求职空姐实录记

by Leung Hai Ying

铖铖 译

求职空姐实录记

What Really Happens at Flight Attendant Recruitment Days

by Leung Hai Ying

铖铖 译

Friendly? Attentive? Beautiful? Got the potential to keep your head while ushering 300 nervous breakdowns onto an infatable slide?

待人友善？做事专注？貌美如花？还能沉着镇定引导300名惊慌失措的乘客从充气滑梯逃生？

You could just be the ideal flight attendant. But you’ll have to earn it. An international airline receives an average of 15,000 applications for cabin crew a month, not including those in the1)cockpit, and recently I was one of them.

如果你拥有这样的素质，你就够格做一位理想的空姐了。但要得到这个职位绝非易事。一家国际航空公司平均每月会收到15000份机舱乘务员的求职申请，这其中还没包括在驾驶舱里工作的那一群呢。最近我也加入到了求职空姐的队伍中。

When I read the prerequisites—21 years or over, high school graduate, and with an arm-reach of at least 212 centimeters—I think it’s fair to say I was confident, even if that did describe half the population.

当我看到航空公司对求职者的基本要求—年龄在21岁或以上，高中学历，手臂摸高至少有212厘米—我想，可以说自己是够格的，虽说这要求有一半的人都能达到。

DAY 1: OPEN HOUSE |第一天：初 选

I arrive with around 1,000 other hopefuls, but after the initial2)screening session—a group discussion of questions like, “Would you be reborn a man or woman?”—we’re straight away cut to 100. I’m one of the lucky ones to get through.

我与大约1000名满怀希望的年轻人来到了招聘地点，但是在初选的座谈会结束后只剩下了100人。那是一场分组讨论，谈论类似这样的问题：如果能够重生，你想做男人还是女人？我有幸通过了初选。

The next three hours are spent telling us about the airline and also what’s expected of successful candidates.

在接下来的三小时里，我们被告知航空公司的有关情况，还有对于成功求职者的要求。

“To be a fight attendant you need to have nice, straight white teeth,” explains the head recruiter. “This is not like weight, it cannot be fixed short-term.”Check. Four years of3)train tracks and4)headgear have done me some good.

“要成为一名空中服务员，你需要有一副整齐洁白的牙齿，”招聘主管解释道，“这不像体重，无法在短期内获得改变。”没问题。我曾戴过四年牙套，这对我有一些好处。

“Light skin tone is also essential, and if you have acne that cannot be covered, that is a problem, OK?”Nothing wrong with my skin a little foundation can’t fx. Check.

“浅肤色也很关键，要是你有盖不住的痤疮就麻烦了，好吧？”我的皮肤没什么瑕疵，只要打一点粉底就可以了。皮肤没问题。

“Hair must be dark.” He points to a girl with dyed5)auburn hair. “You. You have to spray that with something or change your color.” My black roots are in. Check.

“头发必须是深色的。”他指着一名头发染成红褐色的女孩说，“你。你得在头发上喷些东西，或者干脆改变头发的颜色。”我的黑头发帮了忙。头发也没问题。

“6)Pimples, you must be able to completely conceal the pimples. And no glasses. You need a note from your doctor if you can’t wear contact lenses. But you must wear lots of mascara.”

“痘痘，你们必须把痘痘完全遮住。还有不能戴眼镜。要是不能戴隐形眼镜，你得找医生开张证明。但是你们必须涂很多睫毛膏。”

So far it seems more like a beauty pageant than a recruiting day.

到目前为止，这更像是一场选美比赛而非人员招聘。

The “interview” is a 13-hour marathon broken up into various rounds, each followed by the distribution of slips of paper indicating either success or failure to advance.

马拉松式的“面试”长达13个小时，中间分成许多回合，每个回合之后你会拿到一张小纸条知会你是否取得了继续面试的资格。

One-on-one chat

一对一谈话

At 9 a.m. the first interview takes place—a five-minute one-onone chat with one of the recruiters. Barely anything is7)ascertained that they couldn’t have discovered from my résumé. At the end of it, the frst of the paper slips of death are distributed, cutting us to around 40. I make it through.

上午九点，第一场面试开始了—这是一次与招聘方一对一的五分钟面谈。他们的问题几乎都能从我的简历上找到答案。面试结束后，第一批“死亡”纸条分发下来，将最后的人数减至约40人。我过关了。

1) cockpit [΄kɒkpɪt] n. 驾驶员座舱

2) screening session 审查会议，甄选环节

3) train tracks 火车轨，牙套的昵称

4) headgear [΄hedɡɪə（r）] n. 牙套

5) auburn [΄ɔːbən] adj. 赤褐色的

6) pimple [΄pɪmpl] n. [医]丘疹，疙瘩

7) ascertain [ˌæsə΄teɪn] v. 确定，探知

Team “building”

团队精神

Candidates have to work out two problems together.

求职者必须在一起解决两个难题。

The first problem involves building a famous landmark out of a stack of plain white A4 paper, a handful of paperclips and three rubber bands. Having had a tip that the key is to be assertive but not aggressive, I assume the leader role, directing each girl, but carefully listen to suggestions too. We construct the Bank of China Building in Hong Kong—it looks like a scrunched up jumbo cigarette. The other team builds a beautifully layered Eiffel Tower and I start to worry.

第一个难题是要用一堆A4白纸、一些回形针和三根橡皮筋来建造一个著名的地标建筑。招聘人员提示我们，解决难题关键要自信果断，而不是蛮横独断。我担当起领导者的角色，指导其他女孩，同时也注意倾听别人的建议。我们建起了香港的中银大厦—看上去像是一支歪歪扭扭的巨型香烟。另一个团队建起了层次分明的埃菲尔铁塔，我开始有点担心了。

Math and logic

数学和逻辑测试

The second problem is a group discussion where we need to decide who gets an upgrade: an unattended child, a mother with a baby, an elderly couple, a man with heart problems or the vice president of the airline. I bite my tongue during our presentation as one girl messes up—I don’t want to appear too domineering. In the end, some candidates get cut despite having given logical answers.

第二个难题是分组讨论，作出决策确定哪位乘客可以升舱：一个没有人照顾的孩子、一位带婴儿的母亲、一对老年夫妇、一个有心脏病的男人或是本航空公司的副总裁。在我们组进行陈述时，一个女孩说得一塌糊涂，我对此忍住不加评论—我不想让自己看上去显得颐指气使的。结果，有几个女孩给出的答案虽然合乎逻辑，但还是被裁掉了。

“That girl in the gray skirt was too dominant,”whispers a recruiter. “She corrected another girls’wrong answer when it wasn’t her turn. She didn’t listen.” Now we’re down to 20, and I’m still in with a chance.

“那个穿灰色裙子的女孩表现得太强势了，”一位招聘员小声说道，“还没轮到她，她就去纠正别人的错误。她不听别人说。”现在我们只剩下20人了，我还在幸存者当中。

English comprehension exam

英语测试

This written test is easy if it’s your frst language, incredibly confusing if it’s your second. It cuts the girls from 20 to 10 and once again I make it through. I’ve made the top 1 percent from the original 1,000 who turned up to the open day. My hopes are getting raised, and my dreams of a jet-setting, city-hopping life are starting to become focused, not just blurred dreamvisions well out of reach.

假如英语是你的母语，那做这个书面测试很容易，反之就会觉得很困难。这场测试将20人减到了10人，我又过关了。在第一天到来的1000名女孩当中，我成了最优秀的百分之一。我的期望值大大提升了，我梦想中的乘坐飞机穿梭城市的生活开始变得清晰起来，不只是那种遥不可及的模糊梦境。

Psychometric test

心理测试

At the end of the long day we’re sent home, but the fun isn’t over yet—we need to do an online8)psychometric exam at home before the night is over. There are no “right or wrong answers,” we’re told.

漫长的一天结束后，我们被送回家，但有趣的考试还没有结束—我们还需要在天亮前在家里做一个在线心理测试，我们被告知答案并没有对错之分。

The questions are along the lines of: “Are you overly sensitive all the time, sometimes or never?” Do they want me to be sensitive? That’s good for customer service, right? Or perhaps not. I need to be stoic and calm in an emergency. Right?

那些问题包括：“你是否总是、有时、或从不过分敏感？”他们是不是希望我敏感呢？这对服务乘客是有利的，对吗？还是不对？在紧急情况发生时我需要沉着镇静，对吗？

The next day the so-far-successful candidates are brought back for a 15-minute interview. They ask about my work experience, discuss previous jobs and request two business attire photos and one casual dress photo.

次日，到目前为止过关的求职者们被要求回到公司参加一场15分钟的面试。他们询问了我的工作经历，谈论了我以前的工作，问我要了两张穿职业装的照片和一张穿便装的照片。

This is so, along with the notes taken of the interviews, “the vice president can see how hot you look without your hair in a bun. There is an element of luck to get this gig,” says the recruiter.

面试就是这样了，还有多次面试中留下的笔记，“你不要把头发盘起来，这样副总裁就可以看出你到底有多漂亮。有时过关需要一点运气。”招聘官说道。

I didn’t make it.

我没有成功。

My career pointing at emergency exits and trying not to spill drinks ended before it began, but I did come away with a huge respect for those who do. It is clear that you need more than just a pretty face.

我那为旅客指出紧急出口并努力不打翻饮料的职业在开始前就结束了，但我离开时确实对从事这项职业的人有了深深的尊重。显然，除了有一张漂亮的脸蛋，你还需要有更多的潜质。

The 13-hour interview seems to me to be the key flter. It’s one big stress test to see how girls will respond to competition and long waiting hours. It’s an effcient way to sieve out those lacking patience, since you have to wait hours between interviews. Those who made it to the fnal round were beautiful, smart, bilingual,9)articulate and most importantly, very, very composed.

我觉得那次13小时的面试很关键。这种压力巨大的考试能看出一个女孩如何应对竞争和长时间的等待。这种方式对于淘汰那些没有耐心的女孩很有效，因为在各个面试回合中你需要等很长的时间。那些最后顺利过关的人聪明、漂亮，能讲两种语言，口齿清晰，而最重要的是，她们非同一般地从容镇定。

8) psychometric [ˌpsaɪkəʊ΄metrɪk] adj. 心理测量的，心理测量学的 9) articulate [ɑː΄tɪkjʊlɪt] adj. 清晰明白的，发音清晰的