QinetiQ UAV recruitment

[sowhatsgoingon]

First post I know, but I have been reading these threads since 1999. I have broken my silence because I would like to conduct a quick straw pole.

A few weeks ago I had an interview with QinetiQ re the UAV flying positions that some others have mentioned on here, a good friend of mine also attended for interview a few days later for one of the Technician posts.

Neither of us have heard back from the recruitment department, not a sausage, and its been a month since interview, now of course I am pretty sure we have not got the jobs:D ......some would say we have been saved from a poor job with uncertain conditions. :rolleyes:

However.... my point is that whilst the recruitment agency we went through has been in regular contact with us, and has assured us both that they are attempting to get info from the QinetiQ HR department, as well as our own emails to them, we have only silence from QinetiQ themselves...... In my view a pretty poor way of running things.

The straw pole.....? Well simply, has anyone else here suffered at the hands of the QinetiQ recruitment department, and if so is it acceptable practice to be giving candidates the silent treatment.

[longer ron]

QQ can be slow at offering positions (sometimes they are really slow)
If you have a degree and are under 45 they might even appreciate you working for them.

LR

[gwalltcoch]

Two years ago it took QinetiQ HR three months to make an official offer to me, even though I'd been told that the position was mine the day after the interview.
It took numerous phone calls and e mails by my current line manager to get them to move that fast!!.
So don't give up, a few weeks is nothing to QinetiQ HR, they don't get any quicker when your actually working there. Good luck.

[billynospares]

QQ can take up to 3 months to make an offer. Partly due to uselessness and partly due to all the security hoops to jump through

[Mister-T]

I have had problems with QQ in the past, their HR team are woefully lacking in any sensible acumen in my opinion.

Oh and as for UAV, I think the correct term these days is UAS

[Charlie Time]

QQ doesn't have a 'queue' at the start and at the end for nothing you know.

[sowhatsgoingon]

Thanks for the info guys, I must say I had actually given up hope and thought the silent treatment was reserved for those who fail the process. As I mentioned the guys at the recruitment agency whom we have gone through, assure me they are as much in the dark as we are. Even after the daily phone calls and emails. I will wait out and see what happens. :ugh:

Cheers

[Safeware]

Trust me, as someone sitting on the other side of the QQ table, doing recruiting, I also found the HR process intolerably slow, and it was nothing to do with security hoops.

There is nothing worse than having work that desperately needs done, someone who desperately wants to do it, and no way of speeding up the process to join the 2!

sw

[snapper41]

Perhaps they're not offering you a job because you can't tell a pole from a poll?:E

[sowhatsgoingon]

Thats probably why, well done fella.....:D

[smkellaway]

As a new employee to QinetiQ, with a brief to improve resourcing in this area which includes UAS and other areas, I am obviously interested in the views expressed here. It is not acceptable to any of us that people are being kept in the dark about their applications, and especially following interviews. We are working with the department - just about to attend a meeting with the group - to improve everything about UAS recruitment, from the quality of the job descriptions and person specifications, to the speed with which we deal with applications. Your comments here are going to be useful to point out how and where we can make some improvements, so very welcome. I am also happy to receive individual emails with your particular case in order to try to resolve any outstanding applications. And please do apply direct to us on our new improved web site which will help a lot with keeping you in touch with your application with us.
In summary - we can and will do better!!:O

[airborne_artist]

SMK - I've worked in the tech recruiting field since I left life in blue/green.

The excuses given for slow hiring would fill a book, and large companies are normally worse, but they can also be good. I used to do work for part of BT, and we would set the interview date (and book in all interviewers' diaries) before the advertisements went out. Applicants who got past screening were told immediately of the date, and on the day we would do first round interviews in the morning starting at 08:00, lunch break and review, call those successful back for more meetings in the afternoon, and after another review at 18.00 I'd know who would be offered what that evening. Candidates only had to take one day off, and they knew from the outset that they would have a clear answer by 20.00. Everyone got their travel expenses paid in cash on arrival, too.

The fact that they were so decisive was a serious part of the reason many candidates took the job - it was the sign of a well-run business, and at that point, very impressive.

Even in a recession there is still competition for the good guys in a business. If you want to succeed you need the top 25%, not the also-rans who'd survive in a boom period, and to get those good guys you have to work hard.

[BEagle]

smk - what on earth have Kwinty-Kwoo got to do with University Air Squadron recruitment?

Or did you mean drone operator recruitment?

[L J R]

.....they are NOT drones...!!!!!!!!.

[Chris Kebab]

..well one certainly doesn't associate them with the real Sound of Freedom.

limp lawnmowers more like....

[L J R]

...if you CAN indeed hear them....:eek:

[stas-fan]

LJR:

you can't hear them because they are not flying! There is a 15knot crosswind at Boscombe and it's between 0 and plus 30 deg C so the carbs are full of ice. We understand they can fly in all other weather conditions though.
My application went in a while ago (didn't get in!) but I heard from one of your current trainee pilots you are now fully manned and the Israeli conversions are now complete and you are off the the sand pit this month.

good luck with the venture.

[L J R]

...nor are they mine, MY UAV has been around a little longer than these corgi toys.

[Moose_]

Did anyone here apply for the UAV pilot position with QinetiQ, closing date 30th June 2009? I was wondering if anyone's heard back from them yet regarding interviews?

thanks

[Solo46]

I applied, and have also heard nothing. I did phone them a couple of weeks ago and they said they were still sifting through all the cv's.....

[Flying Wild]

Finally heard back with an interview date today. This being about 6 weeks after speaking to an HR chap and being told I had made it through to the selection/interview stage. Apparently things have been slow as they didn't want to recruit with no contract in place for people to go on to. I would assume that said contract is in place or imminent, hence they are finally interviewing!
As a previous poster has said, comms have been non-existent. I phoned HR occasionally to try and keep track of where things were.

[yakker]

WG100 That was a month ago now, anyone have any success? I have not heard a peep since an email of 3/8.