Air New Zealand recruitment process explained by a purser: the assessment centre, the swim test and why they hire older
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#1 Auckland, nine years, long haul purser, and the Air New Zealand section of this forum is thin, so here is the recruitment process from the inside, including the bits that surprise people from other airlines.
Who they hire
New Zealand residents and citizens, and Australians with the right to work. No visa sponsorship. The domestic and regional fleets (A320s and the turboprops) hire more often and younger; the long haul fleet (787s and 777s) hires experienced crew and internal transfers. Air New Zealand is known for hiring across the age range: my training group had a 19 year old and a 51 year old.
The application
Online, then a video interview, then an assessment centre in Auckland (sometimes Christchurch or Wellington for domestic). The assessment centre is the main event.
The assessment centre
A half day. A group exercise that is genuinely about teamwork rather than presentation: ours was a survival ranking scenario and they watched who listened. A role play with a difficult customer, one on one, with an assessor playing the passenger. A short interview. And, unusually, a fitness component: they check you can lift the required weight to shoulder height and, for some fleets, a swim test is done separately before training.
The swim test
50 metres unaided, treading water, and the life jacket drill. This is done as a proper test, not a formality, because the New Zealand regulator requires it. If you cannot swim 50 metres, learn before you apply. Every intake has one person who assumed it was a paddle.
Grooming
The most relaxed of any airline I know. Visible tattoos are allowed within limits, and Māori and Pacific cultural tattoos are explicitly welcomed. Hair, makeup and jewellery rules are practical rather than prescriptive. The uniform is designed to work with that. This is not the Gulf and it is not Asia, and the people who thrive here are the ones who want that.
Pay and the reality
Domestic pay is modest, long haul pay is decent, allowances on the long haul routes are good. Auckland is expensive. The union (E tū) negotiates the collective agreement and it is public. The long haul network is unusual: everything is far, so trips are long and the layovers are real, three to four days away is normal.
Why older
Air New Zealand explicitly values life experience and it shows in the cabin. The service style is relaxed and conversational and that is harder for a 20 year old to do well than for a 35 year old who has managed a restaurant. If you are applying from a career and worried about age: this is the airline where it helps.
Ask anything, including about the turboprop life in the regions, which is its own world.
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#2 Also Air NZ, joined at 34, and everything here is right. The swim test claimed one from my intake and it was the person who had assured everyone she was fine. Fifty metres, properly, before you apply.
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#3 Qantas domestic, and the hiring older point applies to us too, but Air NZ takes it further. Their cabins feel different, more like a café than a theatre. It suits some people completely.
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#4 Perth, and the Trans Tasman crew swap stories are always about how relaxed the Air NZ grooming is. Cultural tattoos on a purser is something I have only seen there and it looks right.
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#5 @nicholasper it took the airline a while to get there and it is now the thing crew from other carriers ask about first. It works because the service style matches it.