United Airlines reopened recruitment for flight attendants for the second time in a little less than three months on Thursday, but anyone with dreams of flying the friendly skies of the Chicago-based carrier would have needed to be very quick.
So quickly, in fact, that United Airlines closed the application window in just seven hours after receiving around 7,000 applications, a spokesperson for the airline has confirmed.
This recruitment campaign was even shorter than the one United ran in August when the application window was shuttered in less than 24 hours and without any prior warning that United was about to start accepting applications.
Those candidates who were lucky enough to submit their resume in time on Thursday will now have to navigate a multi-stage hiring process, which includes video interviews, an assessment day, and a face-to-face interview.
At the end of the hiring process, trainee flight attendants will then spend six and a half weeks at United’s 56,000 sq. ft. dedicated crew training facility in Houston, which features a 125,000-gallon swimming pool for ditching exercises, and a mock aircraft cabins so that flight attendants can train for every eventuality.
Flight attendant training at United certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. In addition to numerous exams and practical tests in fire fighting, evacuation, and various medical scenarios, trainees will have to survive without a full salary for the duration of their residential course.
The airline does, at least, provide free accommodation for trainees, along with breakfast and lunch, and a $140 weekly per diem to cover other meals and expenses.
In the last few months, both American Airlines and Delta have also held flight attendant recruitment events. Delta’s recruitment drive proved so popular that the carrier’s careers website kept on crashing as desperate applicants tried to log on to the site.
After hiring back thousands of flight attendants following pandemic-era restrictions, airlines are becoming a lot pickier this year, and candidates have reported facing a challenging hiring process that is weeding out a lot of people.
Despite accusations by the United flight attendant union that its crew members are being paid a fair wage, it appears there’s no shortage of people clamoring to secure a job with the airline.
