Nationality bias at german airlines?
 

Me and my 5 austrian colleagues who finished flight school this year, have been waiting for literally ANY Invitation to an Assessment for months now (longest guy has been waiting for 7 months) and it seems like it's just not happening. I have therefore booked myself in to do the self-funded Assessment at interpersonal and all of the people there (some only finished 1 month ago and all german nationals) had more than 3 invites or assessments already. How is that possible? All of us have a level 6 in english, a degree and got first time passes on everything. At this point I can't help but feel like it's not our fault and it is beyond frustrating.
Any experience?

Try Ryanair/Wizzair, they don't care about your nationality.

There's nationality bias around the globe and it exists in every single country in Europe. People prefer their own and will incline towards selecting a "familiar" name over something that seems strange. It's not fair but that's how it is.

As mentioned, apply to RYR/Wizz, they don't give a damn about where you're from so long as you're safe.

Did you blindly jump into flight training during the worst ever aviation downturn in history and really expect to walk straight into an airline job!?

Maybe you are just overqualified for flying with a german airline? :) But really, very few of our students (mostly germans, trained in Germany) get invited to assessments either. And if you think german airlines have a nationality bias you can always try applying for a job in France...

…but they are always polite enough to send you a PFO email!

I absolutely didn't. All I'm saying is that my colleagues and I are just as qualified as our german counterparts, yet we're not getting invited to anything, while they got up to 4/5 invites within a 1 or 2 months, while we've been waiting for up to 7 months by now.

Thats life mate.

Well, i realize that. The intention of the post wasn't to moan, but rather to find out whether that bias is actually true or not. I'm brand new in this industry, so i wanted to ask some people that know better than I do. No need to be cocky.

No one is being cocky. The harsh reality is that yes, there is nationality bias, but not only in Germany. It exists everywhere.

7 months is nothing. I got ONLY my first invitations after 3.5 year after graduating from Flightschool.

Now I have about 1100 hours on Jet, I even get contacted on Linkedin, but when I had NO hours, pff,, applied to 500 companies and only a handful replied and said thanks but no thanks to me.

Welcome to aviation.

Flying is amazing, but the business is ICECOLD and Harsch.

Nationality bias is present in every single airline I can think of. That's just the way it is, and it won't be changing any time soon.

Don't believe everything people tell you. One of my best students ever got his ATPL early this year. Like you he has applied to every airline in central Europe. The only invitation so far has been from Ryanair and one german bizjet operator. Lots of our students who finished in 2021 are driving trains for german rail while they patiently wait for their first invitation to a decent airline.

I am a foreigner working for a german airline.
we expect to hire over 200 FOs in the next 12 months, but at the moment we just don’t have the capacity to train the new hires.
Captains and new FOs are waiting 2, 3 or even more months to start flying after their type rating or upgrade.
When (if) training gets back up to speed you may get an invitation soon.

But there could be another reason: most or all airlines in Germany use Interpersonal. If for example your resume or cover letter is below standard, it could negatively impact all your applications.

Disagree. not in Wizzair/ryanair. Maybe not in EasyJet...

I finished my training in 2018, nothing happened for a year, then I joined a company where the TR was self sponsored.
At the end of the TR, after a huge amount of money spent, the pandemic came, I didn't fly a single hour.
I found myself on the ground, like other thousands of pilots, doing a completely different job for a year and a half, with a ridiculous salary.
After the pandemic, the airline where I paid the TR called me to start the Line Training, and in 2022 I passed an assessment in another one, much better, with a permanent contract.
I did good ? I did wrong ? I don’t know, I just know I’m happy now.
I found loads of people telling me to give up in aviation, to do something else, but I didn't listen to them, I insisted, and it worked fine.
I went through moments of great distress, but now I can say that it was worth it
For me it took 4 years, but with the pandemic in between.

Congrats! Going in aviation only for money is no good... But that probably true for most jobs

Ah, not the same. Those are cross border companies, besides, they cant afford to be bias about nationalities. They are desperate enough as it is.

Try apply to a local turboprop operation or small TR bizjet job in Germany as a Spaniard for example, then you'll know what we're referring to.