My Cabin Crew experience with Etihad ❤

I thought i would take some time to express my emotions and my thoughts of how this job truly changed me, what i learned and some of my experiences from this job. And how this job truly showed me the world, taught me certain lessons in life and made me brave and stronger. The professional and personal skills i gained with Etihad as a cabin crew. I can not express how thankful i am that i got the chance to work as a cabin crew for Etihad. I saw things i never thought i would see in million years, i explored things i didnt even think i would be lucky enough to explore and i handled certain situations as a crew that i couldnt even think i would even be able to handle. I grew so much personally and professionally being a cabin crew, and i will forever, forever, forever be thankful and blessed that i even got the chance to score this job and experience this job with Etihad as crew. Its such a change in life and you get thrown into this completely new world. But this new world changed me, and i will forever be thankful for this, as all changes are positive. Before i joined Etihad i had already explored few parts of the world and got the chance to travel and do other exciting things. But the things i experienced and got to do wasnt even 1% of the stuff i did before. This was on a whole different level. I thought i had seen a lot previously in life before i worked as a cabin crew but i was so wrong. I dont know if it was pure luck or if it was meant to be or if i was just in the right place at the right time when i scored this job. As still today the recruitment process for Etihad is a mystery to me. I have to admit all these middle eastern cabin crew recruitment process are all a mystery to me, and not only Etihad.  I honestly dont know how  even got this job. Many ask me if me who got this job would perhaps know ´´the secret of scoring this job´´. But honestly i dont think no one knows only the HR folks at each company knows. Of course we can dress the part, have the perfect resume, perfect education, working experiences, have the look and all that, but still we get rejected. So i have no idea how i got this job to be honest. Pretty much for approx 3 years i did the exact same thing when i went to these airline recruitment events and i got rejected one by one, until i scored Etihad. So i dont know what made me score this. Perhaps its a cocktail mix of Luck, destiny and being there at the right time and place, who knows. 
But today few years after i look back at that year i had with Etihad and wow i think, that i got to do all of those stuff and experience all of those things. I recommend 100% this job to anyone and everyone, it was truly a ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE FOR ME to join Etihad and work as a cabin crew. I feel the cabin crew job made me so strong that today i can handle pretty much anything thrown at me. All the life skills we had before we joined, gets improved and increase to mind blowing levels when we experience the cabin crew world . I feel this job gave me the skills to be so patient and so understanding. The communication skills i have today i could never imagine having before. There were so many situations that taught me so many life skills. I used to be so insecure and not confident at all  and being a cabin crew totally made me more secure and confident. Because this job forces you to do so many things i didnt even imagine would happen or i would face. Example would be all eyes are on you when you are onboard regardless what you do, and a passenger perhaps had a bad day and would perhaps yell and argue with you. All i could do would listen and make this passenger feel that i understand him and communicate in ways i normally wouldnt know how to in these certain situations. Normally people dont argue with me or yell at me in extreme aggressive ways. So those situations where the passengers would be angry and yell so loud ect would happen often, and thats something i have learned to handle and deal with. Usually i dont like conflict and i would run away from conflicts, but here you cant run away or hide hehehehehe, you just have to deal with this.  I didnt mind the team work we had to do while working, but i learned various ways in working with other people. Each flight we had we had new set of crew, new faces and new coworkers to work with. 

 

Picture by: instagram.com/yarilya

Today that team work skills i learned help me deal with various situations today with working with people. Working as a crew you are never alone, you always have 14 or 25 other crew onboard. So team work is very important while working as a crew. 
I had doubts/ fear before joining and thought IS THIS JOB RIGHT FOR ME? WILL I BE ABLE TO HANDLE THIS? AM I MAKING THE RIGHT DECISOUN HERE? WHAT AM I DOING? I was so scared before joining, thinking what if i get fired for doing something wrong ect ect. Even if i wanted this so badly and this was my dream still those emotions and thoughts came to me. 
But i thought who cares let me try this...i want this so much....why should i let my anxious and worried mind stop me. Cause at the end of the day its all in our minds....our fear and doubt i mean.
  This was the biggest and the most challenging decision of my life when i joined Etihad. The best job decision i ever made 100%. Yeah i was pretty scared for various stuff before i joined but we all are human and when we face such a big change in life we are bound to have those negative, scary thoughts and emotions. So i thought these emotions and thoughts are normal. Challenges and changes are always positive and will help us GROW and open new opportunities for us or teach us something. I had a lot of worries before i joined, worries such as what if people discover i have tattoos and i didnt declare them lol, what if i wont pass the exams and they will send me home, what if i wont pass the medicals in Abu Dhabi and i will be sent home, what if i didnt knew the answers during the briefings before flights and i would get reported and sent home, what if i became lonely and didnt find any friends ect ect....there was tons of fears.....Fears and doubts everyone had once we joined...everyone thought similar like i did....

 

Picture by: instagram.com/sanevanzyl

Once faced with such a change in life, i guess those questions and fears come automatically. And of course obstacles were thrown in my path. Doesnt matter where we are or what we do in this world, there will always be ups and downs. I remember the main problems i had in Abu Dhabi was me not being able to pass the exams during the training, it was so difficult for me. But i faced the fear of failing and i did fail several exams but i re-took the exams and passed them thankfully. I did have problems answering some of the questions that were asked during our briefing before each flight, but that went alright anyway cause you always get another chance and another question to answer.   All of these and more situations taught me that we cant give up and should always face our fears and once we are out of the storm or the situation we become much stronger and we learn. I remember i was a bit scared at the beginning of how i would deal with medical emergency on board, or any kind of strange behaviors onboard cause i had never experienced such situations before at my previous jobs. Well i remember the first time i had to deal with a medical emergency/situation on board, which happened during my 1st month of flying. I was at the galley talking to a fellow co worker and a passenger came to us asking for water and he stood next to me. Suddenly he fainted and i was just next to him so thankfully my reflexes were fast enough to catch him in my arms so he wouldnt fall on the floor. I remember i reacted in a calm way and tried to collect myself and my co worker went to grab some pillows and a blanket to put under his head. Quickly the passenger woke up and was a bit dizzy, we gave him some water and he sat on the floor to gather his breathe. We talked with him and quickly he felt better and we went with him to his seat after a while. Later after this situation the after emotions and thoughts came to me and i felt so proud and strong that i managed to deal with this and quickly helped. I didnt feel scared or nervous at all at that time. This was the first medical situation/ or whatever you can call it...i had to deal with on board. This was first of 10000 to come and compared to other medical situations i had to deal with, this was the easiest. But this taught me to be calm and collected, and handle certain stressful and pressured situations in a professional way. Quickly to think of ways to help others ect. 

 Picture by: instagram.com/pie_jf_crew

I experienced so much happiness, so much love, bad times, good times, tears, laughter also friendship during my time in Abu Dhabi working for Etihad. We got the chance to stay in 5 star hotels where sometimes celebrities and superstars would stay at. We would get the chance to eat exciting different food at awesome cool restaurants around the world. I met so many lovely beautiful and wonderful friends from all over the world that gave me so much happiness. I felt proud of wearing the Etihad uniform and felt proud of working with something i once only could dream of doing. We got the chance to go shopping all over the world and bring back so many fun stuff. We got the chance to use all the cabin crew benefits and discounts all over Abu Dhabi and other places too. I learned about a whole new culture and their customs in  Abu Dhabi, also while we traveled all over we got the chance to learn about other cultures and traditions too. While working as a crew and traveling it truly broadens your mind. I feel this job also taught me to take risks and challenged my perception of things in this world.   Sometimes i would get the best crew ever on some flights and those moments/flights was the best memories we would have. I remember one flight i had to Chengdu, China, and during that time we didnt have many passengers, we flew on a A330 and the total seats it had was 262 passengers. During that flight we only had 43 PASSENGERS. Oh my god on a A330 we only had 43 passengers and it was pure bliss for the entire crew. We all managed to finish the service in record time and we had plenty of time to ourselves to enjoy on board. 

Picture by: instagram.com/xholliemx

We would all sit in the galley and talk, eat crew meals and laugh. I remember because we only had 43 passengers in total during that flight to Chengdu, many rows in the back of the plane were empty. So our Cabin Manager approved of some rest hours for us crew, cause normally we dont have crew rest on this route. So all of us crew in the economy would each take 1 row each and just sleep or relax for few short hours. The flight hours to Chengdu was approx 6hours and 40min. So imagine how much fun we had running around and being silly all of us. We would go around taking pictures of ourselves and each other, we would throw pillows at each other and we would go to business class and enjoy their ice cream. Cause they had plenty of ice cream for the business class passengers left, and not many were eating them. Often it happens when the business class passengers dont eat their meals or whatever, we would go eat them. Cause it would than be in the fridge and not be used and than thrown away. We had the coolest Cabin Manager and Cabin Senior ever and when we have a relaxed easy going team the whole flight would be so much fun and relaxed. But on the way back from Chengdu of course the flight was full so no more playing around hehehehe. Flights like this are very rare, cause most flights are either full or almost full. When we would have full flights than it would be us busy running up and down and working.

Those are the moments i will cherish forever. I have so many amazing memories from my time in Etihad. Again im so blessed i got the chance to experience the cabin crew job and that lifestyle that came with it. 

Picture by: instagram.com/barbiee__j

On days off in Abu Dhabi we would either go to Dubai to enjoy some shopping, or eating good food, enjoy some fun parties or go to the pool. Crew have discount on many hotels in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and we would go to various hotels and use their outdoor/indoor pools and clubs ect.

I also have weird, crazy and not fun memories too, which comes with the job as well. One memory i have is once i had a flight to Frankfurt and we had this very annoying and strict cabin senior that would comment on all the wrong things we would do on board. Dont know if she woke up on the wrong side that morning or was on her period or what the hell was going on with her hehehehe but she would just find errors and would comment on every single thing we did. Even if we would do the right thing she would find whatever it would be wrong with what we were doing. So the energy on board and in the team in the economy was not nice. Once in a while the cabin seniors also have to do so called ´´on board assessments´´ on us crew. We have to do these minimum 4 times a year. Anyhow and my bad luck this cabin senior told us crew in the economy that she wanted to do these ´´onboard assessment´´ on us on that flight to frankfurt. These on board assessment was things the cabin senior would check if we did or not. Example it would be if we have done something nice for any passenger during that flight, how we handled certain situations during certain situations or what we can improve of or what we need to learn more about. What the cabin senior saw in our work that she/he thought wasnt good or we needed to improve. Something we needed to study more about or what our goals are for the future in etihad or if we did our safety security check correctly done during that flight ect ect ect.....
Its a form we later go through with our cabin senior (cabin manager if you work in business or first class)
 I knew i wouldnt get good grades or comments from that assessment because she obviously doesnt like anyone on board heheheeh it didnt matter how perfect we worked or did our best. At the end she wrote very bad stuff about me and wrote that i had done many errors ect. lol These on board assessments actually help us get promoted to work in business or first class later on. This among other things of course. So i was very upset that i had gotten a bad review from her...But what to do, it is what it is. In this job when we are 1000 crew/staff, we are bound to meet fellow co workers that we dont like or wont be able to stand ect. But of course i acted all professional and respected our cabin senior and didnt say anything ect. Cause if we arnt professional we will get reported and thats not good. So once again this taught me to be professional and working in teams even if one person doesnt do her part well or its impossible to work with that person.....we still manage and pull through...managed to work under stress and pressure... 
Times like this than we thank god we work with different crew each flight, than we dont necessary have to meet that person ever again hehehehe 
Having all eyes on you, you truly have to pull through and be strong to do your part. There has been so much i have learned/improved when i used to work as a cabin crew. Example of skills i learned/improved would be problem solving, communication skills, customer service, flexibility, ability to work under pressure and stress,  team work, organizational skills, assertive and punctual and of course being kind and understanding and moreeeeee....

The best choice i ever made in my entire life so far was when i applied to Etihad for the role as a cabin crew and im beyond happy and thankful i even got the chance to join them. Im so happy i took this challenge and did it . 
Im sure i would gain the same knowledge and experiences if i had worked for Emirates, Qatar or British Airways or whatever airline now it is....the job in itself is the same doesnt matter the company. I mention these companies because previously i had applied to them too but got rejected heheheh

Speaking about applying to these airlines and getting rejected, god thats the hardest part...ONE OF THE HARDEST part in my life was these rejections. It took me 3 years and 1000 rejections before i scored Etihad. I did Emirates 4 times, i did Qatar 3 times, i did British Airways 1 time, i even did Thomson 1 time before i scored Etihad...all of this over the course of 3 years. At that time i didnt knew about Flydubai, if i knew i would 100% apply to them too hehehehe

It all began with a dream i had, which i never thought i would ever score. But i chased it like it was the last thing i ever could do, i was so obsessed with it, the fire in me or the obsession turned into determination and the driving force in me. Seriously i just had to score that job of my dreams, even if it would take me years and i would get grey hair heheeh. I would fly back home from assessments or open days crying, after rejections, it was truly painful to lose....and i was thinking what i did wrong...WHEN TODAY i know i didnt do any wrong and perhaps that time wasnt meant to be, or i wasnt lucky that day who knows.

But i regained my strength and started the engines to chase it ALL OVER AGAIN....heheeh i was nuts.....but i guess you know this is YOUR THING or YOUR BURNING PASSION for this chapter in life  ❤ WHEN YOU ARE CRAZY IN LOVE WITH YOUR DREAM.❤

But each chapter in our lives has its own Struggle and Beauty. But truly i feel this job changed me to a much better person i am today. It also opened a new door for me for new goals/dreams in life. So i will forever be thankful for this experience. 

....its totally like a GAME thought...we enter this game knowing we will either win or lose, we buy this ticket aka ´´applying´´... than after we apply its not in our control anymore.....after we do the final interview its no longer in our hands anymore....

Even if its a painful game to play with all the emotions up and down...still its all worth it....cause its the fruit of our hardwork we seek...the reward after such hardship....❤

 ITS ALL IS WORTH IT AT THE END...when you get the GOLDEN TICKET TO YOUR DREAMS
❤

or the positive email you receive that you passed the final interview
❤

Picture by: instagram.com.yeseul_ha

or when your application status online, changes to whatever final status
❤

Picture by: http://livingamongthestars.wordpress.com/

I just felt the urge to write this and share some emotions and thoughts about my time with etihad and what it gave me and what i gained and learned... 
...i hope this motivate YOUUUUU ❤ dear lovely reader to NOT STOP...keep chasing your dreams....if u fall,,,,stand up again and keep walking again.......if you get rejected, dont let it define you....dont let it dim the light inside your heart....❤.....make another light....and let it shine bright inside you...
Regardless of what company you wish to join as a crew

Just dont give up because of the obstacles in your path....you will make it...and believe in yourself
❤
 Dont let anyone or anything stop you from getting there...and never think negative...the road might be long and difficult...but thats ok..cause with struggle we become stronger......even when the storm hit you....just ride it out and come out of it stronger and braver............❤

Yeah its painful and damn hard....but without dreams......what do we live for?

So keep walking dear.......soon that golden ticket will be yours ❤  and a whole different amazing life is ahead of you....you deserve that
❤
❤

From the bottom of my heart i truly wish you the best.....we will see what tomorrow will bring for all of us.....❤

Regards// Cabincrewdreamer
❤❤❤❤