Spring Airlines Hiring: Merit Matters As Age Limit Eased

If you prove to be one of a kind, no rigid age limit should prevent you from advancing your career, even as a flight attendant.

Last week, a major Chinese airline company announced it would recruit 30 to 60 female flight attendants aged 25 to 40, as its business continues to expand. In China, newly recruited flight attendants are usually aged between 18 and 25, with some airlines easing the upper age limit only slightly, say to around 30.

But the breakthrough in Spring Airlines' recent announcement is not the relaxation of the upper age limit for new employees. My research shows that it already began to recruit female flight attendants aged 18 to 40 last year. And on October 27, Spring Airlines said it had twice recruited more senior female attendants, in 2010 and 2013, respectively, as its business grew.

What makes Spring Airlines different this time is that it has made it clear for the first time that, in the current round of recruitment, it will prefer those who are married with children.

"A married flight attendant may have more experience in serving passengers flying as a family," a Spring Airlines staffer explained to reporters on Monday. "To many family passengers, these senior air hostesses are very affable and approachable."

Spring Airlines' new recruitment policy reflects a merit-based work philosophy that breaks away from the traditional one-size-fits-all mindset, under which a uniform age limit would apply to every job applicant regardless of their unique talent.

And don't misunderstand Spring Airlines. It does not say any applicant who is married with a child will be hired. One detail most news reports have neglected is that Spring Airlines attaches great importance to an applicant's language skill, in addition to their general education background.

On Tuesday I ventured to log into Spring Airlines' official recruitment account and found that a standard resume requires all applicants to provide details about their levels of proficiency in English or Japanese.

It's all about one's capability, not age.

Certainly, there will be an ultimate age limit before you must retire as an air hostess. After all, it's a demanding job to work long hours in the air. You can't imagine you can work as well in an advanced age as in your prime.

That said, we need to acknowledge that age is not the only or major yardstick by which we measure everyone's talent. Spring Airlines' latest recruitment announcement chimes in with China's overall trend of gradually easing age limits in the job market. For example, China has even relaxed the age cap for civil servant recruitment to expand the pool of capable applicants.

I hope more recruiters, from universities to kindergartens, will follow suit and come up with a more nuanced employment policy that tilts toward an applicant's merit. Sometimes – though not always – wisdom comes with age.