For all the talk we hear in the United States and Europe of airline industry labor shortages, here’s a contrast to that…
In this post:
Qatar Airways’ wild job fair in Mumbai
Qatar Airways is currently running a global recruitment drive, described by the airline as “the biggest talent acquisition in the history of the airline industry.” In particular, Qatar Airways is hiring a “significant number of new employees from India to support its global operations,” for a variety of roles. These roles are with Qatar Airways, Qatar Duty Free, Qatar Aviation Services, and more.
This comes not only as we see a big increase in demand for global travel, but also ahead of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. As part of this plan, the airline has an open recruitment event at the Hilton Mumbai September 29-30, 2022.
So, how did the first day of that event go today? Well, there was so much interest that I think the whole thing can just be described as chaos. The lines were so long that you’d think people were lining up for the greatest Black Friday sale ever. People had to be sent away, and obviously that left a lot of people frustrated, since people traveled from far away to attend this event.
Below are some videos from outside the Hilton Mumbai, which I think give you a good sense of how this event went. I feel bad for anyone who attended but then dealt with this, and also feel bad for any hotel guests who got caught up in all of this.
Ultimately this interest isn’t so surprising
Given the dynamics of how Gulf countries work, a vast majority of the labor market is imported from other countries. This presents a huge competitive advantage when it comes to hiring:
- There aren’t labor shortages everywhere, and you don’t have to deal with the issue of work permits, as in other countries
- For people from many countries, the pay in Gulf countries is significantly better than what they could make in their home country, not to mention it’s potentially great job experience
Interestingly Qatar Airways allegedly doesn’t even have a pilot shortage, unlike the rest of the industry. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker has said that the Doha-based airline has had no issue hiring pilots — in mid-2022, he claimed that the airline received over 20,000 applications for just 700 spots, and that all of those applicants were qualified and type-rated.
Bottom line
When US airlines host recruitment events nowadays, not all that many people show up, and they seemingly can’t hire fast enough. Meanwhile when Qatar Airways hires in Mumbai, they might as well shut down the streets. While I’ve heard of some busy airline recruitment events, I’ve never seen something like this before.
What do you make of this Qatar Airways recruitment drive?
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for interest in progressing your career at Qatar Airways Group.
We appreciate your time and energy you invested in applying for the “QR Global Recruitment – Mumbai Event”.
We’ve reviewed your application and your relevant experiences. However, after careful consideration, we regret to inform you that you have not been successful on this occasion.
Unfortunately, due to the high level of applications we are unable to provide individual feedback.
In the...
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for interest in progressing your career at Qatar Airways Group.
We appreciate your time and energy you invested in applying for the “QR Global Recruitment – Mumbai Event”.
We’ve reviewed your application and your relevant experiences. However, after careful consideration, we regret to inform you that you have not been successful on this occasion.
Unfortunately, due to the high level of applications we are unable to provide individual feedback.
In the meantime, you can check for relevant roles on our career’s website for upcoming opportunities. Kindly apply online using your existing login.
If you have not applied, we encourage you to create an online profile by visiting https://careers.qatarairways.com/global/en
We wish you every success with your future career.
Best regards,
Qatar Airways Group Recruitment Team
Join our Talent Community here
Let us keep you updated with our latest news and opportunities
qatarairways.com
-------------------------------------------------
( all interviewer candidate WHOS ATTEND from WHOLE india TO MUMBAI & DELHI EVENTS RECIVED SAME E-MAIL)
Once they wanted to boycot QR. Now they are queuing up for same QR. Incredible indians.
Indian govt.same on. Foreign affair same on too.
This must be a drive for temporary hires for the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Those hired will be fired within 3 months, for sure.
These comments are turning out to be very racist and anti-indian. Let's take a moment and remember that people are individuals and deciding a whole community is a certain way is not acceptable behavior.
Definition of racism; When you hate Indians more than you SHOULD.
Who said the indian are best..i am here in qatar work in airport facilities... I know him very well..Only indian supervisors support indian.unlike thay have educate or illiterate .but thay support..even thay did.not right his own name....
Im staying at this hotel right now. The recruitment event drew a long line this morning as well (down the block and around the corner) - would guess 1-2k people were lined up. I wouldn’t have known it was going on except for the line outside. The event looks like it’s in a ballroom in the basement and the candidates are being routes through the service entrance direct to the interviews.
Great i'm staying at that hotel in 2 weeks, hopefully there isn't another one of these events then...
Did Black Friday at Best Buy come early this year?
@Ben - by the way, I noticed that the time stamps on the comments do not reflect when they were written, but rather when they were posted. Is this intended?
Black Friday at Best Buy sucks.
You will never get any deal unless you buy a $200 Totaltech membership.
Timestamp would always be when it's post.
I can start picking Mega Million lotto ticket but don't submit after the numbers come out. Do you think I'll win the jackpot?
Did someone ask you or do you have a case of mistaken identity?
@Eskimo - dude, get a job.
As usual, the comments never cease to surprise me of the close-minded nature of most of the visitors to this blog.
Indians are competitive. To get ahead, you have to win the race.
Most women in the India aviation industry fall into the skilled category, either directly employed as pilots and FAs by the airline or directly employed by the airport for managing customer and terminal experiences. The focus of this recruitment was...
As usual, the comments never cease to surprise me of the close-minded nature of most of the visitors to this blog.
Indians are competitive. To get ahead, you have to win the race.
Most women in the India aviation industry fall into the skilled category, either directly employed as pilots and FAs by the airline or directly employed by the airport for managing customer and terminal experiences. The focus of this recruitment was vast, but did not include FAs nor pilots. Most such roles do not attract the Indian women in the metros, who are generally better educated than their male equivalent. Hence, the lower female turnout. For the record, India has the largest fraction of female pilots in the world. 12% of Indian pilots are female. For reference, only 5% of pilots are female in the US. Perspective.
On a different note, I have stayed at the Hilton Mumbai frequently during some quick work trips to India. It's a small and tastefully decorated property, but not designed to handle such events. Seems like a significant shortcoming on QR's part.
Watch Andrew Tate on Women as pilots. You'll never step a foot inside a plane flown by a woman.
Andrew who? You sound really messed up dude. Did some woman employee bump you to take your position?
It’s a really stupid way to plan a recruitment event and I can’t see how any of this is productive.
Given that we have so many AI tools to pre-screen candidates, this practice of having an open day seems inefficient and draconian.
Probably because many may not have access or ability to drop of their candidacy via online methods. Many of the positions being recruited for require no formal education and remember that English is not the primary language in India.
This exact online AI bs is the reason that I and many other highly skilled, highly educated workers abstain from applying to the companies that are using these 'tools'.
Highly skilled, highly educated lining up for getting employed by companies? Why don't you open yours?
Pray tell thee, what're your "highly educated" qualifications again, Mr. Cocky Iamsosmart?
Did they provide any time dining for the applicants?
Haha - I don't think we should expect a thrifty Gulf company to provide anything in the way of amenities. They still consider slavery a right.
This QR job fair shows how desperate are many Indians for any job. In spite of all the economic and technological advancements India has made over the years, the GDP per capita is very low ($2400), more than 25% of its population live below the poverty line (<$2 per day) - the situation is worse in rural areas - and more than 50% are just living from hand-to-mouth.
Indian hindus hate muslims, but are are dieing to to get jobs in muslim countries lol.
wow. generalizing much? so ignorant.
UK - You've not been reading the news much....
Europeans and Americans abhor Muslims more than any other people yet they remain slaves to the Muslims for their dependence on oil and large infra projects. Perspective much? What a stupid comment.
FYI Mr. “John Mac” - it’s dying not dieing
Lmfao
It's time to blacklist everyone who contributed to this tumultuous absurdity. They've revealed their true colors. Men in some cultures will not accept "no" for an answer.
It's not a matter of culture. Just look at the male leaders around the world. Men will not accept "no" for an answer. And we end up electing these men to the highest offices.
Where are the females?
In the US they can't even manage school bus system, now always short of drivers and always tardy even as worse as 1.5hr to pick up the kids. Can you imagine? What type of examples being set for the kids??? What a mess.... Great United States of America????
I am completely lost on this page. What are we talking about here? How did bus drivers come in this discussion?
Why is it only men ?
certain roles are men only ones and some have separate male /female recruitment days. India is more of a gender segregated society and imagine being a woman in that crowd.
Qatar cabin crew fr example maintain a male female ratio of 1:5 and they also have an Indian majority crew and that ratio is maintained (I believe half the crew are Indians) although a fair amount of Westerners apply, some very experienced candidates get...
certain roles are men only ones and some have separate male /female recruitment days. India is more of a gender segregated society and imagine being a woman in that crowd.
Qatar cabin crew fr example maintain a male female ratio of 1:5 and they also have an Indian majority crew and that ratio is maintained (I believe half the crew are Indians) although a fair amount of Westerners apply, some very experienced candidates get turned away for silly reasons like balding men or greying women. They prefer crew and office staff from developing countries or former communist states as they see them as more obedient- Philippines, Thailand, Belarus, Romania etc. Even when they go to Paris or London to hire crew and they are all turned out immaculately, they will choose 1 or 2 but in India or Philippines they will take a lot more even if unkempt and never even been on a plane in their life.
Because this country discriminates against women.
Yeah, and also the only country to have had a woman dictator-in-chief half-a-century back.
Name a country that does not discriminate against us.
Thank goodness it’s only hot men!
Because these are low paying jobs in logistics, driving, warehousing etc. Doubt Qatar will even hire women in these roles.
Women are hired mainly for FA roles.
My observation from many years working in the Gulf, is indians are extremely arrogant and not a customer-friendly group of people. Many travel agencies in Saudi hire Indians and they make many mistakes, blame it always on others, etc. I can't imagine why QR would be recruiting Indian staff except as cabin cleaners and they already have bangladeshis for that work.
You are ignoring the fact that Indians make majority of the immigrants in GCC. Hencewhy you experience them much more then other people, and more likely to come across bad apples.
But you are completely wrong to state a sub group of people is arrogant or are not qualified for any job except cabin cleaners. That’s rather racist since in instance if you go by that logic, you will usually end up with a higher...
You are ignoring the fact that Indians make majority of the immigrants in GCC. Hencewhy you experience them much more then other people, and more likely to come across bad apples.
But you are completely wrong to state a sub group of people is arrogant or are not qualified for any job except cabin cleaners. That’s rather racist since in instance if you go by that logic, you will usually end up with a higher quality and more qualified pool of workers from India, compared to other group of that region of South Asia.
I have lived 2 years in Abu Dhabi and my experience starkly differ from yours. I have come across friendly faces from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. At the same time even unfriendly faces from everyone of them.
In fact I would say Europeans, and I even include me, are more arrogant. You only need to look at the income and job distribution in the region to see how things are. We earn much more then an equally qualified individual from those countries above.
My observation from working many years in the Gulf is that many of the locals are actually hypocritical, manipulative, lazy and arrogant. They are also ill educated (and I don't mean formal education), unethical, and have archaic views. The Saudis and their neighbors get what they give. It is not surprising that western firms such as mine are willing to position their own executives to the region to perform activities instead of hiring from the...
My observation from working many years in the Gulf is that many of the locals are actually hypocritical, manipulative, lazy and arrogant. They are also ill educated (and I don't mean formal education), unethical, and have archaic views. The Saudis and their neighbors get what they give. It is not surprising that western firms such as mine are willing to position their own executives to the region to perform activities instead of hiring from the local population. I think the problem is with the locals in the region and not the other way around. Similar to your views, my Indian colleagues consider the locals to be dirty and uncouth and prefer to maintain a distance. I guess it's a tit-for-tat type arrangement. I don't typically write such comments, but decided to represent another side to your useless comment.
Akbar Al Baker is the child of a Qatari man with his Indian maid / mistress. He grew up and was educated in India and Hindi remains his first language. Indian roots run deep in Qatar Airways.
You are extremely ignorant Mr. Omar, so much so that you are probably the one cleaning toilets and getting jealous of the others progressing.
Truth alone triumphs.
My observation from many years calling 1-800 numbers.
While @Omar does sound a bit racist, it is a valid good point of view that some groups of people are just not a good fit for customer interaction.
Change is constant , usually for the better
I agree. I find customer service in the US to be very bad - unless they’re working for a tip.
Hiring indian terrible idea. Already Qatar airways indian employees are treating customers terribly at Doha and other American locations.
Dr. Hussain
So why don't they hire Qataris?
Qataris don´t work. They have indians to do it.
Cause Qataris are lazy.
That's not a QR recruiting event, those videos just show footage of all the Hilton Diamond members filing in to the executive lounge for Happy Hour. I think this could actually be considered a "slow day" in terms of Hilton elites.
Wrong! Those videos are from QR recruiting event.
Lots of South Asians are already in Qatar building World Cup infrastructures.
And even though they all know many who went to Qatar earlier never left alive, they still want to go there.
The corrupted FIFA would never release the actual deaths of workers who contributed to making the World Cup happen.
Sad but true what necessity forces people to do. The Qatar world cup is built on the blood and bones of the poor.
I think that QR should have made it a week long event (just close it early if you hit your goals), and also had clearly defined locations, times, and entrances for specific positions (Duty Free applicants come at 2pm to the South Gate, etc). Having ALL positions start at the same location at 9am and telling them they only have 2 days to try is where this became a shit show.
It’s like the Hunger Games. They don’t know whether they will come home from Qatar alive.
They have executive openings, too: https://www.the-sun.com/news/6327245/mystery-brit-hanged-qatar-tortured-police/
I’d chalk it up to cluelessness by Qatar Airlines HR.
Could they not have anticipated this? Have they never recruited in India, or seen similar company’s experiences with recruiting in India?
Many of their employees are South Asian, though I believe most come on work visas to Doha to apply or are sent in "caravans" of sorts.
With so many people interested in working for Qatar Airlines they will be able to select the best of the best. Clever. Perhaps other Airlines should look into exploring larger pools of prospective employees.
Only the most attractive people get picked up. What do you know?
All men ?
The vast majority of them probably haven’t got a chance anyhow.
Was this January 6 footage?
Where's the "Shaman" lol
Simple. I've worked with technical resources from India and in areas like this people feel blessed to have a "good job." In fact, these people work too hard-me often admonishing (nicely) my Indian analysts from working at 2AM their time.
Unlike the US with a Reddit full of people that think having a job is an insult to being a human being and the AOC types that think government should give them UBI for sitting on their butts.
(Most of) Reddit is a dumpster fire leftist echo chamber, so no surprises there. I still remember that r/antiwork meltdown, it was fantastic.
LOL, George Romey you'd better check their actual hours.
They still work at 2AM maybe it's because they start working at 4PM right when you wake up. Busted so many offshore personnel doing this.
Reddit saved GameStop and AMC.
AOC wants UBI not because, we keep printing money.
Because in her mind she thinks money grows on trees, and we're doing ok since all major banks have so many branches.
Yes, because some people want to live to work not the other way around?
Oh of course, I would love to spend almost every waking moment of my life working so I can go home and prepare to do it again for the next 40 years of my life.
Not everyone who hates having a job is sitting on their couch playing with their balls.
That's where the offshore team got you.
It's more like AOC telling what you want to hear but still being AOC.
Yes boss. Ok boss.
That's no surprise. I was just in India and unemployment and underemployment is high and wages are extremely low. Some make about $2-$3 a day in New Delhi.
I think I saw my husband in the crowd.
Proof of high unemployment.
Shining India.
Seems simple, hire those that didn't storm the recruitment event.