Our recruitment process

The first step in the recruitment process is your online application. Your online application should provide information about your professional and educational background to demonstrate that you meet the requirements for the role. It is also important that you take the time to read the position description carefully and make sure that you show that your experience and skills match what is required for the role.

A cover letter is your selling tool to showcase why you are the best candidate for the role. This is your chance to explain and show how your prior work experience; knowledge; skills and strengths make you the best candidate for the position.

A good cover letter should be no more than one page long; targeted to the position; clear and concise and maintains a professional and positive writing tone.

A résumé is your personal advertisement, your chance to stand out from the crowd. Make sure that in your résumé you provide a summary of your professional and educational background and skills. Tailor your résumé to demonstrate how your skills; knowledge; strengths and professional work experience matches the role. Take out details that are not relevant to the position you are applying for and emphasise the skills that match the position.

Ensure your resume is structured appropriately and contains the following information:

• Contact details: Name; address; telephone numbers and email address.
• Career Summary: A few sentences describing your professional work history e.g. I am an enthusiastic and loyal customer service representative with over three years of experience in the aviation industry.
• Education: Details and dates of your education, training and/or study achievements.
• Skills: A few dot points highlighting your major skills e.g. high-level customer service skills including the ability to sensitively communicate with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Employment History: Starting from your most recent position: Title; company and specific dates you worked there.

E.g. Customer Service Representative, Virgin Australia (Dec 2024 – June 2026).

• Duties: A few dot points describing the duties you performed in the role. For example, “Greeted customers on arrival at Brisbane airport and provided advice when booking domestic and/or international flights (e.g. seating options)”.
• References: Two work references, including at least one Manager.

Depending on the position, a phone screen may be required. The phone screen is a short 20 to 30 minute phone interview with a recruitment advisor, who will provide you with the details of the recruitment process and expected timeframes.

For some roles, you may be invited to attend a Recruitment Day as part of the selection process. This is a chance for us to see how candidates handle specific service tasks and interact with others. We understand that Recruitment Days can feel a bit overwhelming, especially with other attendees present. However, try not to focus on what others are doing or saying—just be yourself! This will help you feel more at ease, and your true personality will naturally shine through.

How to prepare for a Virgin Australia Recruitment Day

The key to feeling confident at a Recruitment Day is preparation. Here are some tips to help calm your nerves and set you up for success before you arrive:

• Be on time and at the right place. Know where to go for the Recruitment Day and arrive with plenty of time to spare.
• Make a great first impression. Ensure you are groomed appropriately, you want to put your best foot forward!
• Use good communication skills. Be aware of your surroundings.
• Engage with others. Recruitment Days often include group activities, so show teamwork by listening, contributing ideas, and supporting your fellow candidates.
• Use positive body language. Pay attention to your body language to ensure you represent yourself as being engaged; professional; personal and confident.

Lastly and most importantly, be yourself and enjoy the experience!

For some roles, the next step in our recruitment process is a short online assessment through Hirevue. The assessment helps us better understand your cognitive ability, values, experience, preferences and motivations in relation to the role you're applying for. It usually takes around 30 minutes to complete.

As part of our hiring process, we may use AI-supported tools to assist with activities such as scoring assessments and reviewing interview responses in the earlier stages of the process. These tools are designed to apply structured, job-related criteria consistently across candidates. AI-generated scores or outputs are used to support our recruitment team and may be used to determine whether candidates progress through early stages of the recruitment process. Any subsequent decision to progress or hire a candidate involves human review and decision-making.  AI-generated scores or outputs are not the sole basis for employment offers, and final recruitment decisions remain the responsibility of Virgin Australia.

Your interview responses are evaluated based on what you say (i.e. the content of your answers), assessed against the skills and competencies relevant to this role. Automated evaluation is based on the content of a candidate’s responses and does not use facial expressions, appearance, accent, body language or other physical characteristics as assessment inputs. Where AI-assisted scoring is used, you may choose not to have your responses assessed using AI. If you opt out, an alternative or human assessment process will be used and you will not be disadvantaged for doing so.

If you'd like to understand more about how the Hirevue product works, please see this document: Explainability Statement.

Depending on the role you've applied for, you may be invited to an online shortlisting call with one of our Talent Acquisition Partners. This is usually a 15-minute conversation (often held via Microsoft Teams) where we'll learn more about your experience, discuss the role and answer any questions you may have. We'll also discuss your salary expectation and what to expect in the next stages of the recruitment process.

For some roles, you may be invited to attend an Assessment Day as part of the selection process. This is a chance for us to see how candidates handle specific service tasks and interact with others. We understand that Assessment Days can feel a bit overwhelming, especially with other attendees present. However, try not to focus on what others are doing or saying—just be yourself! This will help you feel more at ease, and your true personality will naturally shine through.

How to prepare for a Virgin Australia Assessment Day

The key to feeling confident at an Assessment Day is preparation. Here are some tips to help calm your nerves and set you up for success before you arrive:

• Be on time and at the right place. Know where to go for the Assessment Day and arrive with plenty of time to spare.
• Make a great first impression. Ensure you are groomed appropriately, you want to put your best foot forward!
• Use good communication skills. Be aware of your surroundings.
• Engage with others. Assessment Days often include group activities, so show teamwork by listening, contributing ideas, and supporting your fellow candidates.
• Use positive body language. Pay attention to your body language to ensure you represent yourself as being engaged; professional; personal and confident.
• Lastly and most importantly, be yourself and enjoy the experience!

At Virgin Australia, we pride ourselves in matching the right person to the right job. To help us select the right person, we undertake behavioural interviewing. Behavioural interviewing allows us to determine how a candidate will perform their duties based on their prior behaviour in the workplace.

To prepare for an interview it is suggested that you:

• Create a good first impression: Groom for the occasion and act in a professional manner. Ensure you arrive on time and have prepared any documentation required from you.
• Research the business and role. Take the time to understand the working environment of our business and the role. Prepare for any likely questions you may be asked about the role.
• Structure your responses. Think about the question before jumping to a response; structure your responses by describing the situation, what action you undertook and the result of your action.

Some roles may require you to complete a pre-employment medical assessment before you start. These are generally our roles with a safety sensitive nature.

For certain operational roles, this may involve a drug and alcohol management program (DAMP) test. Roles with specific physical requirements may require a more comprehensive medical assessment to confirm you can safely perform the duties of the position.

If a medical assessment is required, your Talent Acquisition Partner will explain what’s involved, where it will take place and any costs before an appointment is arranged.

FRAUD ALERT
Virgin Australia has recently received reports of organisations pretending to recruit on behalf of Virgin Australia or by people claiming to work for Virgin Australia. These emails notify individuals that their qualifications were found suitable to work as an employee for Virgin Australia and request personal information or the transfer of money to pay for work visa’s, insurance policies and so on.

Please note that these communications are fraudulent and do not originate from Virgin Australia.

Virgin Australia or its authorised agents will NEVER request any money or payments from applicants, at any point in the recruitment process. All applicants who are successful in gaining employment with Virgin Australia are always required to go through a formal recruitment process that may include a phone interview, face-to-face interview, reference checks and possibly a medical assessment.

Fraudulent employment offers or job advertisements may come from personal email addresses such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail. The Virgin Australia recruitment team will NEVER email from personal email addresses and will always include the stem @virginaustralia.com. In these fraudulent employment offers spelling and grammar is usually poor and at some stage money will be requested. We recommend that you DO NOT respond to any suspicious employment offers and DO NOT disclose your personal or financial details to people with whom you are unfamiliar.

If you receive any suspicious emails regarding employment at Virgin Australia or requests for payment at any time in the recruitment process, please contact RecruitmentFraud@virginaustralia.com and we will thoroughly investigate.