I have been very interested to read the opinions that Oxford students have of the Career Development Officer and I am not at all surprised at the views expressed.
I am also a past Oxford student and have had my own comical interactions with the Stan Laural look-a-like.
I think it is important to say from the outset that I had a very enjoyable time at Oxford and found the training excellent. I graduated with an 85% average at ground school, a series 1 pass CPL & first time pass IR. Quite naturally I was pleased with my achievements and so armed with a CV I went to see the Career Development Officer.
The first ‘problem’ he identified was that my grades were not as good as some other students. He considered a 90% average and first time pass at CPL & IR the desired criteria. I was pretty miffed at this, particularly as I was on one of the first JAA courses when the ground school failure rate was very high. The success Oxford later enjoyed was in no small part the result of people like me feeding exam questions into their question bank. I also firmly believe that whilst airlines do look at grades, they also look at the person, a skill beyond the Career Development Officer.
The second thing he told me was that I should show some form of ‘team work’ on my CV. I pointed out that my CV gave details of my work background, that being a Detective at New Scotland Yard, where I had worked in a number of specialist roles and had been commended for my work on 7 occasions. I had also put a number of sporting achievements and other interests on my CV. Well, the response was that I should consider doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. I burst out laughing, until I realised he was being serious. He also said that if I had been a prefect at school or ever arranged a formal social event, put it on the CV. I was flabbergasted.
He then set about my CV with a red pen, and told me to come back when it had been corrected. I decided to ignore his rubbish and kept my CV as it was, particularly as I had been given positive feedback from better informed people.
I suspect that this bloke has been left unchecked for too long. This is why he has recently sent out an e-mail (which I have seen) telling people NOT to apply directly to airlines as this will not reflect well on them or Oxford.
This is utterly disgusting and offensive and quite rightly should be challenged robustly. Oxford is a training provider and as such their contract with a student/client is to provide them with the best training at their disposal. No mention is made in the contract or marketing material that once qualified your training record will be dissected and rubbished by an unqualified Career Development Officer. There is also no mention of having your rights to apply for jobs restricted or jeopardised.
Recently, I spoke with a friend who was ‘ambushed’ during an airline interview. He has a good pass rate, but did have some difficulties with an ‘in house’ test. He was asked how well he did at Oxford, and truthfully replied that he did well and got good passes. The bombshell was dropped that the interviewer had spoken with the Career Development Officer at Oxford who had informed them he could be a ‘training risk’. I was astounded that anyone could form this view about this particular person. Clearly, the numpty had done it again, he had made a perverse judgement about someone he didn’t know and destroyed their chance of getting a job. (Had it been me I would have considered legal action).
So why have Oxford got a part time incompetent buffoon in what would appear to be a critical role? The answer, my friends, could be a simple one.
Oxford is a very slick operation with some very switched-on people at the top, but, they do not have the airline contacts they claim to have. The jobs they infer are there simply do not exist in sufficient numbers for them to place their graduates. Currently, the Career Development Officer is just a marketing tool (possibly about to back-fire). The current bloke is actually perfect for the role of talking crap and fobbing people off. Rest assured, if Oxford ever really have jobs to hand out, they will appoint someone else to do it.