My SQ diary

Journey of a ex SQ girl.

So ever since it was known to my readers that I was flying with SIA, I had questions after questions pouring in my emails, formspring and even now when I’ve moved to askfm.

These questions that I usually get are somewhat similar so I thought to myself that, one day, I write it all down in a blogpost so I’ll not have to keep repeating my answers.

I will be answering them from the beginning of my journey till the end. 

So here goes:

Why I went for the SQ cabin crew recruitment

I’ve actually went for the interview twice. Yes, twice.

The first time I went was when I was straight out of poly, 21 years old, not knowing what I wanted to do in life and my then girl friend told me about the SIA recruitment which was happening the very next day and asked me to accompany her. I was jobless at that time and decided to just give it a try, no harm right? So the 2 of us printed out resumes and particulars at 3am on a Friday night, slept for 3-4 hours and headed to Sheraton Hotel on Saturday morning for the interview. So it was really impromptu.
I passed all 5 rounds of the interview (my friend didn’t) and the final one was the medical check up. It didn’t occurred to me whether I was really up for the job because during the 2 days interview, all I wanted to pass all because after each round I watched girls/guys getting booted out and the feeling of getting through to the next round was really exhilarating.  Just before I went for the medical check up, I decided to call SIA and told the lady in-charge of cabin crew recruitment that I wanted to withdraw my application. She just asked if I was sure of my decision and said ‘OK’. No further questions asked.

Many of you would be thinking “WHAT?! ARE YOU MAD” but to me, I felt that I made the right choice to reject the job offer because I was still young and I wanted to try out other ground jobs. But the main reason that I did not want to fly was because of Shunxiong. We were together for about 1-2 years at that time and he was about to enlist into the Army. I asked myself if our relationship would change if I were to be away most of the time as he only allowed to book out during the weekends. & to make things worse, the timetable of a stewardess is really messed up. Sometimes we don’t even get any weekend off for 3-4 weeks and that would mean that I may not be able to see my boyfriend for 3-4 weeks and I wasn’t ready for that. Some said I was silly to give up a job that many girls were dying for because of: Love. But I say, screw them, to me it is worth it and I’m glad I made the choice because look at us now, Shunxiong and I are going to be celebrating our 7^th year anniversary next month. J

So when I was 21 to 23, I was what you called a job-hopper. LOL. I was a kindergarten childcare teacher for close to 10 months, then an advertising sales executive for a magazine for another 8-9 months.

I loved my job as a childcare teacher but the pay was pathetic. I couldn’t even save a single cent each month and as for the advertising sales job, it was challenging and sales job was not my cup of tea. I realized that I needed a job which could pay me better as I wanted to save up for my future (marriage & house).

So I decided to go try out for SQ cabin crew once again and this time I was doing it on my own accord, not to accompany a friend and I wanted it for myself. Also, my relationship with Shunxiong was really stable and in a good place. He has finished his NS and was working hard for our future too.

What I wore

I don’t know why but this was one of the questions that I received repeatedly. Common sense is to not wear too short or revealing or too casual. I actually saw this girl who wore denim jeans and a tshirt and ZERO makeup okay. And she was at Round 3 before she got pulled aside by a lady to ask her to wear more formal & put on some makeup.

I wore formal attire the 1^st time round, which was a white office shirt with black high waist skirt and low heels. My hair was let down and I had on light makeup. I wore fake lashes.

The 2^nd time I went for interview 2 years later, I wore a ¾ sleeved dress that ended just above my knee and low heels with hair let down too. I wore the same light make up: Powder foundation, eyebrow pencil, eyeliner, brown eyeshadow, fake lashes, blusher and light pink lipstick.

So the key is to look presentable and pleasant. Do not go bare-faced because that is just disrespectful.  Have makeup on but not too much. I saw this girl who went for interview with bun up hair, very blue eyes and shocking red lips. She was trying too hard and everyone was talking about her and I actually felt kinda bad for her.

The SQ cabin crew Interview

This time round, the interview was held at Suntec Convention Centre. & I went alone. The recruitment started at 8am and I arrived at 7.45am and it was already filled with people. I wanted to go early and get it over and done with because the previous interview I went to at Sheraton Hotel, took more than 6 hours!

Once I’ve registered, I was told to sit at the waiting area and then we will be assigned into groups of 10 people.

Round 1 – Group Interview
In our group of 10 candidates, we were brought to a room where there were 2 judges. We were seated in a row facing them and were told to stand up 1 by 1 to introduce ourselves and then have a general/random question thrown at us to answer on the spot. The 1st interview I had 2 years ago, I was seated right at the end of the row and was called to stand up & speak first (FML). So this time round, I quickly found a seat right smack in the middle so that I would have ample time to think through what to say because the questions asked can really throw you off sometimes.

The questions that were asked:
The 1^st  interview: “Tell us about yourself and then share a recent most memorable experience”
The 2^nd interview: “Introduce yourself and if you were a mobile phone, what brand/type of phone would you want to be and why?”

I’ve heard of other questions like “What is your favourite movie and why?” and all that.

So 1 by 1 we took turns to stand up and introduce ourselves and answer the given question. When we reached the 10^th person we were told to wait outside the room and then after what felt like forever, the judges came out with the names of people who got through to the next round.

Round 2 – Height & Weight
Height and weight will be taken and then we will be asked to reach and tap a mark which is supposed to act as the aeroplane’s overhead compartment’s height. I think for taller girls we don’t have to tap it because the person who took my height did not ask me to.

I have no idea why this was placed at the 2^nd round instead of the 1^st round like how it was during my previous interview because there was this girl who passed round 1 but was not 158cm tall(min required height) and she was asked to leave. So that’s why when some girls asked me if SQ is very strict with the height requirement, I said yes. Because I saw this poor girl getting booted out even though she passed the Round 1 group interview but she was 157.5cm. Just 0.5cm shy of the requirement and they still asked her to go home.

Round 3 – Game playing & Passage Reading
We were then reassigned again into 2 groups with 5 candidates each and were told to have a challenge. It was a memory game. There were either Uno cards or Poker cards all facing down and we could only open 1 card at a time to match them together. The key here is not just winning but for the judges to see if we could work together in harmony.

Then we moved on to having a 1 to 1 interview with another judge. It felt like O levels oral exam to me. There are 2 passages on the table and you will be asked to read 1 of it. This is to test your spoken language and command of English reading. After reading, the judge will ask some questions again (Why you choose SIA, what customer service experience you have before,why should we pick you, what are the pros and cons of cabin crew job, blah blah) and then you’ll be asked to wait outside for the results.

Round 4 – Skin check
Again in our groups of 10, we were told to line up in 2 rows to get our skin checked. They will shine a bright light at you to check your face, arms, hands, back of your neck and ask you to smile to check your teeth. If you have bad skin or a couple of pimples, they will ask you questions like is this skin condition temporary or it has been like this since young.

& you’ll be asked to wait outside again to see if you passed or failed this stage. If you passed, you’ll receive a letter asking you to come back tomorrow for the remaining interviews.

Round 5 – Kebaya & walk 
This interview was held the next day at SIA’s sports club and the girls & guys were split into different groups. We were brought to a room and given 5-8 mins to pick a kebaya of our size, tie our hair up and choose the right size of sandals and line up in a row.

This part of the interview was quite fun (get to wear kebaya!) and scary because there are no sizing tags on the kebaya and you’ll have to choose them just by looking at it and keep in mind that there are about 6-8 other girls also looking for the kebaya of their size so some of them may be competitive and take like 2-3 kebaya tops/skirt to try. Lucky for me, both the kebaya top & skirt fit me well but the sandals were too big or too small. The size I needed was with another girl so I asked her if she can go first and then when she is done, pass the sandals for me to wear and she agreed.

We were asked to walk towards the judge from a distance, maybe 5 metres, when we reach the judge, we will be asked to turn 360 degrees for them and then walk back and get changed out of the uniform.

Round 6 – Final interview with Management
This is the most nerve wrecking part because you are so close to getting the job already!! & the thought of failing after you’ve come so far is really depressing.

This final round, the male and female candidates were grouped together again and then you’ll be paired up with 1 candidate. You are asked to find out as much as you can about your partner before going into the interview room. We were given about 5-10 mins again.

In the room, there were about 3 judges from the management team. And we were seated in a row facing them with our partners. So 4 or 5 groups altogether. We were asked to explain to the judges why our partner is suitable for the role of a steward/stewardess. So instead of explaining how good you are for the job, your partner is the one doing the job. And after that, we were asked to imagine if we could open a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would it be and why.

So that was it, we were asked to wait at the waiting hall with many other hopefuls and with our fingers and toes crossed. One by one, names will be called and we’ll go to the desk and hear our results. If you pass, you go to another table to get the paperwork for medical check up. If you fail, then go home lor. I’ve seen girls crying and asking the lady to give them a chance but the decision has already been made by the judges from the management round.

Round 7 – Medical check up
The medical check up was done on a separate day so with the slip of paper you have, just go to the list of clinics provided and wait for the result via phone call.

I can’t remember how long before the office called me but I think it was less than a week or the most 1.5 weeks. So during that period, I had my handphone with me 24/7 fearing that I will miss the call if I’m bathing or something. LOL.

4 months of Training

I wouldn’t be sharing much about what went on during the training because it is confidential. I started training about less than a month from the day I received the phone call saying that I’ve been accepted as a cabin crew of SIA.

We had to attend classes like we were back in school. 8.30am to 5.30pm daily. Best is to keep your records clean, no MC if possible. No leave to be taken during the 4 months training if not you may have to “retain” and graduate later with other batches.

We entered the training schools in batches and in each batch there were about an average of 20 cabin crew. Ratio of male to female was like 1:5.

There were exams, tests, role playing on the food, the services, the types of aircrafts and the safety aspect. We got to try all the meals we served on board, got to jump from the evacuation slide, got to jump into the water from a rather high height in the kebaya, got to perform CPR on dummies, bandage each other with splints and take numerous tests. 

We were taught how to makeup, get the perfect buns or bob hair style and memorize by hard all the airport code abbreviation. JFK – New York, MXP – Milan, CDG – Paris, DME –Moscow. We had to learn the evacuation commands when there is an emergency, shout it out at the top of our lungs and were taught how to open the aircraft door manually and it is one hell of a heavy bitch.

So if you were to fail the exams, you can retake but if you keep failing them you will be re-batched and will not be able to graduate with your batchmates.

Before you graduate and become a cabin crew, you will get to go on 2 flights where you learn as a trainee. You will be paired up with 1 of your batchmates and you’ll be sharing the same room for these 2 flights. I had Mumbai & Shanghai. The training flights have to be short flights because you are just a trainee so no point sending you to the US/UK on an overnight flight.

& guess what, I was a mess when I went on board. Whatever we learned on the textbook and role playing was totally different. When you go on the aircraft, it is the real deal. No one is going to listen to how you are just a trainee or this is your 2^nd month flying so they will be patient with you. FAT HOPE. These are paying customers who expect nothing but the best from SIA so the pressure was definitely there. Even though I wasn’t a cabin crew yet, just a trainee, we even had to wear a badge that said “Trainee”, we were still out there in the cabin serving food and helping customer with their requests because that is the best way to learn. No point standing at a corner and watching the senior stewardess do everything because you won’t learn anything from it.

This is birdie & I after my training flight. See how heavy my makeup was? and how flat my hair was also?! hahaha!! super newbie look. My family came to airport to pick me & have dinner. I love them lah! So supportive :))

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Okay, that's all for now. Will to continue the rest another day. Type until my fingers tired already!!