Performing well under pressure is all about your mental state. Some people seem to thrive under pressure, while others seem to crumble. We all have the ability to learn psychological strategies to help us perform at our peak in high pressure situations.

This is an unknown but critical aspect to the fight attendant interview. Recruiters know that you are stressed, nervous, excited, and worried…  and possibly all at the same time! But, how you handle this pressure is indicative of how you may handle yourself during the pressure of an onboard emergency, or perhaps with a difficult passenger. Your emotions need to be managed to prevent inappropriate or unprofessional reactions.  

Being an athlete, formerly, I love using sports analogies, particularly for an interview situation. As you probably know, flight attendant interviews are some of the most involved and competitive in the world, so why not approach it as you would any other competition? You wouldn’t go into a piano recital without knowing your music solidly. You wouldn’t run a race without prior practice and preparation. And, you shouldn’t go into an interview without the same attention to your mental state.

Martin Turner, a well-known sport psychologist explains [that we won’t perform optimally unless we get into “the challenge state.” A challenge state enhances our performance, while a threat state interferes with our abilities. In high pressure situations, many demands are placed on us. When we are in a challenge state we are able to meet those demands. To get into a challenge state, we need to increase our levels of self-confidence, perceptions of control, and focus on success].

Turner also explains that the only way to meet the demands of a high pressure situation is to have resources to hand, which include a variety of skills to help enhance performance. Some of these include:

• Imagery — we’ve all heard about the power of visualization, but where most people go wrong is lingering on the self-doubts and worry that pop into our heads and cause us to imagine ourselves failing miserably. We entertain worst-case scenarios and visualize embarrassing outcomes. Instead of imagining negative outcomes, use visualization in a positive manner to recreate past performances and/or rehearse future performances in your head. The imagery should be made as realistic as possible by including sights, sounds, smells, feelings, etc. Visualizing a successful performance instills confidence in your ability to perform at your best.

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• Self-Talk — Conversations you have with yourself leading up to you performance will influence how you behave. If you spend your time thinking, “she’s a better candidate than I am,” or “I hope i don’t forget something,” or “I’m going to fail,” or “they’ll see how nervous I am,” you will inadvertently cause not just psychological changes, but also physiological changes that can interfere with your performance.  Things like, a racing heart, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, are not going to help your speaking voice and you’ll have less attention to be able to focus on your presentation. Instead, structure your self-talk in a way that will help you feel more positive. Choose phrases you can repeat to yourself to help you stay focused on success, such as: “I have what it takes,” “I am the best fit for this job,” “They are going to love me,” “I am calm under pressure.”

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• Pre-performance routines — How you spend your time leading up to your interview will influence your chances of success. If you allow yourself to pace around the room nervously, you may increase your anxiety level to the point that it threatens your ability to perform optimally. Instead, create a routine that will keep your head in the game and help you to feel better prepared. Pre-performance routines condition the mind to react well to pressure. Some people listen to music, some drink coffee, some get themselves psyched up just prior to the interview. Whatever your routine, find what works for you - to help you become calm, confident, and present in the moment, and stay consistent with it to create a level of comfort when you are out of your comfort zone and help you stay in control of your mental state.

Like physical strength, mental strength requires healthy habits, exercise and hard work. Learning how to embrace a happier outlook enables you to deal with difficulties, setbacks, and pressures. It is about empowering yourself to overcome life’s challenges, and in our specific case, it is about empowering yourself with tools to succeed in your flight attendant interview.

In addition to these 3 performance enhancement skills are daily life skills we can adopt to help these things become a habit for us. When they become habitual, they are more easily relied upon when needed. 9 daily mental skills are suggested below, necessary for top performance situations:



9 mental skills necessary for top performance situations

1. Attitude:
   1. is a choice!
   2. needs to be positive
   3. views challenges as opportunities to compete against self and grow from successes or failures
   4. pursues excellence, not perfection
   5. shows respect for self and others
   6. balances perspectives between self and pursuits
2. Motivation:
   1. be aware of rewards and benefits expected to experience
   2. ability to persist through difficult tasks and circumstances, particularly when rewards/benefits are not immediately forthcoming
   3. realize benefits come from participation, not the outcome
3. Goals & Commitment:
   1. Set goals that are realistic, measurable, and time-oriented
   2. aware of current performance levels and are able to develop specific plans for attaining goals
   3. highly committed to goals and carrying out daily demands required
4. People Skills:
   1. Realize you are part of a larger social system or group
   2. Communicates thoughts, feelings, and needs appropriately to people and listens to others
   3. Have learned effective skills for dealing with conflict, difficult situations, and other people when they are negative or oppositional
5. Self-Talk:
   1. Maintains self-confidence during difficult times with realistic, positive self-talk
   2. Talks to self as they would a best friend
   3. Uses self-talk to regulate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during competitive challenges
6. Mental Imagery:
   1. Prepare for competition by imagining self performing well
   2. Creates mental images that are detailed, specific, and realistic
   3. Uses imagery during competition situations to prepare for action, recover from errors and/or poor performance
7. Dealing Effectively with Anxiety:
   1. Accept anxiety as part of the journey
   2. Realize some degree of anxiety can help boost performance
   3. Knows how to reduce anxiety when it becomes too strong, without losing focus
8. Dealing Effectively with Emotions:
   1. Accept strong emotions, such as excitement, anger, and disappointment, as part of the interview experience
   2. Able to use these emotions to improve, rather than interfere, with high level of performance
9. Concentration:
   1. Know you must pay attention during each situation
   2. Learn how to maintain focus and resist distractions - whether from outside environment or from within self
   3. Able to regain focus when concentration is lost
   4. Are “present” in your life, playing in the here and now, rather than regarding past events or anticipating future ones 

On-time performance is the key to success in the aviation industry and nothing less is expected from you. Punctuality to your appointments, interview, and job show both respect and responsibility. Your airline will be depending on you to show up on time without needing reminders and regardless of any excuses. Being able to show an “on-time performance” history in your experience will illustrate you are reliable and accountable. 

Most successful flight attendants adopt a “backup for the backup” policy, meaning that in order to ensure they get to work on time, in case their first plan to get to work fails, they have a backup. Many traditional jobs require this way of thinking.... for example, planning to leave 30 minutes early in case you hit traffic. The aviation industry is not as forgiving as most other workplaces and because of this, crew members always have a second back up plan in case their first backup plan and their original plan don't work out - hence, a backup for the backup. 

Essentially, having 2 backup plans along with a first option - allowing for 3 minimum options to get to work on time is a best practice for crew members who want to keep their job. Sometimes this means traveling to work a day or two early, or taking the earliest option for commuting into to work whether via plane, train, taxi, or subway. Either way, ensure you are early for your report time and allow for the time to get to your crew lounge after parking your car, or arriving via other transportation.

Seem a bit over the top? Well, trust me....you'll employ this philosophy yourself, no problem, once you're hired and the understanding of how important on-time is in this industry finally dawns on you. 

Interview tip:
Make a quick list of 1-2 previous experiences you’ve had that required you to be on-time, or where being on-time was an important factor in accomplishing your responsibilities. List the job/experience, then next to it explain why being on time was crucial for the success of the event or how it would affect your employer/leader negatively or positively.

Underneath that I want you to write down what you did well in that experience and also what you did poorly. Then write a simple prescription for what you could have done to change or improve (even if your response is positive) that event.

Here are some questions to reflect on:

1. How did my on-time performance affect this experience/situation?
2. What did I do poorly that contributed negatively to my performance?
3. What did I do well that contribute positively to my performance?
4. What, if anything, would I do differently and why?

As you answer these questions, you should become aware of your mindset or personal philosophy as you pen your answers to paper. Sometimes that can be a real wake-up call for people. We don't always realize why we do things, or what roadblocks we've put in front of ourselves and often blame something in our external world.

Here's the truth.....you're 100% responsible for the results of your actions. 

Sound harsh? It's not.... and here's why:

Everything that happens in our life we have a choice over. A choice to plan ahead. A choice in how we will respond. Airlines are HUGE on personal accountability and that means, if you left late because you snoozed your alarm because you didn't get to bed on time the night before and encountered heavy traffic on your way into work, stopped for coffee anyway, and showed up to work 7 minutes late, are you the kind of person who thinks,  what's the big deal?

You'll get fired from your airline job by the 3rd time you let something like that happen. Here's how the airlines - and your inflight supervisor - sees it:

You chose to snooze your alarm instead of get out of bed. (You have no personal responsibility). You chose to leave late to work and as a result, encountered heavy traffic. (your personal responsibility). You stopped for coffee anyway causing an even further delay. (again...where is your personal responsibility?). You could have chosen to get up on time, or you could have chosen to leave earlier. You could have chosen to skip the coffee... etc. Bottom line is you are in charge of you. And at the airlines, it's up to you to make it happen.

If this sounds crazy to you - I task you with interviewing as many crew members as you can and you'll see they will confirm what I am telling you. Being late is a big deal and cause for dismissal at an airline. If you're in the habit of showing up when you feel like it, or are otherwise chronically late as many women are, you're going to need to adjust this personality trait. Practice being on time. Actually, if you're chronically late, practice being 5 minutes early - make that your deadline. Stake your life on it - make it that important. And if necessary, start employing a backup plan. Or even a "backup for the backup" if need be. Whatever it takes. You need to master this skill and prove you have it working in your life and experiences already.