I'm with Caulfield.
Applicants>job positions=entitlement to ask what we want and pick the best
PM - That relationship doesn't really mean its a good idea to 'ask what we want' because it doesn't automatically follow that the result will be 'the best'. Any selection process is a two way street - not only is the employer entitled to pick and choose - so is the employee. Posters so far are very big on the idea that the employee has to put the effort into showing the employer that he/she is worthy, whilst glossing over the reverse aspect of the relationship.
What BA
should be asking is this :
"How come a potential DEP like Mundy views his job prospects at BA as being so mediocre that it is borderline even turning up for the interview."
followed closely by:
Is it possible that we are putting off some of the better prospects for recruitment and therefore reducing the overall quality of our eventual recruits?"
But of course to express such a view is tantamount to heresy. After all, it would make the suggestion that maybe everything at BA is not perfect.
As far as I'm concerned, the demise of the final salary scheme removed the last unequivocal advantage of joining BA.
A further update on the list from previous posts:
1.) Job for life. (my take: - company under assault from competition. In a better condition than post 9/11, but basic corporate culture still present. Medium term prognosis? who knows.)
2.) Choice of L/haul or S/haul. (my take: - see other threads. You'll get what you're given. 5 years down the line when you are unfrozen, then a choice - but five years is a long time. Type changes are an obvious cost to be attacked.)
3.) Starting Salary OK (agreed.)
4) Excellent training (I'd go with Average. Discussion beyond the scope of this thread)
5) No bond (my take: - why are some people actively selling this as a good point? Afterall, if BA is so brilliant, why would you leave? And why would people in BA want to see you come, soak up cash, and then leave? Doesn't this suggest something about the corporate culture?)
6) Excellent concessions (my take: Concesssions? Lets be honest, who really cares? These days air travel is so cheap. Thats not to say a free first concession isn't a really nice perk, but its not at the core of the relationship between you and the company.)
7) Excellent final salary pension scheme (just to be clear - its gone.)
8) Better than being unemployed (well, any flying job would qualify on this count surely?)
There are many yardsticks by which a jobs desireability can be measured, and it is certainly true that a job at BA measures up quite reasonably against many of them. But for myself, I don't see a compelling case for giving up seniority at a different employer JUST to come to BA.
The 'we are the best, everyone must want to work for us' mindset is just the same as the 'we are the best, all passengers must want to fly with us' point of view which has the company reeling from the competition.