They're stealing our jobs type rant!
 

Frequently on Pprune there has been some kind of rant about our European cousins stealing UK pilot jobs. Well if that was not bad enough, last night on TV I quite clearly saw an airline captain serving behind the counter of McDonalds! This is disgraceful, and I dont care what nationality he is, it is a downright liberty.

McDonalds is often a natural career progression for many fATPL holders looking for that first job, many have strived hard to secure that 4-star rating only to be surpassed by some moron with 4 stripes. For those who take as much exception to this malpractice as me, write to BALPA and your local MP, this has got to stop now!


ps I'm a little bored at work today

:ok:

Was he a direct entry 4 starrer ? I hope seniority has not been abused here.

I wonder what the grill type rating cost? Is he bonded?
I am sure the BASPA* would like to know.

Burger and side pilot association.

The reason for him being a direct entry four starrer is because he had obviously read "Handling the Big Macs" and done his homework!!

Stealing Jobs?
 

Nobody is stealing anything. The job market is an open market or is becoming an open market.
A Brittish operator looks into the ratio (Quality+Experience)/cost.
Unfortunately that ratio doesn´t seem to be very favourable to The Locals.
People from around Europe seems to provide with that little extra tha makes the different. But it is just a mattter of working harder.

Just an opinion...

Umm Spiralklad, it's a joke. :)

The only thing our continental cousins can't understand is British humour but it's quite frightening what they can understand! :uhoh:

Mate, maybe you should be 'working harder' at lightening up a wee bit.

I have written to Mc Donald's recruitment before... Never received a reply:* Is it another of this position for those who belong to the old boys club?

Anyway Burger King is better than Mac Donalds but of course I am bitter and twisted because I have obviously failed at the application stage;)

Reddo. Wrt to Grill Type rating not being provided by the company, I find this revolting. What's next? Asking the staffs to bring their own smile at work and make use of it?

I did apply for a Mc Grilling job... I had even done a flame-grill rating... but was informed that that would not help and that I would still have to pay for a Mc Grill rating. £60000 on initial training, now two grill ratings at £25000 each + interest. Will I ever be able to recoup that in my career at the hot end?

JD

PS at my age I have a clear complexion, so may well be overlooked in the interview process.

The market is slowly picking up for us burger grilling wannabes after some major setbacks in the industry, namely the drop in sales after the obesity outbreak.

However, when recruitment starts in earnest we will still be at the bottom of the list as there are many wanting to move from the loco sector, namely Burger King, and a few from Wimpy who are unhappy with their hours under the new GTL (Grilling Time Limitations).

I have even heard a rumour that there are a few looking to convert their KFC Chicken Frying Licence as they can factor the hours they already have.

Good luck to all. :} ;) :E

PS, bored at work also (well it's too warm to do anything constructive with my time)

I hold a french fry endorsment on a JAR CPL and still can't get a job.

Actually a friend slipped a peice of paper into my license prior to an interview which stated that. Was good for conversation... still did not get the job though.

:p

Amex, the reason you didn't get a reply is because you didn't pay the nonrefundable £50 or the 13 page life history application was lost by Royal Mail.
Also, it's bad enough that you have to pay to play, you're also expected to buy your uniforms (allowances) or if you go to McDownall's you rent your uniform.

These days with competition being so tough any grilling experience is valuable. I suggest to many younger flippers to help Dad out during the summer BBQ season. If you can get a small bbq plate you can offer some freelance work in the parks. If you're so inclined, you can offer to instruct on burger flipping.

If you like obtaining huge loans from banks with initials, there's an organisation darn sarf that uses some more initials (CFC? KFC?) that can offer a complete course from ab initio right through to the big burner industrial BBQs.

Have people thought about corporate cooking? Get Gordon Ramsay (C&T chef) to yell at you for a laugh.

It's a tough market to crack. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. :ok:

This is typical of the airline industry these days - I've always wanted to fly for McDonalds from a very early age, and now these adverts are just over glamourising the job, which will no doubt result in a flood of applications from foreigners who will get looked after long before any British applicants will.

I bet if I went into a Le McDonalds you wouldn't find any British Pilots flying for them.....

ps - it's not called a quarter pounder over there.
pps - they tend to take on low hours, straight from training (Capt and FO) - apply when you're my age and English and you'll get given the 'Overqualified' rant.......

Good luck all those that get in..

You know it makes me so sad to see all these young people being overlooked for what is obviously the dream job of Burger flipping for one of the biggest and best in the world.

Why just look at the big boys though? You know there are plenty of smaller independant operators who still will give you the training needed to become a fully trained Burger God.

I must say though, I have noticed an increase in "Johnny Foriegner" types working the grill plates recently. With the number of people that OATS and Cabair are turning out every year you would have thought there was a ready supply of fATPL holders, errrm, I mean dedicated home grown talent.

If you think things here are bad think of our overseas cousins in McDonalds(Australia)! I understand that in order to even get a job on the deep fat fryer over there you need to have gained considerable time washing lettuce, slicing the buns and cleaning the milkshake machine. I've heard of people being stuck emptying the service area bins for years before they even got into the store! Since they only have a small population there are very few fast food joints to choose from, McDonalds being the largest and most prestigious, the smaller operators tend to go out of business quite quickly and the low cost "Express" places can only survive in the big cities.

Not only that but should you come to the UK your Ozzie grill and fryer ratings have to be converted to European Gold Stars, just dealing with the BCL (Burger Crew Licensing) dept requires you to be able to write in boxes on forms!

As for burger flipping opportunites on the continent, there are few. Due to the special types of product sold, for example in France the Big Horse(tm), Rabbit Nuggets and the ever popular McSnail, english burger flippers are not considered to be adequately trained, even if they do have a 4 Stars.

Another problem we lettuce washers face is that when 4 star holders and asssistant-deputy-vice-managers retire from McDonalds they can get burger flipping positions in smaller chains like Kentucky and Wimpy although I understand most prefer to go to Burger King due to the similar working practices and all their mates are there. There are also those burger wannabes who are prepared to pay not only for their stars but also to work flipping burgers for free til they have built up enough experience to either be hired by that restaurant or move on to another one.

Our biggest threat however is from flippers coming into this country and getting jobs in outfits like Dallas Chicken and Ribs who are prepared to use untrained flippers or foreign non JBA (Joint Burger Authority) flippers on extended validations. These restaurants work their employees to the full extent of BTL (burger time limitations) on long, 24 hour/7 days a week shift patterns to the extent that a serious accident on the chip fryer or the grill is imminent in my opinion.

nb this post is a joke. It does not reflect the views of the author or the PPRuNe management. All copyright and trademarks are acknowledged

You think that you are hard done by?!

I spent seven years at Hungry Jacks, in Australia - multi burner trained.

After wandering over the the yooKay, I try to get a Burger King job - exactly the same burners, made by exactly the same US company, in exactly the same environment. Nope - I have to apply to the UK burger franchise overseeing committee, sit their fourteen exams, hire my own grill, with a commercial chef, grill buddy and BAA (Burger Association Authority) overseer, just to grill the same meat on the same equipment wearing the same uniform as I did for seven years in Australia.







Only the beef was better there.

I'm sick fed up with you wannabes who want to jump straight onto the Right Hand Side of a shiny new grill.

Has anyone ever thought of building your way up in the industry by either instructing or joining a smaller outfit such as Tacho Bell?

Yeah we all want to work for the majors with the better wages (£4.78 p/h) and final salary schemes but even these terms and conditions are getting squeezed just like their orange juice.

Stop getting yourselves into a McFlurry and try and make some contacts in the industry first, and remeber to keep current in case you get called in for a grill ride.

For information the Grill Ride or Sim Fry as we know it consists of:

A precision fry

Some asymmetric frying

A visual fry in a Class G(rill) area

and the one that most people fail, frying with foggles on, I have seen a lot of nasty burns during this execise.

Keep at it, its determination that counts in this game and with the upturn predicted you'll soon be a proud owner of our company hair net.

I don't know, :rolleyes: why do people want to jump into the big fryers straight away, guys and gals do an apprenticeship. :eek: Why not learn to fry on small fryers, then take a course on how to teach people to fry with the small frying machines, that way you can gain experience, perhaps working up to teaching on the twin fryers, controlling two burgers at a time. Once you can do that McDoonals will be snapping your hand off and willing to pay you to flip and turn.

You know it makes sense!!! :ok:

Well i don't know about the Australian grill but i've been trying for several years to get a job as "swedish Cook", Have been training at home with those Self-improver-video's from the muppetshow.

But every time i try they say i don't speak the language, i have to be a natural Swedish cook in order to speak english to the people and to operate english kitchen machinery. Now that's what i call protectionisme.

And that's just besides the fact that i have to pay for my own "Swedish Cook" refresher course!

Pointer :E