Before we dissect the SAO (Situation-Action-Outcome) system of answering questions at your airline flight attendant interview, let’s just remind ourselves of a few things. You attend an Airline Interview to secure what many people the world over think is the most fantastic job in the world. To become an airline Flight Attendant!
And so the very reason that an airline interview takes place and you answer a series of questions is to give the interviewer or effectively ‘the airline’, the opportunity to employ you as a flight attendant. After all, that’s what they are trying to do, employ flight attendants. Unfortunately for you and possibly them is that you only have a miniscule time frame relatively speaking, to tell them how good you are or would be, as a flight attendant. (Please be humble)!
That means that you have to sell yourself. The best way to do that in an interview situation is to relate the interviewer/s questions to your experience and follow the SAO method in your answer!
What’s the SAO method to answering questions? The SAO system is a formula that airlines use to identify qualities in a flight attendant applicant by the answer they give to a targeted question. In answering a question you will recall a ‘S’ituation or problem, you tell what ‘A’ction or remedy you took to right that situation and you summarize what the ‘O’ut-come was. (SAO)While a good interviewer should identify and draw out the required information from you if they think you show promise, don’t risk them having to draw the required response out of you and simply give them what they are looking for by being totally complete with your answer in the first response.
That means practice the SAO method with any question that you can think of until you are naturally comfortable with it. Being naturally comfortable is also critical! The best way to be natural is to be confident, utilize your communication skills, have prior knowledge, be prepared and answer relative to your own experience. And if you practice answering questions relative to your own experience your believability or genuine factor increases because your body language will naturally be in harmony with what you are saying.
It may seem strange but true to some but according to language experts, your answer, or in effect your message is being received by your interviewer in a strangely disproportionate way to what most of us would probably think.What you say will account to just 7 of your message, and your body language will account to a whopping 55% of your message.
So the message is clear. Take the time to practice and provide answers relative to your own experience. This will enable you to be as naturally comfortable as you can be to display your response positively using the SAO system to answer all questions.