Originally Posted by
parkfell
So if any old Tom, Dick or Harry is allowed to train, the outcome is going to produce such a spread. No formal selection, just the ability to finance the initial training phase.
This is the key point.
If you read the above post by
Chris the Robot he makes some good, valid points that I will try and expand on. My background is as a retired train driver/instructor/manager who had a fair amount of input regarding the selection and training of new drivers, for fun I can just about get a weightshift up and down without breaking it.
As Chris alluded to, the selection procedures are rigorous, and in my experience it was close to an 8% pass rate in the psychometric and trainability tests. This is before face to face interviews and after sifts and telephone interview. The selection process is not cheap and after having more failures than usual in the school it was decided that the training department would have an input in the recruitment from the application stage. The reasoning behind this was that as efficient as HR were, they were looking at candidates without having any experience of what the job entails and were probably rejecting people that had what we were looking for. As to the training cost and timescale, it is probably on parity with putting someone in the RHS of a bus and we paid them about £30k while training.
The difference today between the industries is that the railway has total control of the process from initial contact to sending the new driver out on his own. There has been in recent years attempts by private companies to emulate the big integrated ATOs but apart from a few offering to sell you the psychometric tests it has met with resistance from both companies and unions with good reason. It doesn't matter how much money or educational qualifications you have, if you do not have the qualities that are required then the door is closed.
There are always going to be in both industries a surplus of those that want to and those that actually can do. The process must start with selection on potential ability and personal qualities. Perhaps other airlines could follow the BA self sponsored cadet scheme?