Cabin crew interview questions about money: 'what salary do you expect', 'you will earn less than now' and 'how will you manage on the basic'
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#1 Virgin, ex insurance, and the career changer threads mention the salary question and nobody has written it on its own. The money questions at the interview are the ones the candidates are least prepared for because the forum's pay threads are about the pay and not about the interview. Here they are, from the candidates who were asked and from the recruiters who have replied on this forum.
'What salary do you expect'
Asked at the European and Asian carriers more than the Gulf (where the package is the package). The wrong answers: a number above the published scale (the candidate has not read it), a number far below it (the candidate is desperate or uninformed), 'whatever you think is fair' (the candidate has not thought). The right answer: 'I have read the published scale and the agreement and I understand the structure of the basic and the allowances; I am applying knowing it'. The recruiter wants to know the candidate has read the document and will not be shocked by the first payslip (the first payslip thread).
'You know you will earn less than now'
Asked to the career changers, every time, as the career changer thread said. The wrong answer: 'money is not important to me' (nobody believes it). The right answer: the maths done. 'I earn X now, the first year here is Y, I have budgeted for the difference and I have savings for the first year, and the job is the thing I want more than the difference.' The recruiter writes 'realistic' and the career changer who gives the vague answer is the one the recruiter worries will leave at the first payslip.
'How will you manage on the basic'
Asked at the low cost carriers and the agency contracts, where the basic is the number that scares the parents (Leah's sector pay thread). The wrong answer: 'I did not realise it was that low'. The right answer: the structure understood. 'The basic is the floor and the sector pay and the commission are the income and I have asked a current crew member for a summer and a winter month; I am applying knowing the winter.' The recruiter wants the candidate who has read the sector pay thread, essentially, and will not resign in February.
The Gulf version
The Gulf panels do not ask the salary expectation (the package is published) and ask instead about the money home and the saving plan, in the family question's shape: 'what are your financial commitments at home'. The right answer is the honest one with the plan (the remittance, the amount, the family arrangement), as every regional thread says. The panel is checking the candidate has done the maths on the distance.
The recruiter's view
From Charlotte and the panel members on this forum: the money questions are the realism questions and the candidate who has read the published scale, done the maths, and can say it calmly is the one who stays. The one who has not is the first payslip shock and the month four resignation. The money question is the retention question.
For the candidates
Read the scale (the agreement, the published policy, the forum's structure threads). Do the maths on your own numbers. Say it calmly with the plan. And never say money is not important, because the recruiter earns one too.
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#2 Recruiter, and 'the money question is the retention question' is exactly what the sheet is for and Jake has the three versions and the Gulf one. The candidate who has read the scale and done the maths stays. The one who says money is not important is the one I write a note about.
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#3 easyJet, and 'how will you manage on the basic' with the sector pay structure understood as the right answer is my thread turned into an interview answer, which is what it was for. The candidate who has asked a crew member for a summer and a winter month is the one who does not resign in February.
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#4 Cairo, pharmacist, and 'you know you will earn less than now' is the question I was dreading and Jake's maths done answer is the one I now have: the pharmacy salary, the Gulf first year, the savings, the job over the difference. Calmly. Thank you.
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#5 Lufthansa purser, and the German panel asks the salary expectation to check the Tarifvertrag has been read and the candidate who cites the scale is the one who gets the 'realistic' note, exactly as Jake says for the European carriers. The document again.
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#6 Porto, four applications, and the Ryanair interview asked how I would manage on the agency basic and I had read the Porto thread and the sector pay one and said the summer and the winter and the recruiter nodded. The forum answered the money question for me.
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#7 Qatar from Alexandria, and the Gulf money question in the family question's shape ('what are your financial commitments at home') is exactly how it was asked in Casablanca and the honest remittance plan was the answer. Jake has the Gulf version right.
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#8 @ines2001 the forum answering the money question before the recruiter asked it is the thread's purpose and the summer and the winter is the right answer at every low cost carrier. @charlottecpt the note about the candidate who says money is not important is the one I suspected existed.