I too was on the course over Easter, and yes £300 was not an easy sum to find after several months of job hunting. However, any pre-course scepticism was immediately dispelled and I can highly recommend making the investment. There were two delegates to one ‘instructor’; in addition Maggie from BALPA was there, plus a CRM expert and a F/O from another major airline. Tell me where else you would get that kind of personal treatment (hell it was almost one to one)? These people had given up their probably cherished days off to spend the weekend with a bunch of wannabees – yes they get paid, but after paying for the venue, I doubt that they had much change to split between them. I had to ask myself ‘why are these people doing this’ because I can safely say it is not all for the money. By the way, the venue was excellent.
I for one have come away with renewed enthusiasm for approaching the airlines which, having read some of the postings on this site, is something that a lot of wannabees need. Most of all though, I now have the confidence to go through any airline selection process – I know which technical areas to concentrate on, how to respond to those horrible ‘scenario’ type questions, I know exactly what is involved in psychometric testing and how to make the most of my performance in group exercises. Each of us had personal feedback and believe me there was never any bull****ting. It was totally honest and open.
On top of all this, AOT have plans afoot to act as a kind of recruitment ‘agency’, I guess a little like BALPA’s pilot pool (I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong). It’s early days yet with AOT, but I think it will be a great success. We all know how important personal contacts are in this industry – that’s what’s going to get you the job. The guys from AOT are spending the next 10 days or so writing personal reports on eight of us wannabees so I think they should know us pretty well by then!
I’ve said my piece. Go to their web sit (first posting) to find out more.