Introduction
Service workforces are the main contributors to efficient and quality services. Both of these are considered essential resource for competitive market advantage. Therefore, amongst the most tricky and demanding jobs in any service organization including the Emirate Airline is the frontline occupation. In this type of occupation, the workforces are anticipated to be resourceful and swift in accomplishing their set of responsibilities. They have to be supportive and approachable when managing their clients (Schuler, Jackson & Luo, 2004). Thus, it is hard for service corporations to have nearly all of their manmade capitals and reserve organization strategies correct.
A majority of the flourishing service tendering corporations such as Emirates Airline have obligations to offer valuable human capital administration strategies namely retaining, training, motivating, recruiting, and selecting its staff members. It is perhaps tricky for marketplace rivals to have a replica of Emirates Airline high performance human capitals (Bamber, Gittell & Kochan, 2009). This paper highlights the process of employees’ recruitment and selection at Emirates Airlines.
Background
Based in one of the greatest cities found in the United Arab Emirates, Emirates Airline offers air-travelling services to and from North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Middle East. That is, its main activity is to provide commercial air transportation services. The company also provides external services such as cargo, in-flight catering, engineering, and training, not to mention its involvement in hotel and resort development. The company is headquartered in Dubai that is a well-known hub for the provision of flight services. Emirates Airline has rapidly grown since its inauguration and presently employs over forty thousand staffs in its global operations.
Emirates Airline was originally opened in the financial year 1985 and from that time the corporation has received the general merit and consumer services prizes. This is part of its vision and mission though it is not fully realized. As its mission, Emirates Airline aspires to be the best and dominant airline corporation globally. The corporation is fully owned by the government of Dubai. The Dubai administration in part funds service provisions tendered by Emirates-Airline while the other part is financed by private business entities. To go global and setup its business dealings to other foreign states, Emirates Airline was forced to seek business affiliations with universal airlines like Continental-Airways, Japan-Airlines, Jet-Airways, Virgin-Blue, and United-Airways.
Human Resources at Emirates Airlines
Service intensities and the manner through which products are tendered at Emirates Airways serve as the central basis for competitive market dominance and commodities segregation. The emanating strengths of clients-frontline workforce relationships are always considered as essential drivers of clients’ loyalty as seen in Emirates Airline case (Bamber, Gittell & Kochan, 2009). Emirates Airways has attained prolonged market dominance merit shown through its calculated sensation.
Although the airline industry is awfully challenging given its devastating business cycle, differentiation difficulty, overcapacity, structural unattractiveness, and high-risk profile, Emirates Airline has been consistently outperforming its market rivals since its institution (Denisi and Griffin 477). Its organizational competencies that offer support for the delivery of cost effective service excellence were achieved via Emirates Airline supporting capabilities and generic strategy.
To achieve its long-term strategic objectives and goals, Emirates Airline human resource especially the frontline staffs are dedicated to play the core role in offering the most visible service elements from customers’ viewpoint. To achieve its strategic goals, the human resource management at Emirates Airline has reinforced five distinct elements that form the cornerstone for its service delivery excellence (Schuler, Jackson & Luo, 2004). These fundamentals consist of rigorous staffing and selecting procedures, structuring of different flourishing service tendering groups, far-reaching workforce guidance and re-training, workforce empowering as well as recruits stimulus. In most cases, the services being offered are merely outlined. Most airlines hardly deliver the promised services to their clients.
The implementation of these staffing elements by Emirates Airline human resource management makes it difficult for market competitors to imitate their sophisticated global operations. To deliver sustained service excellence and effectively manage its staffs, Emirates Airline recognizes human assets as the most crucial and important facets in any service industry.
This helps the Emirates Airline Corporation to avoid quality service imitations by market competitors (Rogers, 2006). Further, from clients’ experiences, it is evident that regulars often see the frontline staffs as the Emirates Airline Corporation itself. Thus, the Emirates Airline staffs are empowered to continually make appropriate resolutions on clients’ service deliveries and take relevant corrective actions for service recovery (Rogers, 2006). Moreover, the frontline service and general staffs are regarded as the core part of Emirates Airline brand. The way customers are being serviced indicates the deliverance of the corporate brand.
Strategic Staff Recruitment and Selection
To achieve its staffing plan in order to meet its strategic objectives, Emirates Airline puts more emphasis on aspects that relate to staff selection and recruitment (Denisi & Griffin, 2005). For instance, the Emirates Airline human resource management believes that the right people are the most important assets and when any company employs wrong people, they normally become liabilities. In Emirates Airline staffing plan, the human resource strategies begin with a stringent recruitment process as discussed below.
Jobs Normally Available at Emirates
The airline operations and management are determined by Emirates Group. Emirates Group comprises of individuals and businesses that have shares in the airline. The Group determines all operative segments including ground service division, the flights, human resources, the hospitality division and other satellite areas such as maintenance, IT, communications and public relations.
Job Application and Recruitment Process
At Emirates Airline, each job applicant must get through a recruitment and selection process that has four steps in order to join its dedicated workforce. First, all job applicants must submit their applications online. Whichever employment position available in the airline requires minimum academic qualifications that must be verified through production of genuine certificates. After making the online application, the applicant will have to wait for any information from the Emirates Airline human resource recruitment office. Failure to get any response to your application would definitely imply that it had been rejected. If it is accepted, the applicant will be called and interviewed by the recruitment office through telephone. The applicant must pass the Emirates Airline telephone interviews before proceeding to other selection and recruitment stages.
The Emirates Airline Selection Procedure
Like in any other company, the job selection and recruitment process follow a strict laid down procedures. Any person willing to work with the airline must meet not only the minimum required academic qualifications and skills, but also a range of physical necessities. After accomplishing these baseline conditions and passing the telephone interview, the applicants undergo another three round interview namely water test self-confidence, uniform test out, a psychometric assessment and a festivity test (Denisi & Griffin, 2005).
This process eliminates the unfit for job applicants and leaves only qualified applicants for admission. Six months probation period are allowed for the new recruits after the preliminary training. During this probation period, the in-flight or operations supervisors submit monthly reports. Usually about 20% have their probation period extended, 75% getting confirmed for contractual jobs while the rest deemed to leave Emirates Airline.
Senior managers lay much emphasis on the fact that Emirates Airline only looks for employees who can empathize with their customers and who are friendly, cheerful, and equally humble (Rogers, 2006). Thus, the short listed applicants attend in-depth group interviews and language competence to gauge whether they possess the competencies and core values that Emirates Airline requires. This meticulous selection and recruitment processes ensure that with reasonable certainty, Emirates Airline only hires applicants possessing a selection rate of 3 to 4% of its applicant pool and that the staffs have the desired attributes (Denisi & Griffin, 2005).
Final Steps in the Selection Process
The selection processes for the qualified employees follow the interview. Those found qualified will automatically be absorbed into the airline mainstream employees. Before being permanently employed for a position, the applicants must pass additional requirements and application tests during probation. Finally, the employees’ services human resource department will have to contact its new employees in case it offers a permanent position and organize for their movements to any work destination. Relevant work details will be offered to the new employees of Emirates Airline and they will have to sign the essential documents like the official contract form for employment.
Benefits Offered to Emirates Airline Employees
Complete salary package and other employment benefits are also available for new recruits in the emirates airline. Most of the airline employees do not have residence in Dubai. Majorities are foreigners and requires daily flights back to their home countries. The airline has the obligation to cater for their travel and accommodation expenses. Furthermore, all employees receive bonus payment for end of service and thirty days scheduled holiday. Highly leveled workers are befitted with a range of extra employment benefits including pension and retirement funds besides other insurance benefits and travel compensation.
Problems in the Recruitment and Selection Process of Emirates
More often than not, companies like Emirates Airline encounter different problems in their staffs recruitment and selection processes. As per this case study, problems that are usually encountered include discrimination such as in gender, age, and race alongside recruitment and selection irregularities. These normally occur when the human resource managers fail to adhere to the fair and consistent staffs’ recruitment and selection processes. These could amount to wasting a large amount of resources and time as well as recruiting unqualified and wrong staffs to occupy the vacant posts.
Conclusion
For Emirates Airline to achieve its human resource staffing plan over the next years, its HR practices must revolve around stringent recruitment and selection processes. From the case study, it is true that the HR extensively recruits and selects as well as train and retrains its service delivery team. An applicant must pass through various stages before getting employment at Emirates Airline. However, the process of recruiting and selecting staffs is not free from discrimination and irregularities problems. To overcome these, the Emirates Airline recruiting officers must ensure that all vacant posts are publicly advertised and each of the recruitment and selection processes is followed without fear or favor. All the applicants must be subjected the stipulated employment tests. Only job applicants who have suitable specifications that suit the job descriptions should be employed.
References
Bamber, G., Gittell, J., & Kochan, T. (2009). Up in the air: How airlines can improve performance by engaging their employees. New York, NY: Cornell University Press.
Denisi, A., & Griffin, R. (2005). Human resource management. New Delhi, India: Dream tech Press.
Rogers, C. (2006). The cabin crew interview made easy: everything you need to know about being successful at a flight attendant interview. London, United Kingdom: CE Publishing UK.
Schuler, R., Jackson, S., & Luo, Y. (2004). Managing human resources in cross-border alliances. New York, NY: Routledge.