Virgin Blue's lost the plot

[captain_josh18]

I went to a Virgin Blue open day a few fridays ago and was horrified to what i saw there!

So many people went and yet and 85% of the people were over the age of 35.! And the way virgin goes about its recruitment is really, quite stupid! Play cards and build the highest tower, make a rabbi out of shapes, whatdo u do if your truck breaks down?

Uh hello.... Yes fair enough that we had to work as a team and show that we have the required skills, but hey, cant they do what Jetstar did and show indivdual work as well? I mean Jetstar really, you got to show yourself there who you are and what you can do. At least i had the opportunity to Advance with Jetstar and i passed the developement day and was accepted for a further interview for the customer service agent position. I have to wait aother weeks to see if igot the job cause of security and stuff, which is good.

Also the funny thing i dont get, the people who were called back to the second interview stage were all old guys, no offence guys you were all wicked, but hey, do you honeslty think that you can keep the job of Ramp, lifting heavy bags etc for nearly 10 years to come?

Anyone else got any opinions id really like to hear from you! I would like to see your opinions. And yeah anyone with information on Jetstar who made it, it would be wickd to chat.

Take care, Josh :)

[HotDog]

Well captain josh, as you have asked for it; my opinion is that you need to improve your spelling and grammar skills before you can hope to be invited for a second interview.:rolleyes:

[exmax]

erm....perhaps Virgin Blue are now looking to recruit staff with considerable LIFE experience in addition to previous travel industry experience or whatever. I don't think it's fair to write people off and assume that staff will do 10years service, or more, who cares!!! If you're capable physically and mentally and have the right attitude to your work/career....then, what's the problem.

To Josh, I hate to break it to you but I have flown with crew who are at least 20years my senior, they are extremely capable in all areas of their work and I gave them the respect they deserve. As for the other areas of Virgin Blue recruitment, I'm unable to comment as I have never attended on open day etc.

[captain_josh18]

Yeah i agree with you if you have the right attitude etc. But if they let the younger guys have a go, then maybe the younger guys will stay longer and make it their career.....

Who cares bout the spelling mistakes it was easy enough to understand, and if you couldnt understand it i can also see why you aint mking the airlines.

For virgin... i dont care, i think jetstar is heaps better. Especiallyif virgin are getting their aircaft grounded cause they lost their maintainance logs......... says alot hey.

sorry dont agree!
Later!!

[HotDog]

Captain Josh, you don't get it do you? You won't get an airline job with the the prowess you have demonstrated so far. For your information, I retired after 33 years and 20,000 hours in the flight deck of big jets. Take my advice, recruiting do look for good attitude and basic English.

[qfmike737]

I soooo fully think it's about time that Virgin recruited older crew. It creates a nice balance and mix of experience. Like I know it would certainly make their reputation even more appealing. Nothing can compromise experience and for a long time it's been the young ones that have been getting all the chances let the older ones who really want to fly have a chance too!!!

I still haven't been able to imagine older DJ crew hanging out in their uniforms in the city doing their 'thang' oops but then that's just me!!! I must be a bimbo



:O

[DanAir1-11]

Age/Maturity in years and experience go hand in hand, and in the current climate of economic rationalisation and the ever increasing requirement to keep expenditure to an absolute minimum, many organizations are indeed recruiting persons whom are of 'advanced' experience, usually meaning that they are also of advanced years. What this does, is effectively provide self starters thus reducing training costs that may be associated with 'freshmen'.

I am now well into my later years, and as with hotdog, having retired from the Left hand seat of jet transports with many many hours under the belt. I am still flying for a living however and am still in good condition, I can still load my own cargo too! don't worry about 'us old fellas losing the stamina!

Captain_josh18, I would have to agree with hotdog, having been involved in this industry for almost 50years, recruitment really do look for a good command of written and spoken English and indeed attitude. I will not draw any conclusions on your attitude based on this thread, but would have to agree that the grammar
would appear to be in need of a scrub-up. Don't take it personally, choose to take it constructively from an old fart whom has been around a while.

[Klohe]

As Josh has done, I have also sat through a VB interview and Jetstar, and have to say that as far as professionalism goes, Jetstar win hands down. The JETSTAR assessment day, you get to show a few skills such as group activities, written communication, role play, as well as a personality test. My particular interview with VB was the group session, and I found it to be very unprofessional, Card building, group activity to design an Advertisement for VB and 10 questions of how to add up 2 Beers and a packet of pringles. The VB staff had obviously had a big night out and made jokes of it, which I think was pretty unprofessional, but hey VB are looking for totally different people than JETSTAR are. Its obvious that VB recruitment staff are not trained at what they are doing, wereas Jetstar have employed professionals to do their Assessment days and that shows. But as I said VB are looking for different people than Jetstar are and that was quite clear, and hey there is nothing wrong with that!!!

[mez78]

I also went to a VB recruitment day last week and was very dissapointed. I was in a group with a couple of extremely loud domineering people who spoke above everyone and didn't give anyone else a chance to voice their opinion. I thought it would look bad to try and yell above them and the assessor would note that they were not giving anyone a chance but apparantly not because they got through to the one on one interviews and I didn't!

Was very dissapointed with the way it was carried out and quite frankly when I walked out I thought thats not the kind of company I want to work for and definitely not a team environment I want to be a part of so i guess it was a blessing in disguise but still very dissapointing.

I also noticed the applicants were older than I would have thought, Im 25 and I expected to be one of the "old" people but I was about average age.

[andyman_82]

Hey hotdog if you're not going to be positive is there any point in putting up a post and giving someone bad feedback its not very nice implying someone cant spell.

[missleadfoot]

Didn't our dear Peter Costello just a few weeks ago propose a system where "older" people are now able to continue work and apply for positions after the age of retirement? You know the one, keep them working so we don't have to pay the pension. He encouraged businesses to hire older staff. Isn't this what is happening. Go Liberal, yeah right!!!

Actually I do support their method in a way cause there are a lot of better qualified employees in the older age bracket than some of the losers that just hope to get in, but this in turn will eventuate in more younger unemployment. Read most of the papers, "experience required".

[GWYN]

Andyman: Sometimes I really wonder...............................

I certainly didn't read any 'negative feedback' just a bit of friendly advice. Incidentally there is no 'implication' of bad spelling, but a clear statement that Josh's spelling and grammar could do with some improvement. That is amply demonstrated in his posts, why become so indignant about it?

It is a fact, regardless of how much some might choose to put their heads in the sand, that an ability to speak and write one's own language counts for a very great deal. The fact that you might be understood is not good enough; imprecise and non-standard use of the language means that you might equally be MISunderstood. Think about the implications of that; then consider why aviation is conducted using standard phrases and terminology. Maybe it is because just 'making oneself understood' is simply not enough.

Rant over..................for the time being!

[yellow rocket]

Another thing you can learn from 35 year olds Josh is how to avoid premature ejacul*t*on.

[HotDog]

Brilliant Rocket. Same advice to Andyman, put brain in gear before engaging tounge.;)

[woftam]

Would that be tongue?
(tounge in cheek).
:=

[Minosavy Masta]

Good Advise "Hot Dog"..............er......"Tongue" is in cheek .....once you get your foot out of your mouth eh ??;)

[andyman_82]

This post was not made for telling people to spell correctly. Im sure you understood what he meant.

And as for virgin blue inviting older applicants to the interviews...I hink its just to cover there asses. I doubt there will be that many suceeding into training school.

But I hope virgin blue can prove me wrong.

[HotDog]

I don't think there would be too many who would suc eeding either to get into training school but then again, you never know.:}

[andyman_82]

i was testing you hehe

[Minosavy Masta]

Ohhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeez Im losing it :)) what is a HeHe .....?? and furthermore......how does one test it ??:)):p

[DJ_Fly_Boi]

Hi All,

Firstly - this is my opinion and only my opinion. Secondly, I am not defending Virgin Blue, just because I am an employee of Virgin Blue.

The Virgin Blue recruitment day that I attended was in the exact same format as recruitment days that I have attended with Qantas and the Flight Centre group. The Virgin Blue staff that are at the workshops/group interview days - whatever you would like to call them are a mix of HR Staff - all with Formal Qualifications in the Human Resource area and Virgin Blue staff that are from the area that is employing, ie. The Cabin Crew group interviews have current online Cabin Supervisors and Inflight Development Supervisors attending and the group interviews for Ground Crew - including; Guest Services, Pit Crew and Reservations Agent - are all attended by either Team Leaders from these areas or current online staff.

Each of the three airlines, whether they be Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar - or any other carrier for that matter are looking for an individual quality that makes you you - in Virgin Blues case - it's called Virgin Flair - it's the common quality - yet an individually different quality that all of DJ's team members have.

I was start up staff with Virgin Blue and they have a fantastic team member base - with team members coming from all kinds of different fields - and yes we have people that have worked for other airlines including, Qantas, Ansett, Ansett New Zealand, Air New Zealand, Origin Pacific, Flight West, Alliance, Freedom Air, Southwest, British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Air Pacific - just to name a few.

Please don't bag us out - or generalise - Virgin Blue, like Qantas and now Jetstar is staffed by a dedicated team that believes in the product that we are and is proud to be a "Virgin".

If you've applied and missed out - give it another go - heaps of people miss out on the job the first time they apply - never lose faith in your abilities and you'll get there eventually.

[AIRWAY]

If you've applied and missed out - give it another go - heaps of people miss out on the job the first time they apply - never lose faith in your abilities and you'll get there eventually.

I agree with this response.

One good friend of mine tried 3 times to get into a particular airline, and he got lucky on his 3rd attempt.

[captain_josh18]

Theres no point saying all of that man cause people that have been to Virgins assesment day and Jetstars assesment day have all pointed out which of the 2 they preferred, and which one was more professional.

I happy for you working for Virgin, but after it all its not the airline i would like to work for.

Coldcat, is this better spelling for you? Sorry i didnt check over my spelling. I actualy got the Distinction award for my school in Year 12 for English... I think that i know how to spell.

Thanks for your opinions, i have read them all, as i asked for them, i appreciate your responces.

Take care :)

[Yarra]

Things that make you go hmmm

[Floaty]

i wish we had a language badge! My airline said they are not interested as they are not willing to pay me more for my skills anyway! :hmm: ...and we don't even need to spell!

hehehe... by the way... to that guy failing with VB... don't take it personally mate! I failed 10 interviews but was lucky on my 11th! I work in the UK and it took me 16 months and a round the world trip until i got the job i wanted!!!... Get over it! Try somewhere else!

Good luck! :ok:


p.s. if only people knew what the job and conditions are like before they apply... rejection letters would feel less bitter.... this is from someone who's still not "good enough" to receive a credit card from a bank... "sorry madam, your credit check is insufficient "... :ugh:

[HotDog]

josh, what can I say? I wasn't trying to make fun of you, only wanted to give you some good advice. However, I now have to tell you; if I were in the recruiting business, you would not get a job with your command of English diction, spelling, capitalization and attitude. Feel free to PM me if you think I have wronged you. HD.

[nickmelb]

Floaty!

what ever happened to your trip to melbourne!

how r things over in da UK?

hope all is well babe

nickers:}