Airport search unit

Gibney91

So I have a group interview tomorrow for the airport search unit role it's where the X-ray machines and that kind of jazz are has anyone got any tips or know what could come up in the interviews?

SCOL

Don't ware a metal belt !!!

Sorry I can't be of help but Best of luck

andy_g

Id say as its a group interview just be yourself. And if they ask you to do any team based stuff be the first to volunteer.

eatmyshorts

Gibney91 wrote: »

So I have a group interview tomorrow for the airport search unit role it's where the X-ray machines and that kind of jazz are has anyone got any tips or know what could come up in the interviews?

Wear an SS uniform, shout a lot and look surly. You'll fit right in at the job.

Strumms

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Wear an SS uniform, shout a lot and look surly. You'll fit right in at the job.

In fairness the guys and girls of the ASU in DUB are pretty good and always friendly, professional and courteous. Your above description however wouldn't be out of place when comparing with some of the security people at UK airports, STN in particular, jeez.

OP, be aware of the types of threats to aviation.. potential and what has happened in the past, the purpose of X-Ray screening, what passengers can and cannot bring airside in the hand luggage, look like you are interested and be a team player.

eatmyshorts

Strumms wrote: »

In fairness the guys and girls of the ASU in DUB are pretty good and always friendly, professional and courteous.

Like claiming the tuna mayonnaise in my baguette was" more than 100ml of paste ", and refused to allow me to take it through security? Or dropping my laptop and cracking the screen with no apology except a shrug of the shoulders and a grunt?
Professional and courteous my a**.

Most of them are nothing more than little idiots on an ego power trip, making up for failing the Lidl/Supermacs/McDonalds interview.

Preset No.3

+1 on professional and courteous. If you are a c**t to them, they will be bigger c**ts back!!! Be nice, it's just a job.

A Dub in Glasgo

Airport security staff seems to attract the egotistical power tripper type, failed bouncers I say

Strumms

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Like claiming the tuna mayonnaise in my baguette was" more than 100ml of paste ", and refused to allow me to take it through security? Or dropping my laptop and cracking the screen with no apology except a shrug of the shoulders and a grunt?
Professional and courteous my a**.

Most of them are nothing more than little idiots on an ego power trip, making up for failing the Lidl/Supermacs/McDonalds interview.

They sound like pretty bad experiences, although why would they be handling your laptop in the first place ? surly you just remove it and place it in the tray and put it back in its bag after screening ?

I work in DUB so I need to be screened multiple times on a daily basis and I fly from both terminals on a monthly basis and my experience in dealing with them is overall extremly positive, I still do stupid things like forgetting a bottle of water in a bag or a coin in my back pocket or something the odd time and it's always dealt with in a good manner especially as I say compared to other airports. Having said that I am sure they have one or two dicks like any other job, as regards the baguette I don't like tuna so I have no idea what that was all about.

galwayjohn89

Never had any issue with the one in Dublin. Actually I rarely have any issues with security except a few times with the TSA in America and then the Philippines was carnage.

billy few mates

As airports go the ones in DUB are for the most part easy to deal with compared to some of the ones you meet in the UK or Germany. They have a job to do, it's a pretty thankless one but somebody has to do it. The shifts they work must be really unpleasant as it seems to be the only topic they talk (moan) about any time I'm passing through...

Chuck Aaron

andy_g wrote: »

Id say as its a group interview just be yourself. And if they ask you to do any team based stuff be the first to volunteer.

Agreed only...Do not under any circumstances be yourself, if they ask you to do something flip them the bird.

Of course the above only applies to those with 6 years or more of X-ray experience.

Good luck.

eatmyshorts

Strumms wrote: »

They sound like pretty bad experiences, although why would they be handling your laptop in the first place ? surly you just remove it and place it in the tray and put it back in its bag after screening ?
.

Exactly what I wondered too. She just picked it up from the tray and dropped it from about 4 feet onto the ground.

Tenger

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Exactly what I wondered too. She just picked it up from the tray and dropped it from about 4 feet onto the ground.

How did your customer complaint to her line supervisor get received?



I have heard that the security at BHD are pretty awful. So much so that one Flybe flightdeck member stripped to his boxers in protest on one occasion, another guy froze a bottle of coke and brought it through security...."its a solid so isn't affected by the EU 100ml liquid limit"

The same guys tried to stop an F/O from another airline taking his humus through. Even though hummus is measured in grams therefore is not a liquid. Stand-off occurred, supervisor called and backed security staffer, head of airport security eventually called to resolve it by letting the hummus get through security.

PukkaStukka

I've never had an issue in Dublin, or indeed any other airport with security. If you arrive in a co-opertative frame of mind and done your due diligence in advance (i.e. don't bring through anything that will be removed or get you into trouble) then you'll be fine. When you look at the carry-on of some pax, it's easy to see why some security staff can become impatient.

One day, I witnessed an incident where a foreign lady passenger was asked politely to remove her shoes through security. She refused and became very obstinate, and then accused the security person of racism, which was pure horsesh!t. The ASU member didn't flinch and instead called over another colleague who was also "foreign". He told the lady that the request to remove her shoes was legitimate, and as he was the same colour as her, the race card didn't apply. The lady stopped whining and removed her shoes and was eventually allowed proceed. The two ASU members involved procured her a chair to sit on whilst she reapplied her footwear. At no stage did they act in any way unprofessional despite the uncooperative and at time gratuitous way the passenger behaved.

I have also seen our Dublin ASU people be very helpful with elderly and infirm passengers and be very polite to enquiries from you children. Yes there can be bad eggs in any organisation, but I'd have to unapologetically state my opinion that those in Dublin are the finest of them all.

Strumms

PukkaStukka wrote: »

I've never had an issue in Dublin, or indeed any other airport with security. If you arrive in a co-opertative frame of mind and done your due diligence in advance (i.e. don't bring through anything that will be removed or get you into trouble) then you'll be fine. When you look at the carry-on of some pax, it's easy to see why some security staff can become impatient.

One day, I witnessed an incident where a foreign lady passenger was asked politely to remove her shoes through security. She refused and became very obstinate, and then accused the security person of racism, which was pure horsesh!t. The ASU member didn't flinch and instead called over another colleague who was also "foreign". He told the lady that the request to remove her shoes was legitimate, and as he was the same colour as her, the race card didn't apply. The lady stopped whining and removed her shoes and was eventually allowed proceed. The two ASU members involved procured her a chair to sit on whilst she reapplied her footwear. At no stage did they act in any way unprofessional despite the uncooperative and at time gratuitous way the passenger behaved.

I have also seen our Dublin ASU people be very helpful with elderly and infirm passengers and be very polite to enquiries from you children. Yes there can be bad eggs in any organisation, but I'd have to unapologetically state my opinion that those in Dublin are the finest of them all.

Again I agree 100% with this post.... UK airports should take note and a leaf out of the ASU folks in DUB... Ironically I'll be travelling out of BHD tomorrow for the first time.... I'll go commando and freeze my...pear cordial and see how that goes down... :eek:

Preset No.3

Not to tar all with the same brush but my opinion has really changed about ASU. Going through Fast Track on Friday from T1. Person in front was wearing a belt, was asked are you wearing a belt? English was not his first language. ASU person berated him for not taking off his belt to the point that he swore under his breath. Highly unprofessional and he should know that not everyone that passes through an airport has English as a first language.

beer enigma

Preset No.3 wrote: »

Not to tar all with the same brush but my opinion has really changed about ASU. Going through Fast Track on Friday from T1. Person in front was wearing a belt, was asked are you wearing a belt? English was not his first language. ASU person berated him for not taking off his belt to the point that he swore under his breath. Highly unprofessional and he should know that not everyone that passes through an airport has English as a first language.

True but the idea of fast track is that is fast. .. ie few delays - anything metal is going to beep - that kinda translates across all languages - so and its the responsibility of the travelling person to make sure they comply with the rules. I don't mean to sound harsh but I work in DUB (in IT not ASU) and the constant hassle these guys put up with day after day is amazing. Cut them some slack.

galwayjohn89

Would love it if DAA brought in different lanes like in some airports in America. They had them in Orlando and thought it worked very well.

Expert Lane -> You know what your doing, less staff and a hell of a lot less tolerance towards trying to bring through liquids concealed in your hand baggage etc.

Family Lane -> You need a bit of help with buggies etc. They have extra staff on these lanes

Other Lane -> Standard lane

scudzilla

Vuzuggu wrote: »

Would love it if DAA brought in different lanes like in some airports in America. They had them in Orlando and thought it worked very well.

Expert Lane -> You know what your doing, less staff and a hell of a lot less tolerance towards trying to bring through liquids concealed in your hand baggage etc.

Family Lane -> You need a bit of help with buggies etc. They have extra staff on these lanes

Other Lane -> For Idiots

Fixed that for ya

Tenger

Vuzuggu wrote: »

Would love it if DAA brought in different lanes like in some airports in America. They had them in Orlando and thought it worked very well.

Expert Lane -> You know what your doing, less staff and a hell of a lot less tolerance towards trying to bring through liquids concealed in your hand baggage etc.......

As with many things in life, there are too many non-experts who think that they are experts

Preset No.3

Andip wrote: »

True but the idea of fast track is that is fast. .. Cut them some slack.

I too use fast track all the time. However the ASU know what the job entails. It's repetitive, and frustrating but that's their job. Handled very poorly by the guard.

Irish Steve

I would be more prepared to cut them some slack if they would make their mind up what they want.

I don't travel as often as I used to, but when I was travelling regularly, there was NO consistency on what they wanted to be taken off, and put through the scanner, or not, so it was a total lottery about if they wanted belts and shoes removed, or not, (and sometimes even jackets) and depending on what belt or shoes were being worn on the day, that can be a simple slip them off, or it can be a fairly serious issue to get the laces loose enough to be able to get the shoes off, and the place to be told what today's rules are is not 2 seconds before you get to the scanner, with a snarl and an attitude of "you should have known", when the scenario is that they are NOT consistent with the requirement, far from it, so you DON'T know what they actually want this time.

Another factor that was not always allowed for is that some elderly passengers don't have the best of mobility, so the simple act of bending to remove shoes is not simple, ( there are NO seats pre check) and if they have to remove the belt from their trousers, there's a very real risk of then losing said trousers, as the belt is the only thing that stops them descending downwards, so having to shuffle through the gate in socks, and using one hand to prevent the trousers from becoming an impediment round the ankles is guaranteed to slow the process down, and finding a chair to sit on to replace the shoes after the scan is not always that simple, especially if they also have other bags to retrieve from the scanner and carry to the seats.

It's really very simple. Make the requirement clear, and consistent, and there will be a lot less hassle, but with the present uncertain inconsistent mess, there will be aggro, as I for one don't remove shoes and belts unless they have specifically asked for them, as it's a PAIN to be messing around doing that, even more so if you've hand luggage, a laptop computer and a jacket to also retrieve from the scanner and put back into the travel bag.

All it needs is that one of the many rolling screens that are set up in the queueing area include the information as to if they are scanning shoes and belts today or not. I don't think that's too much to ask for.

Bazzy

We we're at a stag party in hamburg and the groom to be was being set up we hd his passport when leaving hotel when he got panicked and went looking for it we put a 1 litre bottle of shampoo with a transgender adult interest magazine around it.

Childish I know but it was that kind of weekend.
This was not long after the no liquids rule so we thought full sure he would be stopped. Straight through ASU he went not a blink of an eye.

Xray guy was obviously dozing that day.

I've always been polite and friendly with them and found the same back you'll always get someone who is not as friendly as you would like but unfortunately they exist in every walk of life

Sterling Archer

Out of interest did any have any actual advice for the OP?

andy_g

Shane_ef wrote: »

Out of interest did any have any actual advice for the OP?

Yes there was, read over the thread and look for yourself. Careful regarding thread spoiling.

Minners1

Just applied for this job a few hours ago. Haven't received any automatic email - hope I didn't enter my email address incorrectly. Does anyone who applied remember if they got an automatic email immediately after applying?

chrysagon

Minners1 wrote: »

Just applied for this job a few hours ago. Haven't received any automatic email - hope I didn't enter my email address incorrectly. Does anyone who applied remember if they got an automatic email immediately after applying?

Two friends of mine have got jobs in ASU, one last yr, the other few years back, im amazed at some of the stories they tell me, im a regular traveller from Dublin to mainly Europe, and will say that Dublin ASU, more helpful and patient than many in Europe,its a repetitive job, both seem to like it, pay is good, and they listed a long line of famous folk they have met (if that's your thing), but they told me there is heavy compliance in their job, meaning theres no room for bending rules it seems.
And to answer question, team player/customer focussed, flexible are key to the job..

dicanio

Hello, all!

Reviving this thread in the hope someone can provide more up to date info on this role.

I've received a start date via my recruiter after an application process that stretched across about 4 months, with group interviews, 1-to-1 interviews (both with recruiter and ASU seniors), online pyschometric tests, online medical forms, Garda vetting, 5 year background check, etc...

There seems to be very mixed opinions on the role. Can anyone actually working it weigh in?

Are we paid weekly/bi-weekly/monthly?

Any info is appreciated. Thanks in advance!