Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific lines up 600 mainland Chinese candidates to compete for 300 cabin crew jobs after Shenzhen recruitment event
- Hong Kong’s flag carrier attracts more than 2,000 mainland applicants in drive to recruit more Mandarin-speaking flight attendants
- ‘We are very encouraged by the response and the quality of the candidates interviewed today,’ Cathay CEO Ronald Lam says
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has shortlisted 600 mainland Chinese candidates for interviews to compete for 300 cabin crew jobs in an unprecedented cross-border recruitment drive to foster greater diversity.
The airline attracted more than 2,000 mainland applicants in its drive to bring in more Mandarin-speaking flight attendants, a move analysts earlier said would help the company compete for the growing travel market across the border.
“We are very encouraged by the response and the quality of the candidates interviewed today,” Cathay CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por said on Friday after a recruitment event in Qianhai, Shenzhen.
“We plan to recruit 200 to 300 mainland cabin crew this year and by 2025 we hope to increase the number to 1,000 to 2,000.”
Earnings at Hong Kong’s Cathay soar to HK$4.3 billion in first half of 2023
While Hong Kong flight attendants would remain the backbone of the company’s cabin crew, those from the mainland would make up the second-largest contingent, Lam said.
He also stressed the move was part of efforts to increase flight routes across the border and brushed aside suggestions it was in response to an incident in May in which three cabin crew members were fired after they were accused of mocking the English-language proficiency of a mainland passenger.
“The reason we have decided to recruit cabin crew from mainland China is because increasingly we have more and more flights between Hong Kong and the mainland, and more customers from the mainland,” he said.
“It is therefore natural for us to expand our team of cabin crew to include candidates from the mainland … We believe this will make our organisation even more diverse and in a better position to serve our customers from different backgrounds.”
Mandy Ng Kit-man, Cathay’s director of service delivery, said the company would ramp up social inclusion training to ensure new recruits could help passengers of different cultural backgrounds.
“We will strengthen training for the new recruits to deal with different scenarios so they can serve our customers from different backgrounds,” she said.
According to the carrier, candidates looking to join its cabin crew must be proficient in English and fluent in at least one Asian language.
Lam said the job requirements were universal for all cabin crew hopefuls.
“We will adopt the same standards and requirements when assessing the mainland candidates as we do in Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. A consistent standard in terms of language, service attitude and experience,” he said.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific discrimination scandal: why did aircrew behave so badly?
Cabin crew members would also have their language skills marked on their name tags, the airline said.
New recruits can start on monthly salaries of up to HK$20,000 (US$2,550) after the airline bumped up its pay grades as part of efforts to retain employees. Staff can also choose to live in Hong Kong or neighbouring mainland cities.
Cathay’s workforce has dropped by about 40 per cent since 2019.
Jasper Li, 22, an undergraduate from Inner Mongolia, was among the candidates and said he had dreamed of being a flight attendant since he was young.
“I like the diversity of Cathay with many international destinations so I aspire to work in this company,” he said, adding that he was not worried about running into discrimination if he got the job. “The company staff are very nice and friendly.”
Shanghainese John Li, 42, a flight attendant for 15 years with Cathay Dragon, which the group axed in 2020, said he had strong emotional attachment to the firm so he hoped to return.
“I have a deep emotion for Cathay as its culture represents the spirit of Hong Kong. I don’t mind starting all over again with this company,” he said.
Another candidate, Chloe Zhao, 31, a former flight attendant from Hainan province with eight years’ experience, said she was attracted by Cathay’s reputation and diversified culture.
“I am unfazed by the discrimination fiasco. There’s no impact on me. There are two sides of the same coin and we just can’t focus on negative things,” she said.
