South African applying to Emirates and Qatar from Durban with a waitressing background: the Joburg open day plan, the documents, the questions
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#1 Durban, four years waitressing at a decent restaurant, and I have both Emirates and Qatar applications in with a Johannesburg open day for one of them next month. I have read the whole getting hired section twice. This is what I have and what I still do not know, for the other South Africans who message me on here.
What I have sorted
Passport with more than two years on it. Matric certificate and the hospitality certificate, both with certified copies. A police clearance from SAPS, which took six weeks, so if you have not started it, start it today. A proper photo done at a studio in the Emirates style, full length and head and shoulders, plain background, red lipstick, hair in a bun. A CV rewritten so every line is about customers, numbers and problems, not duties. Answers to the standard competency questions written out in full and then practised out loud until they take about two minutes each.
The Joburg plan
Flying up the day before, staying near the hotel where the open day is, arriving at 6:30 for an 8:00 start because the Joburg days are big. Flats in the bag, heels on for the day. Documents in a folder in the order they ask for them. Water and a small snack because the day runs to the evening.
What I still do not know
- The South African specific document question: do they ask for anything beyond passport, matric, police clearance and the photo? I have seen 'apostilled certificates' mentioned and I do not know if that is at the open day or after the call.
- Do they care that the restaurant was not a hotel? Waitressing is customer service by definition but I keep reading 'hospitality' and wondering if they mean hotels specifically.
- The reach test at 212: I am 165 and reach 215, so I think I am fine, but I have heard they measure in a specific way.
- For South Africans who joined: how did the family separation feel at month three? My mother is the reason I have not applied before.
And if there is anything about the Joburg days specifically that is different from the other cities, I would love to know it before I get there.
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#2 South African, Emirates, joined from Cape Town. The apostille is after the call, not at the open day. The open day wants passport, certificates, the photo and the CV, and that is it. Waitressing is exactly what they mean by hospitality, I was a waitress at a wine farm. Your reach is fine. The Joburg day I did had 250 people and a first cut of more than half. Get there early, be kind in the queue, they are watching the queue.
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#3 Also South African at Emirates, two years, from Joburg. On your question four: month three was hard. I called my mother every day and then every other day and now every Sunday, and she visits on staff travel once a year. It gets normal. You do not stop missing them. You get better at carrying it.
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#4 @marcusdxb thank you, that is the honest answer I needed. Every Sunday I can promise her.
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#5 Ex BA, Cape Town now, and I want to add: the police clearance timing is the thing that trips South Africans after the golden call. Six weeks is normal, ten is not unusual. You have done it early. Well done. Most people do not.
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#6 Ghanaian, applying, and the African applicant experience is so similar across the continent. The document delays, the family question, the photo. Following this thread for the Joburg report afterwards.
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#7 Accra, aspiring, and I have saved this post as a checklist. The photo studio detail is the kind of thing nobody writes down.
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#8 One more Joburg specific thing: the hotel car park fills up and the queue wraps around the building. People who arrive at 7:45 for an 8:00 start end up at the back and get seen last, tired. Your 6:30 plan is right.