volunteerpilot You goatta be in it to win it?

Applying doesn't cost anything other than time

Dibden visit is a couple of hundred - but a great day, a challenge and you will learn about yourself under pressure

If you go further, almost certainly another great experience and then if you reach the final 12 - the holy grail:O

The older candidates will bring a different profile to the mix and more life experience - but probably harder to convince them that you REALLY want it and that you are super motivated to go through all the training and then live a flight deck life - if you tick all these boxes apply - otherwise probably give it a miss.

The final 12 last year ages 22-32 - how much can we read into this?? not sure, small sample and maybe in fact they were just the best candidates and age wasn't an issue.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that when you enter education in chronological order the oldest appears at the top and when you enter previous employment in chronological order the most recent appears at the top. I know they want it in "chronological order" but I always though this would be oldest at the top.

Also, from what I can see there is no option to select most recent employment as "current", therefore I've had to enter an end date in the future with a note that it is the earliest date I could start elsewhere.

I don't want to appear pedantic but I reckon that with a programme as competitive as this, getting the above as CTC/Virgin want it would be a good start :ok:

I've just left the end date empty for my current job. It seems to let you do that.

Is there any chance to get funding from Virgin for this program?

They've said that the options for funding will be discussed at the interview stage.

Chris the Robot - I left it blank too as I haven't finished and I have 2 jobs anyway at the moment

Any guesses from people that have been through similar processes as to when the stage at Dibden Manor will be?

If we find out whether we have progressed in the week commencing 7th December then mid-January perhaps?

Last year the assessment centres were done before Christmas and there's not always a lot of time between the time you find out you've been successful at application stage until assent stage.

*There were also some run in early Jan too! The Virgin assessment day (the one at Virgin HQ was around the 20 somethingth of Jan)

Thanks for the advice folks, my earlier query has now been resolved :ok:

Thanks tfin25. Though, that's a pity in my opinion, how can you judge whether this program is an option without knowing anything about the conditions?

Are there also chances for non-uk-nationals? Any experience on that?

As I'm french I asked myself the same question and called CTC. The answer is that there is no quota regarding the applicant's nationality.

I found that last year, the initial online application was probably the most competitive stage. Everybody I know who passed this initial application spent significant time on their application questions and a spent lot of time thinking about the best way to use their word count, and to stand out against the huge number of applicants.

Bearing in mind that the CTC staff have many hundreds of applications to read, and there was no prize for being the first application submitted, I'd take as much time as you need until you're happy with your answers!

4800 applications were actually submitted, (source: CTC assessment day), and a few hundred were invited to the assessments at Dibden, which ran from the end of November through into the beginning of December.

Successful applicants received emails inviting them to book an assessment day at The Base (Virgin's HQ, Crawley) from mid-late December all the way until the beginning of January. This meant, I believe, that some people had two or three weeks to prepare for the Virgin assessment, while others may have only had a week or so.

The Virgin assessments ran from the 13th-16th of January, if memory serves correctly. And yeah, the age range of successful applicants was (at the time) 20-30.

It seems however like the assessments might all take place slightly later this year, as people aren't hearing back from CTC until the 7/12/15?

May the games begin
 

It appears that applications are now closed so best of luck to all who have applied!

:D

...and may the best candidates win regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or pays d'origine.

Salary after successful application
 

I know someone mentioned this briefly in a previous comment on the thread but Ill ask it just to clarify.

Is it a reduced salary for cadets who make it compared with the say a first officer who funded their own training and employed with virgin? just curious. Also any guesses for how long the reduced salary would last for? the seven year repayment period?

J.Charles I'm not sure how long you would be on the reduced salary for but VA don't hire cadets outside of this scheme so no problem there. However successful candidates will be earning less than half of the first officers salary.:}

This thread certainly seems a little quieter than last year... having only just read it today.

But Good to luck to one and all!

@J Charles, when I spoke with Virgin and the Pilot Careers Live they said, with a slight hesitancy (baring in mind the current cadets aren't on the flight deck yet) that the salary will adjust over time but is initially lower to repay your bond. As they understood it however, you would receive the same renumeration package as a regular FO/Captain.

I think only the contract will spell the final details so who knows.

J.charles, in a similar fashion to the British Airways FPP cadets, the Virgin MPL cadets will be on a reduced (but still not bad!) salary to begin with. As we can understand, Virgin are funding the entire £109,000 for the course, and so they will try and make this sum back during the first seven years of employment by paying cadets £20K (ish) a year LESS than standard DE salaries. Having seen previous BA FPP pay scales, which I assume are similar to the Virgin FFP, you'd start on a basic salary or around £26,000, and that will increase year on year. Im not sure, however, as to the point at which you'd jump on to the regular Virgin pay scales.

I don't think money is the big deal though! They'll reward you well, I'm sure you won't be pushed for cash, and you've got a guaranteed job for 7 years.

If you want to wet your appetites for the future though, check out the Virgin Atlantic pay scales on PilotJobsNetwork! Not bad...

Stratopause and can I add the cheesy line from the Hunger Games of "and may the odds be ever in your favour" ta daaa

LOL. How about: "Survivors Ready!"
Then look out for an email from CTC, "The tribe has spoken..."