Attending an assessment day is the final step in the cabin crew recruitment process.
Half a day, jam packed with a seat and reach test, group exercises and 1:1 interviews. Trying to be normal and genuinely interact with other candidates, with an awareness of the assessors circling like sharks.
Okay, maybe that’s dramatic! But it is a highly stressful environment and you are constantly being observed as part of the assessment process.
I was in the Cayman Islands when I got the invite.
I was through to the final stage! I’d done it! But once reality sunk in, I remembered – I’d have to fly to London for one day. What if I wasn’t successful? What if I didn’t pass the COVID tests to get back in time to celebrate my 40th birthday? I’d be in debt, disappointed and celebrating my milestone birthday on my own, with only the Great British Weather to console me.
Leaving Cayman was a risk I wasn’t sure I wanted to take.
And d’you know what I was most worried about? The seat test. Everything else faded in to the background. I was petrified of coming face to face with a crew seat; my fat, ugly body versus a seat. Can you imagine? That seat would decide whether I got to continue on to the rest of the day or not, and all I had to do was sit and do the harness up without an extension seat belt. If I lost, my journey would be over and the truth is, I didn’t know for sure if it would do up.
Would I travel 4800 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, and risk being turned away at the first hurdle?
Would I trust my body to help rather than hinder me this time? I immediately started a crash diet and scrutinised my reflection for every inch that would put me at a disadvantage.
Like angels sent to help me along my journey, I connected with two current cabin crew working at the airline. Their messages and experience reassured me that it wasn’t only slim bodies that could win the battle – our bodies could too!
With their words ringing in my ears, I chose courage and took the leap.
I was prepared for the seat, but not for the eyes watching as I entered the ring. They wore friendly smiles with bright red lipstick, but were they judging me? Did they wonder why someone my size was entering this competition? Were their bets on the seat winning?
I shook my thoughts away and focused.
In seconds, the mountain was behind me. I was through. I’d made it to the other side. I was free.
I’d defeated the crew seat in one go.
As I left the building that day, I didn’t care if I got the job or not; my desire to be cabin crew had been revived. It’d almost died, but this experience turned it around. I wanted to fly, I’d enjoyed everything about the day, and I was committed to prepare and apply again next time.
The question is: Did I get back to the Cayman Islands to celebrate my 40th birthday?
When I’d decided to board that plane back to London, having considered the risks, I’d reframed the whole trip: I was taking a weekend trip to spend the day at Virgin Atlantic’s Headquarters, a place I’d always wanted to enter but never had the chance. It was a weekend adventure and I’d be back in the blink of an eye.
I maintained a positive mindset, not manifesting that I would get the job, but that even if I didn’t, I’d look back on how exhilarating it’d been to travel so far for a weekend.
Not only did I get back, but you know the end of the story – I got the best 40th birthday gift I could’ve asked for – my dream job offer!!!
And an opportunity that has changed my life.
The risk had been worth it
Writing a new story and navigating the mountains along the way, can pose real risks, so it’s important to weigh up the risk and reward, listen to your own intuition, and commit fully if you choose to move forward.
Your new story isn’t always going to work out exactly how you’d want it to, but when you embrace it as a journey of experience, exploration and growth, every baby step you take, builds the life that ultimately becomes your new story.
If you’re tired and dreaming of more than the limits your body has placed on you. If you keep doubting your ability to write a new story. If you celebrate others taking bold steps and making change, but still feel stuck and limited in your own story. Sign up to my mailing list below – I have something special coming your way very soon and I want you to be the first to hear about it.
Love and Hugs, until next week
Anny x