I was surprised to get an email within an hour of sending in my online application, saying I was accepted for a phone interview. I was given a list of times and a date to choose from for the interview, however I contacted the recruiter to reschedule since they didn't suit and had my interview at that moment. It was questions mainly regarding what sales experience I had and whether I had any CRS experience. It lasted for a couple minutes and was then invited for the group assessment interview.
I had to do an online test before the group assessment interview, it was absolutely tedious, with the first part all about your personality and work ethic. The second part was a timed maths and literacy test. It was quite difficult and confusing, so don't stress if you don't finish all the questions, none of the people I spoke to on the group assessment day finished it.
The group assessment day started out quite positive. I was a bit hesitant at actually going since I had read so many negative experiences about the assessment and people's experiences working in store; so bad that I was tempted to just cancel and not go as it didn't seem worth it considering the hard work and stress people have seemed to go through, for such a low salary, which you find out in your phone interview. I decided to go anyway and make my own judgement. The day started off with a video about the company and then we had to partner up with someone and tell them about why you wanted to work for Flight Centre and your most memorable travel story. I really enjoyed the group I was with; some interesting people and all were quite friendly and outgoing.
Sadly, that's where the positives ended. One of the recruiters then spoke about themselves from how they started with the company to how they got to where they are now. When someone asked whether they enjoyed working in store or in recruitment more, the recruiter clearly couldn't give any positive experiences working in store, saying they were still "getting over the scars of retail" and the fact that they love their food and wine, but "I never really started drinking so much until I started working for Flight Centre." I hardly think it's appropriate or professional to say such things to a group of people trying to gain a position within the company. It certainly put me off.
Afterwards, you have to sit a geography and maths test, which I found quite easy. It mainly asks things such as the capital cities of about 10 countries (including Poland, Fiji, New Zealand, England, Indonesia) the national airlines for a list of countries (including USA, UK, Fiji, Japan, New Zealand, Germany), mark the capital cities of a few countries in Europe on a map and the benefits of a coach tour vs. independent travel. The maths part was mainly calculating airfares and percentages for child and infant fare prices and commissions.
While you're doing the test, you get called in for your sales role play. You get given a sheet breaking down the sales process and you get time before hand to choose which country you want to sell and organise how you're going to sell it. You have four minutes to do your sales role play; I felt I done well, but could have done better. Afterwards, there's a lunch break while they figure out who was successful and when you come back, they call a list of names; these people get told to go to another room and those who didn't get called are told to leave.
Really do your research before you apply and practice your sales role play before the day; I felt like that's all they take into a account, not the maths or geography test, to move to the next round. You have to also make sure you're really passionate about going for the job, it looks like you'll be in for a rough haul, from the reviews I've read, with lots of overtime (with no pay) and high pressure, all for a measly $30,000 base rate.
