"Are you ready?" shouted 15-year flight attendant Kuata Ofoia to the lines of prospective flight attendants hoping to land a job with Hawaiian Airlines.

"Yes," the applicants yelled back.

"Are you ready?" Ofoia shouted again from the top of a stairwell.

"Yes," they replied even louder.

It was an anxious day Monday for 2,200 job-seekers vying for 275 Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant positions at a mass job interview in the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.

The process was part assembly line and part audition.

After checking in at their appointed time, the applicants were grouped in nine lines of 30 every hour and then brought into a height assessment room to see whether they could reach at least as high as 82 inches, a Federal Aviation Administration requirement due to accessibility of emergency equipment.

Once the group’s measurements were recorded, the applicants entered a meeting room where they sat in a semicircle in front of a panel of evaluators, introduced themselves one by one and described their favorite Hawaiian Airlines destination.

They then were put into groups of five to six people and told to come up with a skit, song, dance or advertisement for a Hawaiian Airlines product that was given to that particular group. The items included beer, cookies, trail mix and frequent-flier miles.

"It was pretty exciting, a little bit nerve-racking, but they tried to make it as comfortable as possible," said flight attendant applicant Roman Baptiste, a plumber’s apprentice who lives in Mililani. "From the time we walked in, they were very cordial and made it very exciting. So I’m very excited about the opportunity to work for Hawaiian."

Candidates ranging from bartenders to models to stay-at-home moms showed up for the group interviews that began at 8 a.m. and lasted until 7 p.m. Each group session lasted just under an hour.

Many of the women wore either black or navy-blue skirts or slacks, while most of the men were dressed in suits and ties.

Waipahu’s Lillian May Acoba, while waiting in line, acknowledged that she has no flight experience (which is not a requirement of the job), but a lot of customer service skills.

"I’ve been a (restaurant) server for about two years, and I’ve learned all of the customer service side of that," she said. "I’m a little bit nervous but it’s very exciting. It’s something new for me."

Hawaiian, which has been rapidly expanding with flights to Fukuoka, Japan, and New York scheduled to debut next year, plans to add more than 400 new employees to its work force by mid-2012.

Besides the 275 flight attendants, Hawaiian plans to hire 56 additional pilots, 38 more airport customer service agents and 40 additional maintenance personnel. In addition to those, Hawaiian also said it plans to hire another 200 employees for operational and administrative positions throughout next year.

The airline has 4,200 employees, the most in company history. Of those, 1,213 are flight attendants, with another 28 coming out of training class later this week.

Kendelle Moran, a flight attendant who also oversees flight attendant recruiting for the company’s human resources department, said Hawaiian received between 4,000 and 5,000 applicants online. But that was pared down to 2,200, she said, mostly because of requirements that flight attendants have no visible tattoos and at least two years of customer service experience, and because some did not schedule an interview time.

The group activities were designed to "see how well they (applicants) work together," Moran said. "It’s the process … the way you handle yourselves, your body language, your facial expression, how well you respond to other people, how approachable you look.

"Even though we don’t get to hear them speak a lot, you can tell a lot about a person by their body language and their facial expressions."

The applicants were to have been notified via email by 7 p.m. Monday whether they would move on to the next round. Those moving forward will be interviewed in front of three panelists today through Friday.

A third step in the process is a computer cognitive assessment, with the final step being an interview with the vice president of the in-flight department. Applicants will be notified by Dec. 26 whether they get the job, and those selected will go into a 61/2-week class that starts on Jan. 9.

"We go for the individual and the personality," Moran said. "We look for someone we know who will stay energetic now, or five years or 10 years down the line. So flight attendant experience is not a requirement."

Chloe Brown, who lives in Kailua and works in property management, called the experience "wonderful."

"It’s been nerve-racking but it’s a lot of fun," she said. "I want to travel. I want to see the world. It comes with great benefits and a lot of nice people."