The pull factor of this career is the high income and good facilities. Flight attendants with domestic airlines earn anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per month, while international airlines pay Rs 70,000 to Rs 150,000 a month. The airlines also provide allowance for every flying hour and offer other incentives like medical facilities, insurance, free tickets for you and your family, among others. This career also gives you an opportunity to go to new places and interact with people of various backgrounds. [break]
Another attraction in this profession is the low requirements to enter this field. International airlines have fixed height criteria at 5.3ft, while domestic airlines have been recruiting persons with 5.1ft height as flight attendants.
Furthermore, candidates should have higher secondary education, must be medically fit and fluent in English. They should be in 18-25 age-group for domestic airlines and 20-35 for international airlines. If you are wearing glasses or optical lens, you are not eligible to apply in domestic airlines.
Since the selection criteria are low, there is a lot of competition. You can not start a career with good prospects with only a 10+2 level degree in other sectors.
"I have found that this career meets my expectations. It is better than most other jobs when it comes to remuneration and the working environment is also good," said Ghyana Sherpa, former trainee at Air Hostess Training Institute.
Flight attendants also feel that their confidence level in dealing with people of various background increases after working for some time.
However, like any other career, being a flight attendant has its own challenges. One major constraint is that your work schedule will be unpredictable. The profession requires you to be flexible with your time. You also need to be medically fit. If you are suffering from major illness, the airline will ask you to work as a ground hostess.
There is not much scope for promotion in this field. You will be promoted to in-flight supervisor, who manages flight attendants, after gaining certain experience in the sector. Also, you will not be able to move to a better job after a certain age as there is very less opportunity for personal development in this field. If you want to start another career, your experience in this field will not be of much help.
If you want to pursue a career in aviation industry, there are a number air hostess and flight attendant training institutes in the country that can help you become more competitive. As the airline industry is growing both at domestic and international level, more opportunities will open for you in this sector.
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