Applying to cabin crew with a science degree at 29: is a pharmacist a weird candidate, and how do I explain the career change without sounding lost?
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#1 Cairo, 29, five years as a hospital pharmacist, and I am applying to Emirates and Qatar this autumn. Every applicant I meet at the Cairo groups is 22 with a hotel job, and I have a pharmacy degree, a white coat and no customer facing job that a recruiter would call hospitality.
What I think I have: I have talked to frightened patients and angry relatives every day for five years. I have explained dosages to people who did not want to listen. I have worked nights and weekends in a dispensary where a mistake matters. My English is strong because the degree was taught in it.
What I worry about: that the recruiter reads 'pharmacist' and thinks I will leave for a pharmacy in year two. That the 'why cabin crew' question has no good answer from someone who spent six years qualifying for something else. That 29 with no hospitality is the wrong profile.
For the career changers who got through: how did you answer the 'why leave a profession' question without sounding like you were running away? And did anyone from a clinical background get asked whether they would stay?
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#2 Virgin, ex insurance at 31, and the question was asked to me and the answer that worked was the honest one: I wanted a job where I was in the room, not behind a counter. Say the dispensary counter version of that. They are not worried you will leave for a pharmacy. They are worried you have not thought about it. The pharmacy years prove you can think.
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#3 Ex nurse, now Air NZ, and the clinical background is noticed in a good way, not a suspicious way. Translate the dispensary into people and pressure: the frightened patient, the angry relative, the mistake that matters. That is a cabin crew CV with a white coat on it.
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#4 Emirates from Cairo, and two in my batch were over 28 with professional degrees. One was a dentist. Nobody asked them if they would stay. They asked them why now, and 'because I finally know what I want' was enough.
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#5 Recruiter, and 'will she leave for a pharmacy' is not on the sheet. 'Can she tell a story with actions and a result' is. Your dispensary has five years of them. Pick three.
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#6 Cairo, and I was a lab technician before Riyadh Air. The Cairo groups are full of 22 year olds and the Gulf cabins are not. Apply.