenter share how they became cabin crew
A former chef, radio presenter, and opera singer are the stars of a new cabin crew recruitment campaign – which aims to tackle stereotypes about the profession.
It comes after research of 2,000 adults found 43% of men wouldn’t consider the role, as they consider it to be a stereotypically female job. However, 45% of the men polled believe they would consider a role as cabin crew if there was more visibility of male representation in the job.
And one in three would be tempted to consider giving up their current careers to take on the role – in order to see the world. The campaign was created by easyJet, which is looking to recruit more than 1,000 new cabin crew this year.
People looking for a career change are among those being encouraged to apply, as their wealth of life experience and transferable skills – such as customer service, communication, teamwork, and people management – make many ideal candidates for the role.
The airline says those looking to change career may have more transferable skills than they realise for the role (PinPep)Michael Brown, director of cabin services at easyJet, said: “Our people are at the heart of everything we do, and our cabin crew play such an important part of that, taking care of a quarter of a million customers flying with us every single day – and there’s a good reason they are famous for their warm welcome and excellent service. All our brilliant crew who are part of this new campaign are the perfect example of how the skills you can learn in all walks of life makes being cabin crew a fantastic new opportunity for everyone – so we want to encourage even more people like them to join us.”
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The research also found 43% believe being a people person is an important skill they would need to have as cabin crew. However, the vast majority (97%) were unaware that changing their career to a cabin crew role would only take four weeks – from beginning of training, to first flight. In fact, 73% thought it would take in excess of six months to train for the role.
Former opera singer, Thiago Beretta’s, background in working with people from all over the world make him perfectly suited for working with colleagues, and flying passengers of all nationalities across Europe. He is one of the real-life cabin crew who joined easyJet as a career change.
He said: “Being an opera singer and performing in a choir for eight years was a great experience of being a team player and a people person, which is an important skill for cabin crew. I love meeting people, and as cabin crew at Gatwick we get to work with new colleagues every day, and meet customers from every nationality.”
Former opera singer Thiago Beretta changed his career to become cabin crew for easyJet (PinPep)Meanwhile, Ian Gilmour spent time on the airwaves as a radio presenter and producer for 18 years, most recently with Kingdom FM, before deciding to become cabin crew. His previous career experience has seen him take his friendly presence on the radio into the cabin every day, to make customers feel welcome on board.
The cabin manager, based in Edinburgh, said: “I had reached the stage in my career when I was looking to do something different, but where I could still use some of my skills and experience. I enjoy travelling and meeting people, so being cabin crew seemed the ideal opportunity. I joined easyJet at 49 years old, showing that anyone at any age with the right skills can become crew.
“In my first week of working at easyJet, someone handed me a birthday dedication to read over the PA as they boarded – and I remember thinking how my previous experience on the radio was going to come in very useful in my new job.”
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