Emirates Flight Attendant = dream job? Part II.

It will have been 7 weeks since my Final Interview to Emirates airlines on Thursday, March 27th..
My status on the job page on  EK career website changed into Joining Formalities in Progress last week,which is some kind of confirmation that I was already approved for the job! "Some kind of", because we know nothing for sure, but I haven't heard about anyone who got JFIP status and did not get a Golden Call. I try to keep up on the news from the cabin crew forum, so that I can compare my situation with some other applicants all over the world. That's pretty cool!

Actually, I received two calls from Dubai last week, but couldn't accept them as I was at the meeting that time. Since then they did not call back again.. To be honest, that's not so bad, as I am still seeing my dentist fixing my teeth, and will have it all done soon (apart from other medical tests, teeth x-ray upload is necessary for completing the application after a golden call is received).

I haven't decided yet if I should accept the job.. It is all because of my present job (which is just great!), my husband (I will miss him..) and our plans to have a baby next year (EK contract is fixed for 3 years).
On the other hand the option is to take the job and terminate the contract after 1-1,5 year, on condition that there's no fine imposed. I will get to know that information once I get my contract ready, and then I will reconsider the possibility of joining. That's even already agreed with my husband! :-)

I know that for some, this decision would be very easy to make - this sounds like the opportunity given once in a life time, so why to hesitate? And I totally agree with that! But, first of all, my career path is already on the right track and I don't want to ruin it. I am aware that 1 year gap will not be an issue so much, though.
Second of all, the baby thing. I wanted to have baby last year, and still do. We decided to wait another year or so, because of our financial situation. Since now I have a truly decent job we could start trying! Especially that many of my closest friends are expecting now :)
Hower, it's nevertheless true that this is a dream job so-called (travelling, all the glamour and luxury, wow!). And I love (just love love!) travelling and meeting new people, getting to know other cultures - this seems like a place for me to be...

(Of course, I am also fully aware of all the 'dark sides', and how demanding the job would be! Just trying not to focus on it right now)

Decision made? I guess so... :-) Now I just wait for my Golden Call. It will come, I can feel It.

*I do not own rights to these photos.

Emirates Flight Attendant = dream job? part I.

I have never dreamed about becoming a filght attendant, a stewardess, air hostess...
It all started one year ago, when I spotted by chance on local website (onet) an article about Emirates airlines starting Dubai-Warsaw direction flights and that they were carrying out recruitment for cabin crew based in Dubai. I already had a job in IT well-known company, had been married for a month (!) and had been living in Warsaw for just a 4 months right then. I liked my job, although it was not perfect, and definitely not so much well-paid, but it was stable, and with a future - as IT is a fast-growing sector not only in Poland.

I decided to attend open days just to feed my curiosity. I was absolutely not prepared for what I experienced there! There were approx 300 people, young pretty girls mostly, gathered in one place to follow their dreams. For some of them it was 4th or even 5th time attending Open Days! I was truly shocked, I admit it, I didn't realize how huge this venture could be.

And then it all started....
 and I just fell into a trance by the presentation of the life in Dubai and the life EK cabin crew was leading...
It was so stimulating and fascinating! I started about dreaming about becoming an Emirates stewardess immediately... :)

Sooo, I dropped off my cv, came back home and in a few hours I got a call inviting me for the assesment day being held just the next day. I was very happy! I did not make it through that time and was rejected just after the first 'competition'. I was kind of surprised as I thought I did well (still do!), however, I got over it pretty fast and smoothly.

The whole issue kind of settled deep down in my head and after almost a year I attended AD again. Previous time I had met two very nice girls and we met again on another recruitment! This time I was successful all the way up to final interview, which was huge achievement and I was really proud of myself. One of the girls, Iga, made it too! Now we are waiting for a final decision from Dubai. It has been 5 weeks since I had the FI and it's getting more and more exciting now :)

As this post is going to be a little longer, and the whole topic is quite wide I will divide it into parts.
The next parts will be about my personal thoughts about the job & lifestyle in Dubai, recruitment process and whatever else would come into my mind :-)

Passport formalities & photos

Yesterday I reaplied for a passport, as my previous one had expired months ago. I would have to do it anyway because I got married last year and my last name changed. Normally you don't need a passport when travelling within EU countries, however, I believe I will need a passport in the near future and prefer to have it ready.

To submit a passport application you have to visit a passport office and there is no option for applying on-line. It doesn't matter what office you go to, it is a place of your choice - and that changed, up to last year or so you had to apply in the office of your permanent residency. At first you have to pay a stamp duty of 140 zlotys (full charge) and 70 zlotys if you are studying (that's about 34 /17 Euros), and fill the form. Once you at the counter you provide an assistant with filled application, payment receipt, your id card and two photos. If you have your previous passport you hand it out, too. If everything is correct you will be asked to proceed with finger prints taking, and that's very easy and not messy at all.

What I want to tell you about is actually a tip regarding passport photos. Usually, when you need photos to documents (license, id, passport, cv etc.) you go to the professional. However, it can be quite expensive and some may feel uncomfortable - I know I sometimes did, especially when a photographer asked me if I liked a picture and I didn't... ;-) This time, I asked my husband to take a photo of me!
And it wasn't even professional camera or so, just a 80 Euro Kodak digital camera, very cheap and amateur. All you need actually, apart from the camera of course, is any image manipulation program, such as PhotoShop, however there is a very good free program called GIMP and it's just great for tasks like image composition or retouching. Anyways, after you take a photo and you like it ;-) you have to isolate your figure from the background and set a light and even one. Secondly, you have to cut and compose a photo in a way to meet passport photo requirements (size 35mmx45mmm, head and eyes on certain position). If needed, you may want to add some retouching.
We prepared that photo, then multiplied it by six to fit in 10cm x 15 cm format,  and printed it out in the photo kiosk. It maybe didn't look that much professional (but it was better than many photos I took at the Photo Points, believe you me!) and wasn't of very best quality but it was definatelly enough for passport photo requirements! The assistant just measured if all the proportions had been proper (head, eyes, background, size) and that was it.

This way I spent just 1 zl for my photos (six of them!) instead 40 zl (for just 4 items!)

The procedure I describe is a procedure we have in Poland, and it may very depending on what country you come from. Here you can see how the photo should look like:

source: msz.gov.pl

Starting this blog to share my thoughts and prevent my memories from fading out too soon.
All the posts will be concerning my everyday life experiences and everything else inspired by people and events around me.
Just to let you know english is not my first language, so that constructive comments about the style and vocabulary are highly desirable, but please don't be too harsh on me :-)