Last month we sat down with our HR Recruitment Specialist to get to know how she got involved in aviation, how she became a specialist in her field and why she joined forces with us to help as many of you as possible to become a flight attendant at your favourite airline.
Today we sit down with the founder of Elite Cabin Crew, Monika Krajcova (Instagram @elite_cabin_crew). She is the face of our Instagram account as well as the brains behind the operation. Hopefully we will find out a little bit more about her!
ECC: Hi Monika, thanks for sitting down with us. As you can imagine, we have a lot of questions for you!
Monika: Hi! Thanks for inviting me to this, the pleasure is mine.
ECC: So just to start things off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Monika: Sure! I’m Monika as you already know and I am from Prague, Czechia. I started my flying career with Emirates Airlines in 2011 and have been flying now for 9 years. I made my way up to an FG1 (First Class Flight Attendant) and left in 2015 to join the world of private aviation, I have now worked for two different private jet operators for two Royal Families and I am loving every minute of it!
ECC: It sounds like you enjoy what you do! So did you always dream of becoming a flight attendant?
Monika: That is something that naturally happened, I grew up with many interests, in many ways I was your typical student, I worked in a number of customer service roles whilst studying and at University. I would often be a hostess during corporate events and would be a promo girl for companies launching their new products. This quickly taught me how to meet and greet people so I knew I was comfortable meeting new people, seeing new faces and enjoyed the interactions, but It wasn’t until I met up with 2 good friends of mine that worked for Emirates that I began to dream of flying.
ECC: So what was it that your friends told you about working for Emirates that made you dream of flying?
Monika: My two friends started telling me how much they loved to fly, they felt lucky to be getting paid to travel the world. To see places I had only dreamt of or saw in magazines or on TV. They told me about life in Dubai, how amazing the city was, they told me of all the things I could do whilst living there and most importantly they told me how much fun they had when they worked. That they met people from different cultures from all over the world. It’s not often you get people be so excited about their jobs and they told me that I would love it too!
ECC: So, once you decided to work for Emirates, what steps did you take to land the job?
Monika: I started doing as much research as I could regarding Emirates, the hiring process, what I needed to do the maximise my chances and what steps I needed to take. There weren’t as many steps to becoming a flight attendant as there are now but I remember not being able to find useful information regarding joining the airlines. So I did what I could, I took hundreds of photos of myself until I found one that I was comfortable with presenting, I also wrote my CV over and over until I was happy with it and tried my best to be as presentable and as professional looking. I did my best to make sure the things I could control were as good as they could be and read as much as I could regarding the assessment days but I remember being very disappointed in how little information was available online regarding joining the airlines.
ECC: You must have done something right as you were hired in the end! So now you get hired and you fly to Dubai, how did you find it?
Monika: Dubai was amazing, I loved my accommodation, I lived in a building called 21st Century which is just off Sheikh Zayed Road. It was close to all the hotspots, Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and close to the beach! I loved the lifestyle and spending my time off discovering new parts of the city. Dubai was everything I expected and in so many ways more. It became my home away from home, not just the place I worked at. Most importantly, I loved the job, the travelling and getting new destinations in my roster every month.
ECC: Did you have any favourite destinations? Monika: There are so many, but my top three would have to be Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Mauritius.
ECC: What about challenges, was there anything you wish you had known more about before?
Monika: I quickly learned that you can’t treat everyone the same way, we all have different cultures and customs, communicating with a passenger that does not speak your language can be an interesting experience and I speak three! (Czech, Spanish and English). Some things can be lost in translation but It’s also a great opportunity to learn new things and to be exposed to things you’ve never experienced before. Turn arounds and night flights can also be tough!
ECC: Is this because of the jetlag? Monika: Yes, jetlag can be tough on you, some people adjust to it better than others but your sleep can suffer if you don’t look after yourself. Scheduling can also make a big difference; you may be getting up at 2am for a 5am flight and 2 days later you are working and overnight flight in a different time zone. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun but these are things that you will come across.
ECC: Fair enough, so what made you decide to go into the world of private aviation? Monika: I had been flying for over 5 years at this stage and had progressed into the first class cabin, I had always been interested in private aviation and realised that I had built enough experience to be considered an applicant. Private aviation also has a different scheduling system, meaning that you are often on longer flight duty periods, you are also getting longer off duty periods. Allowing you to do more with your off-duty time.
ECC: So how did you go about getting yourself a role in private aviation? Monika: I repeated similar steps to the ones I took to join Emirates, namely I researched as much as I could. I updated and polished my CV with all my latest experience and qualifications, changed my photo to better suit the criteria in the private aviation sector and asked as many contacts as I could for help and more information. I did again find that there wasn’t much information readily available online regarding how to land the perfect job, what to do in each of the recruitment steps. I was then hired by the Jordanian Royal Family but the experience of not having enough information stuck with me.
ECC: So, is this how Elite Cabin Crew began? Monika: The idea definitely came from my own personal experience, once I was hired by the Royal Jordanian Family, I began to receive questions from a lot of friends and contacts. All asking me the same questions. This is when I realised that there must be thousands of people going through the same process, having the same questions and needing the same information but it wasn’t until I changed jobs and started working for members of the Saudi Royal Family that I had concrete confirmation that the knowledge I had gathered was correct and effective. I have been helping scores of people since, most going on to getting hired by airlines and private aviation companies through our products and services.
ECC: Is there any advice you wish to give our aspiring Flight Attendants? Monika: Yes! Preparation is the key to success, whether its preparing for your CV, assessment day, safety procedures or preparing for a flight. The job is about being ready for any situation to arise and once hired your preparation and training will not stop. I would also encourage everyone to take advantage of their travelling benefits as much as possible once they are hired.
ECC: It was great to talk to you Monika, let’s talk again soon! Monika: Thank you, this was fun, I really enjoyed it!
A big thank you to Monika for taking the time to talk to us, we will be talking to her soon with more juicy details regarding flying. What a normal day looks like, how she trains new VVIP flight attendants on the job and much, much more. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to sign up to our social media channels for the latest updates. For our free eBook please register your email address with us and do check out our tailor-made products and services designed to best prepare you for a career in the skies with us! Until next time, stay safe and remember, we are all in this together!
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