Singapore Girl. Mention those two words and immediately a picture of a slim, sweet, smiling Asian girl in a sarong kebaya comes to mind. Her internationally recognised uniform, designed by French couturier Pierre Balmain, is associated with unparalleled service standards – service with a smile, whatever you ask for you will get, no questions asked.

The Singapore Girl has always been perceived as a glamour job reserved for the elite - beautiful women, impeccably groomed, jet-setting the world. 60 destinations in 32 countries with 668 weekly flights, 6,800 cabin crew, 89 aircraft. With this great demand, the airline has had to employ cabin crew from around the region – so the Singapore Girl is not always Singaporean. In fact, the majority of the stewardesses hail from Malaysia, with others coming from Taiwan, Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea and India. This is also advantageous to the airline since stewardesses will be able to communicate with Asian passengers in their native language.

The monthly salary is about S$3,500, which is significantly higher than the starting pay of fresh university graduates. In addition, there is also an annual wage supplement of one month’s basic salary, a profit-sharing bonus and a medical co-payment scheme. Each staff member is also entitled to a free ticket to any Singapore Airlines destination once a year, with discounted travel at other times.
A typical month usually consists of 1 long flight, a few 3-day flights and some turnarounds (i.e. flying to a destination and back within a day). Long flights will mean 4 to 9 days away from Singapore, including a few days to rest. Cabin crew are then entitled to 2 to 3 days off after they return from long flights before having to fly again, which works out to about 15 off days a month.

What qualities does the Singapore Girl have to possess in order to be successful? “Patience” was the answer given by one flight steward
So do you have what it takes? At least 2 principal passes and 2 subsidiary passes in A-levels and a high standard of English. Females need to have a minimum height of 1.58 metres. Preference is given to candidates who are able to speak foreign languages or with experience in customer service.

Some candidates are also required to wear a sarong kebaya to see if they ‘look’ like Singapore Girls. Once candidates make it past this, they go through about 4 months of training which includes basic service and safety, English diction, social etiquette and makeup. There are several tests interspersed throughout the training but the critical ones that have to be passed are first aid, safety and evacuation procedures.

These tests have to be passed annually. Upon graduation, they have to sign a 2 year compulsory service bond, with a 6 month probation period. They are also offered renewable 5 year contracts which pay out a generous lump-sum on completion.
An entry-level stewardess wears the blue sarong kebaya. One level up is the Leading Stewardess who wears Green. A Chief Stewardess is clothed in a red kebaya, while the In-flight Stewardess wears Purple. A performance report will be given to them after the flight and the crews are not told in advance which flights they will be evaluated on.
If you want to be in the service industry, enjoy traveling and meeting people, are not prone to air-sickness, have a adaptable body clock and just happen to have a permanent, megawatt smile, it looks like a career flying the skies is for you. The Singapore Girl is still a great way to fly.

Contributed by Denise Chew
http://www.youth.sg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=29&limit=1&limitstart=3&sidenavpos=

Anagrams of Singapore Girl: Right, agile person! Serial groping.