Dubai – A plastic surgeon’s assistant, former Expo 2020 Dubai staff and visit visa holders were among the thousands of job-seekers who lined up to apply for Etihad Airways’ cabin crew jobs in Dubai on Monday.

Interested candidates had started queuing up around 6.30 am UAE time for the recruitment drive that began at 9am in order to submit their CVs with the UAE’s national carrier. The candidates came from a very wide range of nationalities including Africans, Europeans and Asian.

Etihad Airways had earlier announced that it will recruit up to 1,000 individuals with hospitality experience to join its cabin crew team. On Monday, June 13, Etihad had listed over 90 jobs on its career portal including dozens of vacancies for the role of the cabin crew.

“Etihad is currently looking for talented people to join our team as cabin crew, pilots, finance specialists, software engineers and more… Etihad Airways offers a competitive benefits package for cabin crew that not only includes modern accommodation and travel allowances,” Etihad said in an earlier statement.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline invited job-seekers to register and submit their CVs at Dusit Thani hotel in Dubai on Monday, June 13, for the positions of cabin crew as part of its recruitment this week. Selected applicants will be invited for assessment on June 14 and 15.

Yasmeen Ali Ahmed, an Egyptian national and a Dubai resident since 2010, said the procedure to submit CVs was quick.

“I am currently working as a coordinator with a plastic surgeon in the UAE. Previously, I was a customer services executive at a bank. The process to submit the CV was quick. They just asked for my name and email. I reached here at 10.30am and it took less than 20 minutes to submit the CV,” said Ahmed.

Dylan Tanaka Mudege, a Zimbabwean national, also came to try his luck to join UAE’s national carrier.

"There were quite a number of people. I came at 7am and was shocked as I got ticket number 280. You just walk in there, they ask you to sit down and then we exchange greetings. Then we have a very brief interaction and exchange of greetings of just 10-15 seconds,” said Mudege, who is currently on a visit visa and has experience working in the hospitality sector in the African country.

Mohammed Abdul Kareem, an Indian national, also attended Etihad’s recruitment drive on Monday along with his two friends Mohammed Shakib and Mohammed Mazhar.

Kareem has previously worked at an Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion, which concluded on March 31, 2022. “After Expo was over, I went back to my home town for vacation and came here again on a visit visa in May. I’m hunting for a job now,” he said, adding that chances to join UAE carrier seem tough because many people who turned up to join Etihad as cabin crew are quite experienced.

Shakib, a customer services executive, is visiting the UAE for the first time.

“I saw a news in Khaleej Times and one of my relatives also sent me the screenshot of the newspaper article about an Etihad Airways recruitment drive for cabin crew. My and my friends came to try our luck. I think around 2,000 people turned up today as we got token number 1,774,” added Shakib.

Mazhar also attended Etihad’s recruitment drive in Dubai on Monday. “I have experience of working in India but it’s very competitive here because we saw various nationalities including Filipinos, Pakistanis, Europeans, Africans and others applying for the jobs,” he added.

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