First I applied online. A few weeks later I received a phone call from a recruiter and had to answer a few behavioral questions like: There is a drunk passenger on a plane, what do you do?, There is a crying baby on a plane and other passengers are complaining, what do you do?, What was a significant challenge in your life and how did you overcome it?, What kind of safety feature have you implemented in the recent past?. At the end of the phone interview I was congratulated that I had moved on to the next step. They asked me to complete an additional application covering a 10 year background. A month+ later I received a phone call asking me to take the language test by phone. This consisted of 3-5 questions that are very easy if you are a native speaker or sufficiant in the language. A month later I received a call to set up a face to face interview.
The F2F was held in Atlanta and they flew me over. It was a group interview with approximately 50 interviewees. First we were welcomed and had to check in and give the required documentation. Then they transferred us in groups of 10 to another building. There we were welcomed by 30+ FA's and we had to introduce ourselves to each of them. It is important to know that you are monitored every moment that you are there. Also the interview takes between 6-7 hours which also shows them how you hold yourself in long (possibly) stressful periods of time. After everybody was introduced, we were relocated to a conference room where we all had assigned seating (airplane style: everybody had nametags with numbers like 14A, 14B ect.). After a brief introduction of the upcoming day, we were asked to step forward and introduce ourselves to the group with our full name, where we are from, what languages we speak and where we currently work. In the back of the room sits the HR director that is making notes. This is the only time you'll see him unless you are chosen as one of the lucky few. Some people swear that it is those 30 seconds that a decision is made. However, my opinion is that those 30 sec. are important, but it is a combination of all the interview steps. After everybody had completed this, we were informed that we would be separated into 3 groups (A, B & C). Group A would begin with the interviews, group B with "A day in the life of a Flight Attendant" and group C would do a 'reach check' (overhead compartments), a 'jump-seat check' and pictures.
The interview is conducted by 2 Flight Attendants and consists of 6 behavioral questions and a PA announcement. The questions are supposed to be answered in the S.T.A.R. format (Situation, Task, Action & Result). They asked questions like: Tell us about a time that you had a conflict with a co-worker. what happened and how did you handle it?, Tell us about a significant challenge in your life, how did you handle it and what did you learn from it?, Tell us about a time in a work environment that you worked as a team and accomplished a goal as a team?, Tell us about a job where you had the biggest learning experience and what did you achieve and learn? ect. After you answered the questions they present you an unexpected situation during a flight for which you need to make a PA announcement. For anonymity reasons I'm not giving the actual one, but you will understand the drift. During the flight it is brought to your attention that the Handicapped Olympic team is on board. You then need to create a PA announcement (you are allowed to write it out on paper!) basically welcoming them and possibly congratulating them on behalf of Delta Airlines (not given in the text, but it seemed important to me since FA's are the representatives of Delta and can speak on behalf of Delta). Then you can ask questions and that completes the interview.
After all 3 groups have finished the rounds, all are welcomed back into the conference room and everybody gets 'bumped up to first class' and there is no assigned seating anymore. At this time the FA's that held the interviews will discreetly pick out the people that have been selected, while the others move into the conference room. You are then taken to a different room where the HR director gives a short speech and lets you know that Delta only hires the best and that you are it! After all others are let out the building you come out of the room and all the FA's are welcoming you to the family and congratulating you. It is a wonderful experience! Then you are taken to the other building to complete another application, drug test & finger printing.
