Deer Jet selection process
Hi,
This is my first post on PPrune but I have been through most of the recruitment process for Deer Jet recently, and I think my experience with them might be worth sharing with future candidates.
I applied through an agent (Airspan China) for a Hawker captain's position based Shanghai. Standard Chinese contract : 10 000$ / month + 1000$ housing allowance and 2 months on 1 month OFF.
The recruitment process was to take place as follows :
- Prepare for 3 weeks minimum for the Chinese ATP theory exam (studying material was provided by the agent)
- Then 1st trip to Shaghai for ATP theory exam, Chinese class1 medical, Chinese immigration medical and interview
- Then if successful, second trip to Dubai for sim check ride (Chinese ATP) with chinese CAA examiner.
- If successfull, employment ASAP in the company
So I started studying the ATP for one month through the studying material provided as well as with Gleim (strongly recommended)
In the meantime I obtained my Chinese double entry visa and was called to Shanghai for 4 days end of May.
Once there, accommodation and per diems were provided and my airline tickets were reembursed by Deer Jet. Visas and Gleim preparation were at my own expense.
Chinese ATP exam went fine thanks to the study material provided and the large time I spent preparing, but I must say it is not an easy exam.
I also passed both medicals but they are very very tough and thourough
Interview was very friendly but what surprised me, was that they said they had no foreign pilots employed yet, and also the people we met seemed to have limited knowledge of bizz aviation. Anyway, all went fine and they said they hoped we wouldn't let them down becaus they were desperate in finding pilots.
They promised to contact us soon with sim dates so that we could take the check ride.
So I airlined back home with a good impression waiting for them to call me for the sim. In the meantime, I had to obtain a certifcate from my CAA stating my licence was authentic, a safety records certificate, and a criminal records certificate, translated in Chinese and certified by both French authorities and Chinese Embassy.
Since this can only be done in person, I had to travel to Paris for a few days and obtain all these documents at my own expense. Overall, it took me 2 months and cost me 1000 euros to get everything sorted.
Once all these documents were sent to Deer Jet, my agent, Airspan China emailed me that Deer Jet had changed the contract terms to a non-commuting offer with unacceptable salaries and so Airspan refused to work for them anymore. I was offered to deal with them directly if I still wanted to work for them but at my own risk.
I therefore contacted Deer Jet, saying I was still interested, but they never dared to reply.
So in the end, a lot of time, effort and money spent for nothing. Also, I need to mention that I kept in touch with other people that went through the same selection process for Deer Jet or Capital Airlines and the same thing happened to them. None was called for the sim nor signed a contract.
So to all future candidates, all I say is be carefull and think twice before applying. I still don't understand why Deer Jet started a complicated and costly recruitment process to end up cancelling everything without even informing the candidates. I would be curious to know if any westerners actually work for them now and how it goes.
Good luck and all the best to future candidates.