Student lands dream job with popular UK airline

A Travel and Tourism student from Sussex Coast College Hastings will have the perfect start to 2018 when she begins her career with easyJet.

Emily Khusul, who finished her Level 3 Travel and Tourism course just before the summer, was offered a place on the cabin crew team at the low-cost carrier, after successfully passing the assessment day.

Emily travelled to Gatwick Airport towards the end of August for a full day of physical tests, teamwork exercises, scenario based assessments and interview questions.

“Towards the end of the college year my tutors were asking what I planned to do after the course, so I told them that it was my dream to work for an airline, which is when they told me that easyJet were recruiting for their Gatwick fleet.”

“I live in Hailsham, so joining the Gatwick fleet sounded perfect to me. It was that evening that I sent off my CV and application form, and received a link to the online assessment about a week later.”

It was a busy summer for Emily as she was also part of the college’s four-week work placement trip to Seville. Emily says that her work experience in the Spanish city and her college course helped her to excel in her easyJet interview.

“I had a great time in Spain working for a city tour guide. The city is beautiful and I learned so much. Amazingly, just before the four weeks were up; my boss offered me a job to continue working throughout the summer. Although it was a great feeling to be offered a job in Spain, it was only part-time and I was hoping that there would be a possibility of being invited for an interview with easyJet when I got back to the UK. And sure enough, a day or two after I got home, I received the email inviting me to the assessment day, so I knew then, that I had made the right decision.”

The recruitment day took place at Gatwick Airport and required the candidates to arrive by 8:30am to check documents, record their height and then take part in a range of role play activities and one-to-one interviews.

“It was quite a long day. I got to Gatwick about 8am and I was there until about 5:30pm. I was a little nervous, but it was good fun and I met some really nice people, one of which was also offered a job, so I’ll be seeing her again when we start our training.

The things I learned at college and in Spain helped me so much during the interview. Some people have cabin crew experience from college courses, but I didn’t feel I was at a disadvantage, because I knew I had other skills that I could hopefully impress them with.”

Emily was offered the job a day later and will now look forward to starting her training in the New Year, before getting her wings in late January.

“My training starts in January, when I’ll need to have another medical and complete 3 weeks of emergency procedures and first aid. Once I’ve completed that, I’ll shadow crew members on my first flight and then I’ll be given my rota and then I’ll be flying for real.”