Applying to cabin crew after being made redundant from an airline's ground staff: does the airline collapse on my CV hurt, and how do recruiters read it?
-
#1 Prague, and before Smartwings I was ground staff at Czech Airlines until the airline shrank to almost nothing and most of us were let go. I am now at Smartwings cabin crew and I get asked by the ex Czech Airlines ground people whether the collapse on the CV hurts a cabin crew application. Here is what I found and what the recruiters said.
It does not hurt. The recruiters know which airlines collapsed and when and nobody is blamed for the airline's balance sheet. What they want is the years of experience described properly: the check in, the gate, the irregular operations, the passengers. The collapse is a date, not a judgement.
What does matter is the gap after. If the collapse was 2023 and the application is 2026 with nothing between, that is a question. If there is a hotel job or a retail job or a course in between, the gap is a story and a good one.
And the thing nobody tells the ex ground staff: the airline operations knowledge is an advantage at the assessment. Mohamed's thread from Casablanca has it. The gate is where the worst ten minutes of the passenger's journey happen and the people who handled it have the stories.
For the others from collapsed carriers (the Flybe people, the Thomas Cook people, the Alitalia people): post if the collapse came up at your assessment and what you said.
-
#2 Ex Thomas Cook, and the collapse came up once at a TUI interview and the recruiter said 'that was not your fault' before I could speak. The gap after was the question. I had a care home job in it. The collapse is a date.
-
#3 ITA Rome, ex Alitalia crew, and the whole airline is a collapse on a CV and the ITA recruiters hired the whole airline. The date is not the judgement. The years are.
-
#4 Prague, and the ex Czech Airlines ground people at Smartwings are among the best in the crew room on irregular operations. Hana is right that the gate experience is the advantage. The collapse is just where the gate was.
-
#5 Casablanca ground staff, and the worst ten minutes line travels well. The gate people know the passenger before the cabin does. Thank you for the Prague version.
-
#6 Recruiter, and the question we ask about a collapsed airline on a CV is only ever 'what did you do next'. Have the answer. The collapse itself is on the news, not on your file.