Delta Is Hiring Nearly 1,000 New Flight Attendants for 2020

May I have your attention, please: Delta is hiring nearly 1,000 — yes, as in one thousand — new flight attendants for the class of 2020.

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Interested applicants will submit their applications through Delta's careers site. Candidates who successfully pass the screening rounds will be asked to complete six weeks of flight-attendant training at the airline's headquarters in Atlanta.

Just how rigorous is the application process, you ask? In 2018, Business Insider said it's harder to become a Delta flight attendant than to get into Harvard.

The Ideal Delta Flight Attendant

Delta requires all candidates to be 21 or older by Jan. 1, 2020, and to have completed high school or hold a GED, be fluent in English and be authorized to work in the United States. All flight attendants must also be willing to fly both international and domestic routes and maintain a flexible schedule, since Delta flights operate day and night, year-round.

Related: Spend a Day in Delta Flight Attendant Training With TPG Staff

Beyond those technical requirements, what does the ideal flight attendant look like to Delta? The airline says that the best candidates have at least one or more years of customer-facing work experience in industries such as personalized customer service or patient care that requires ensuring the safety or care of others. Preference is also given to candidates who hold a degree beyond high school or a GED.

Since Delta serves more than 60 countries across all six inhabited continents, the airline offers additional pay and special responsibility to "Language of Destination" (LOD) flight attendants who can communicate with customers from key regions in their native languages.

So bilingual applicants who speak Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, Greek, German, Italian, Japanese, or Korean in addition to English should definitely dust off their résumés, because if hired, they would be eligible for top pay as well as increased opportunities to visit countries where their second language is spoken. But don't over-inflate your fluency for the application: all LOD candidates must successfully complete a language proficiency screening, which includes speaking fluidly with proper syntax and grammar structures, and reading the foreign language at a normal pace.

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LOD flight attendants are required to communicate with passengers in both languages, including important safety information and updates; demonstrate awareness of cultural sensitivity both in direct communication and body language; and translate information from the flight deck as necessary. Furthermore, all LOD flight attendants are required to commit to the role for four years.

Related: Sayonara, Narita: The Rise and Fall of Delta’s Tokyo Hub

Dressing For The Interview

The job application page includes some additional dress code information:

• Delta covers the costs of uniforms, with a wide variety of options to choose from
• Flight attendants cannot show any visible tattoos while wearing Delta's uniform
• Jewelry must be limited to small earrings, one small necklace, and up to three rings at most. Visible body piercings, multiple ear piercings, facial piercing jewelry, earlobe plugs, nail decals, excessive make-up, or non-natural hair color are not permitted
• Facial hair must be neatly trimmed and meet specific length requirements
• Black or skin-tone hose must be worn whenever flight attendants opt to wear skirts or dresses

Candidates often ask what to wear to the applicant interview. "The best advice is to consider the way our flight attendants dress, and use that as inspiration," Delta's hiring page suggests. Suggestions include:

• Wear clean, pressed, and professional clothing

For men:

• Two-piece suit and tie
• Dark, professional colors such as black, gray or navy
• Dress shoes and dark socks
• Clean-shaven or neatly-trimmed beard or mustache

For women:

• Two-piece suit, with either skirt or pants, or tailored shift dress
• Dark, professional colors such as black, gray or navy
• Skirts should be mid-calf or knee-length
• Dress shoes such as flats, pumps or sensible heels

Related: Choosing the Best Credit Card for Delta Flyers

Got What It Takes?

If serving in the skies has always been your dream, head over to the Delta site and submit your application. However, if you just want to live a day in the life of a flight attendant, you can instead sign up for a Delta flight attendant training experience; 12 lucky TPG readers can secure their spots for an upcoming flight attendant school day on Friday, Sept. 13, by donating $500 to Rainbow Railroad through our Prizeo campaign.

And if you're just curious about what it takes to kick it with Delta, check out the airline's 11-episode mini-series, "Earning our Wings".

Related: Delta Brings Cocktails, Hot Towels and Better Food to International Economy