Global expansion: Qatar Airways targets to hire Pinoy workers

CEBU, Philippines —  Qatar Airways is opening employment opportunities to Filipinos as it targets to hire a significant number of people to support its global expansion.

In an email interview, Qatar Airways Chief Customer Experience Officer Rossen Dimitrov said that most of these roles are for cabin crew, lounge staff and contact center.

A recruitment drive in the Philippines will be conducted in Manila (April 18 - 21) and will be planned in Cebu, Clark and Davao in the coming weeks.

“Qatar Airways remains optimistic on leisure travel as we’re aware of the global pent-up demand for travel. It will definitely bounce back and with the reopening of the APAC and Southeast Asia region, we’re already seeing the return of leisure bookings,” Dimitrov said.

According to Dimitrov, the Philippines has always been a very key market for Qatar Airways.

Prior to COVID19, Qatar Airways has 3 gateways to the Philippines; Manilla, Clark and Davao. We have since added Cebu in July 2020 while pending Davao resumption. Having multiple gateways is always an indication of our commitment to the market as we’re committed to serving these destinations,” he added.

Historically, there have been strong ties between Qatar and the Philippines, with bilateral relations spanning over four decades. There are now over 250,000 Filipinos working in Qatar, accounting for 17 percent of the population. This is a significant number with Qatar being the third largest country for overseas Filipino work force, he added.

“Thus, the Filipino market is naturally a crucial one for us and Qatar Airways is committed to serving the country,” noted Dimitrov.

Majority of vacancies are frontline customer-facing positions.

“The general rule of thumb is that interested applicants need to enjoy interaction with customers with a helpful and service-oriented disposition. This is particularly important to Qatar Airways as we are the world’s best airline and the only airline in the world that has won the prestigious Skytrax Airline of the Year award six times. Thus, we’re always setting the industry service standard benchmark and have a very high standard to upkeep. Similarly, we want to recruit people with the same outlook as us, people who are driven to excel and be the best version of themselves,” he noted.

Travel recovery

Qatar Airways, just like other global airline operators, expressed confident that business travel will steadily return.

Present travel situation, Dimitrov said, has been limited by entry restrictions rather than consumer confidence.

 “We know that corporate travellers are eager to get back to business as usual, particularly to support client relationships and in-person interactions that are crucial to business success as the global economy recovers,” he explained.

Technologies such as Zoom and Skype have served a purpose for business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, but nothing can replace the trust and rapport the people build from face-to-face meetings, he said.

“Qatar Airways is prepared to meet the needs of business travellers with our expansive global network of currently over 140 destinations and premium product offerings, including Qsuite,” said Dimitrov, stressing that the airline is open to any collaborations to support tourism recovery in the Philippines, and is already planning a series of activities to help in the reopening and recovery efforts.

“We are always monitoring the routes demand and will adjust frequency accordingly. We will announce whenever there’s flight increase but for now I believe we’re meeting the local demand,” he added. — LPM