If you meet the following requirements, you're welcome to apply to join Air China's elite "Olympic cabin crew" next summer.

You must be no older than 25, unmarried, college-educated and at least 164cm tall for women, or 174cm for men. You must also speak standard Mandarin and be proficient in English, have an attractive face and a shapely body, and never have suffered from a chronic disease.

Prospective flight attendants take part in Air China's drive on November. [Guan Xin]

The list of criteria goes on, with elaborations. It is posted on the corporate website of the country's flagship carrier that plans to find 300 Olympic flight attendants to bolster its efforts as the official carrier of the Beijing Games.

The recruitment process could also be much more rigorous and competitive than one may at first presume, as details of the recruitment process only began to emerge last week.

In Beijing, contestants also needed to pass a multiple-choice test of 50 questions on weighty subjects like history, geography and language, as well as show their artistic talents (including dancing skills) and make improvised speeches. Some pretty women were not selected because they were not smiling, while one male candidate failed to make the grade purely because of his complexion, according to local media reports.

More than 1,400 young people in Beijing passed the initial screening but only 138 women and 21 men were short-listed for the next round of the competition against winners from other major Chinese cities, pending the results of their physical examinations. Although Air China plans to hire 300 Olympic flight attendants, only 80 will be posted in Beijing or Shanghai for key Olympic routes.

I would congratulate Air China on seizing the Olympic marketing opportunity by turning a recruitment exercise to meet soaring market demand into an attention-grabbing public event. An estimated 2.5 million visitors, including half a million from overseas, will travel to Beijing for the Games.

But it will be more interesting to see how the "Olympic cabin crew" selected from pageant-style contests can eventually help Air China develop its brand power by becoming iconic features of its world-class cabin services.

It so happens that Singapore Airlines (SIA), known internationally for its sarong-wearing "Singapore Girl," is also recruiting cabin staff in China.

To be a "Singapore Girl," one may find the listed criteria much simpler than the "Olympic cabin crew": Chinese citizenship, 158cm or taller, a university degree, English fluency and a willingness to be based in Singapore.

I expect the recruitment of "Singapore Girl" to be no less selective, because SIA offers such a competitive salary and benefits.

It says it is looking for people who are "warm, hospitable, with a winning approach to customer service." More significantly, it requires those who have passed a rigorous selection process to undergo about four months of training. One can fly only after successfully completing the training.

SIA unabashedly boasts on its website that it recruits "bright and dynamic individuals, and trains them with a budget exceeding $125 million a year" based on total revenue of $14.5 billion last year. Its successful branding and publicity strategies have revolved around marketing the "Singapore Girl".

There is only one line under "Employment, remuneration and benefits" in the recruitment ad for Air China, which has 212 aircraft flying over 100 international and domestic routes, saying it will provide "commensurate remuneration and benefits" for the "Olympic cabin crew".

We have yet to find out how Air China intends to train its new recruits to represent Olympic-sized hospitality, while at the same time integrating the public event into its global branding strategy.

Email: yuanzhou@chinadaily.com.cn