Okay i said no more from me but a point worthy of note (i hope). My company receives about 200CV's a week for no jobs. I would bet that it's the same for most companies. 30% i am told are from type rated guys and gals. When vacancies arise the process is a half day with interview, group exercise and a briefing. Those that are successful then undergo a sim assessment from one of our trainers who looks at basic stuff. I think it is a fair and cost effective system. Why do BA need to put mature pilots through a system designed to see if 18 year olds have the capabilty to learn how to fly? I have been involved in the development of these tests over the years and they only indicate certain traits, they do not say that the individual is going to become chuck yeager! In fact most are designed around the military prospect - an excellent example is the recognition of wing span and deciding wether or not to fire the missile - how relevant is that to a commercial operation? Okay so the capacity test has some merit but after my 3 hour sim detail i underwent yet another micropat test this time with rudder pedals!! So the 1-11 assessment still isn't enough?
The hard truth is that without the final salary pension BA T's and C's are not that attractive unless you are quite young and/or work for a company that is looking a bit dodgy (sorry My Travel guys!) I was more envious of some of the BMI guys that were flying the 330 as well as the 320/321 - seems the perfect job to me.
400 odd suitable for 125 jobs i reckon is piss poor and i agree with other posts, in the past BA would have been overwhelmed with applications but not anymore. The world is a much different place and the legacy carriers need to wake up and smell the coffee!
Yeovil's post i reckon is spot on and worthy of a second read.
Goodbye!
