KLM Assessment: Cabin Crew, Traineeships and Pilots

KLM runs a different selection for each route

There is no single "KLM assessment". KLM publishes a separate selection procedure for each way in, and they differ in the tests, the order and what comes after. Only one of them names the company that supplies the tests: KLM Cityhopper, KLM's regional airline, which says its cabin crew sit an Aon assessment. Find your route in the table first, because preparing for the wrong one wastes time.

KLM Cityhopper cabin crew: the Aon assessment

KLM Cityhopper lists four rounds on its selection page:

1. An application form.
2. An "AON Assessment, consisting of three parts: a personality questionnaire, an aptitude test, and a situational judgment test".
3. An evaluation of your motivation video and CV.
4. An individual interview with two recruiters, in which they also test your spoken English. A reference check may follow.

After a positive result come safety screenings and a medical examination that includes blood and urine tests for medication, alcohol and drugs. Training then runs in two phases: 40 hours of digital preparation, then 33 days full-time at Schiphol-North. KLM gives the gross salary as €2,996.28 a month.

The Aon assessment comes before anyone watches your video or reads your CV, so it is the first real sift. The three parts ask different things of you. The aptitude test is timed reasoning with right and wrong answers. The situational judgement test asks what you would do in work situations and is scored against what the employer judges effective. The personality questionnaire asks how you tend to work and has no right answers at all.

Practising the three parts

• scales ix (Inductive Reasoning) (20 questions · 5 minutes · free) - Aon’s five-minute inductive test, with marks taken off for wrong answers. The quickest way to feel how tightly Aon times its ability tests. KLM does not say which aptitude test it sets.
• scales numerical (Numerical Reasoning) (37 questions · 12 minutes) - Tables and charts against a twelve-minute clock, again with negative marking. Practises the numerical side of an Aon aptitude test.
• scales verbal (Verbal Reasoning) (49 questions · 12 minutes) - True, False or Cannot Say against sheets of workplace text in twelve minutes. Practises the verbal side.
• ADEPT-15 (Work-related Behaviour) (75 questions · 15-20 minutes) - Aon’s workplace personality questionnaire format: which of two statements fits you better, and by how much. KLM names a personality questionnaire without naming which one.
• chatAssess (Situational Judgement) (12 questions · About 15 minutes) - Aon’s chat-based situational judgement format, where colleagues message you with problems and you pick a reply. KLM names a situational judgement test without saying which Aon format.

How Aon builds and marks these is on the Aon practice hub, and the tactics, including when to skip under negative marking, are in Aon cut-e test tips. For the questionnaire, read how to approach a personality questionnaire, and for the judgement part, situational judgement answer formats.

KLM cabin crew: six rounds and no named provider

KLM's own cabin attendant selection has six rounds:

1. A check of the basic requirements.
2. Digital tests: an ability test, a competency test and a video pitch.
3. A "Serious Game, depending on RIVM guidelines".
4. An interview with two recruiters, who test your spoken English.
5. A security screening.
6. A medical examination with blood and urine tests for medication, alcohol and drugs.

KLM does not say who supplies the digital tests, and we have not found a source that does. Preparation sites often say Aon, but that is not evidence, so we will not tell you it is. An ability test, or capaciteitentest, is a timed reasoning test with right answers. A competency test usually asks how you would behave rather than what is correct. RIVM is the Dutch national public health institute, and KLM does not describe the Serious Game any further.

Practise the formats rather than a guessed product: start with cognitive ability tests, numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning. For the video pitch, read what a recorded video interview scores.

If you pass, training is 40 hours of digital preparation followed by 20 days full-time at Schiphol-East, and KLM gives the gross salary as €2,997.06 a month.

What the KLM cabin crew FAQ adds

• You need at least a havo or mbo level 4 diploma. A foreign diploma needs accreditation, which can take a couple of weeks, and DUO can confirm whether yours meets the level. European bachelor's and master's degrees do not need it.
• KLM does not accept open applications. Apply only when a vacancy is posted on its careers site.
• Your result is valid for one year, whether you pass or not. If you are rejected, KLM expects you to need at least a year before you apply again.
• The first contract is for one year and can become permanent if you perform well. During call-up shifts you must be able to reach Schiphol within an hour.
• Tattoos and piercings must not be visible in uniform, and KLM has a zero tolerance policy on drugs in the medical.
• KLM follows the Dutch NVP Recruitment code for its recruitment and selection.

KLM management traineeships

The management traineeships last two years and come in four tracks: Business & Tech, Corporate, Engineering & Maintenance, and Finance. Each trainee completes four assignments and spends every Friday on development with the other trainees. KLM lists seven steps:

1. Sign up on the website. KLM says: "we do not select based on your CV!"
2. A first online assessment, a cognitive test.
3. A second online assessment, a cognitive and personality test.
4. A recorded personal video message.
5. A selection interview.
6. An offline assessment day.
7. An offer.

Because the CV is not used to select, the two online assessments do the sifting a CV would do elsewhere. KLM does not name the provider. Some preparation sites say Aon here too; KLM does not say so, and we have found no source that does. Practise numerical, verbal and logical reasoning under time, read up on the personality questionnaire, and use the STAR method to prepare examples for the interview and the assessment day.

KLM pilots

Experienced pilots apply directly to a vacancy, and the bar is set before any test. KLM asks for a passport from an EU member state, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland or Liechtenstein, a height between 1.58 and 2.03 metres, fluent Dutch and English (with a Dutch B2 exam passed in advance if Dutch is not your native language), a Class I Medical, an EASA ATPL with a valid multi-pilot type rating, and at least 500 hours on multi-engine aircraft of 5,700 kg or more, 150 of them in commercial aviation in the previous 12 months. Active EU military pilots have an alternative route through the hours rules.

The selection then runs in six rounds:

1. CV selection.
2. An online assessment.
3. A psychological assessment.
4. Simulator grading.
5. An interview with the Hiring Committee (COVA).
6. A security screening by the AIVD, a background check by KLM Security Services and a medical at KLM Health Services, including blood and urine tests.

KLM does not say what the online or psychological assessments contain. Successful pilots go on to a Type Rating Course on whichever aircraft type KLM has training capacity for, with no choice.

If you are not yet a pilot, KLM points to the KLM Flight Academy, which it describes as the only aviation school in the Netherlands that can train commercial pilots for KLM: a two-year course, with financing, after what KLM calls a rigorous selection. The careers site does not describe that selection, so check the academy's own information rather than relying on any third-party description of it.