Case Study: Transavia

The number one low-cost carrier in the Netherlands with more than 9 million passengers a year, flying to more than 90 destinations in Europe, Africa and Asia, hires around 300 new flight attendants a year.

Twice a year Transavia hires new flight attendants. Since the dream of being a flight attendant is shared by many people, there are many applicants. The challenge the recruiting team faced each cycle was to find the best 300 new flight attendants from a pool of more than 3,000 applicants. In the past they had to read all resumes and motivational letters, and interview every candidate.

After a long recruitment process, the candidates are hired, then trained internally, measured for uniforms, and officially certified once they have satisfied certain standards. For the next year they are monitored and those who don’t perform well are let go. At the end of this year, only about 75% of the newly certified flight attendants are still flying.

In cooperation with Transavia, HR Avatar identified the top competencies associated with success as a flight attendant. These competencies were incorporated into a simulation-based assessment for Transavia. Current flight attendants completed the test and based on their score a cut of score was created. Candidates who scored above the cut-off received an invitation for an interview. Recruiters used the report to get more insight in the candidate and to have information on what to investigate further during the interview, based on the test results. Additionally, using the suggested interview questions, the recruiters were able to conduct a more structured interview than had in the past.

The goal was to bring first year attrition below 20% and make the recruitment process smoother and more cost effective. The whole process was integrated into Transavia's Applicant Tracking System, which increased processing efficiency and allowed the recruiters to focus more on their candidates.

Attrition was reduced from 25% to 9.8%. The candidate experience is also much improved. Today candidates find the whole hiring process pleasant and well organized. The recruitment process is more transparent for the organization and the candidates. Because of the test, there is a better understanding of which competencies are important to be a good flight attendant.

After a year an analysis has been done on the flight attendants hired, using the HR Avatar test. It was found that flight attendants who were evaluated as strong performers by their colleagues and managers scored significantly higher on the test than flight attendants that were evaluated as poor performers. The good hires scored better on virtually all aspects in the test.

Transavia also learned that the people most eager to fly weren’t necessarily the best candidates. This led Transavia to open the job application window to allow more applicants to apply, which was possible because of the increased processing efficiency introduced by the test and the associated cutoff score and the integration with the applicant tracking system.