Back to: Crew Crosscheck

Q&A-Round

Stop waiting for your moment — and take it. While others jostle like gate lice for attention, step into silence and own it with a crew-ready mindset. No perks-chasing. No filler. Just one precise question that makes recruiters lean in and wonder, “Who the hell was that?”

Lesson Objectives

• Treat the Q&A not as a throwaway, but as a decisive one-on-one.
• Identify the types of questions that signal maturity, awareness, and a crew-ready mindset.
• Read the recruiter’s rhythm — and time your strike like a boarding call — not a gate stampede.
• Craft a question that positions you as thoughtful, perceptive, and memorable.

And, just like that, I got hired by Emirates.

Well. Not hired hired. I was finally beyond all that naïveté. But this was the ignition that ultimately lead the way to my success.

As I’ve repeated several times, this process is a slow, deliberate accumulation of impressions, a slow-burn seduction. And what you just witnessed was a slam-dunk impression — mid-icebreaker, no less. And it took me from faceless applicant #97 to Carrie.

The moment I asked that question, it singled me out. And for the first time in nineteen interviews — that attention wasn’t because I’d made an over-eager tit of myself.

When we step into the next round, you’ll see exactly why this moment matters.

Not because it won the game. But because it made sure I was in it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s walk back into that room and unpack exactly what happened.

There’s a name that gets passed between crew at boarding gates with a sigh. Gate lice.

Gate lice is the unflattering nickname bestowed upon eager travelers who swarm the boarding gate long before their group is called. They cluster, create bottlenecks, and pressure other passengers into performing the same ritual. It’s airport herd behaviour at its most undignified.

And, I’m afraid the same affliction plagues the interview room. Particularly for recruitment events with large turnouts such as these — vast, anonymous, pulsing with competition.

Hands shoot up before a question is even invited, eyes gleaming with the urgency of someone desperate to speak first. Not to contribute or enrich. But to claim.

“Do we get paid during training?”  

“Is accommodation included?”  

“Can I choose my base?”

They want to board first. Speak first. Be noticed. But they forget that attention and regard are not the same thing.

They are revealing that their first instinct isn’t to listen, to learn, or to read the room.

As you’ve already witnessed, multiple times now, I’ve led the charge more than once — fielding my own ill-considered questions with the breathless urgency of someone who didn’t yet know how to hold a room.

We’re all doing the best we can, straining to stand out, to leave a mark. And wanting to use the Q&A to make an impression? That instinct is spot on. But, swarming like gate lice is not how you get remembered. It’s how you get a big ole sigh.

Don’t be gate lice. Resist the lunge. Observe.  Listen. And when the room finally exhales — then you step forward with something so thoughtful, so rooted in awareness, that the whole room recalibrates.

Because a good question, asked at the right time, does for you what behaving like gate lice never will — it earns you a first impression that lingers like perfume on silk.

But timing alone won’t save you — Not if what you offer is limp, transactional, or forgettable.  

A well-timed question still needs to earn its place.

So — let’s lift the hem of my own, and take a closer look at how it was stitched.

“How did you find the transition to living in a Muslim country?”

See how the energy shifts?

It doesn’t chase perks — it seeks perspective.

It’s not asking what the airline can give me — It asks: what do I need to understand — about the job, the context, the world I’m stepping into.

Mine was chosen to include cultural adaptation, because:

1. It acknowledged the UAE’s cultural reality — a Muslim country.

2. It hinted at potential, real-life challenges beyond the glossy brochure.

3. It couldn’t be answered with a quick scan of the Emirates website.

4. And it gave the recruiter the rare dignity of a question that hadn’t been reheated a hundred times before.

And, to encourage reciprocation, I gave my name. The first person in the room to do so.

When you enter the event, you’re just a number. You have no face or name. No impression at all. You’re applicant #378.

But with a little forethought, suddenly, you can be on a first-name basis with the recruiters. It’s a subtle shift that closes your distance.

But don’t fold your arms or retreat into comfort just yet. There’s more stitched into this moment than it first appears.

The power isn’t only in the question itself, that’s simply a fancy vehicle. The real power is in the energy shift.

The recruiter’s, active cabin crew, have likely been on a whirlwind recruitment tour. Perhaps this is the fourth event in just over a fortnight. Which means, they’ve stood in four different hotel function rooms, and have assessed over four hundred hopefuls, each giving hundreds of iterations of the same questions.

You’ll see exactly how much it all blurs when we meet the recruiters later.

By now, their smiles are choreography. Their answers are script. They know when to nod. When to pause. When to laugh politely. They know what questions are coming and their ears are tuned to repetition.

They’re detached.

And that’s exactly why a well-timed, well-phrased question works. Because it breaks the loop.  

They may not remember exactly what you asked. And it’s unlikely they will remember your name, even if they say it, but they will remember how you made them feel. And even if that feeling is surprise, relief, or curiosity, isn’t that a wonderful start to the event?

It means your first impression is already wearing heels. Your nameless number has a heartbeat.  It’s a small heartbeat, but remember, it’s all about cumulative impressions and you’ve landed yours before the assessments have even begun.

If you’re a quiet type, like me, the Q&A isn’t just a chance to speak. It’s a softly lit stage, handed to you on a velvet cushion.

For a brief, golden moment, the recruiter controls the floor — while you hold the room. No interruptions. No time limits. No competing.

This is the opposite of a group discussion where gate lice turn feral and good luck breaking through the noise.

Many applicants won’t speak directly to a recruiter until round seven. Most won’t exchange a single word before they’re cut. And that was my reality through nineteen failed interviews.

But this moment? It’s your unofficial one-on-one. And the spotlight is begging for someone who knows what to do with it and doesn’t treat it like a shopping list.

Stop waiting for your moment — and take it. It’s right here.

Remember, the interview is a simulated flight, and the Q&A is your pre-flight briefing. But, asking transactional questions such as “Do we get concessionary air travel?” is no more impressive than a passenger dinging the call bell and slurring, “Do we get concessionary vodka?”

A question about culture, about the lived realities of the role — that’s more like a crew member asking: “How will the passenger with the skin condition in 34B affect service timing, and what accommodations need to be made?” It signals readiness. Judgement. Crew mindset.

You never want to remind them of a passenger. Least of all a gate lice passenger. Always aim to remind them of crew.

You do that by asking a question that doesn’t grab, it offers. It asks what do I need to know to do this well, to serve, to fit, to last?

And after dozens of transactional questions have been flung about like call bell pings, a slam-dunk question, with considered timing, can slice through the room like a sudden depressurisation.

Ready to take this further? Head over to the forums.

Let’s shape your questions into something sharp, memorable, and meaningful.