RAF Careers office tells people "bar is being lowered" for entry.
Cue quip that perhaps the Royal Air Force should have stuck with Observers - of the passing scene.....
betty swallox
Unfortunately the original thread has since been deleted by the moderators of the forum it featured on (The Student Room). However, the poster purported to be a member of the team at the Leeds AFCO (he gave the AFCO email address as his own) and advised people to contact him there, the email was the same as his username "SCLONE".
As you can tell from the first few replies, though, the quote was seen in full by other members of this forum before it was removed.
thread starter...so is your quote just hearsay, or can you substantiate? Please
As you can tell from the first few replies, though, the quote was seen in full by other members of this forum before it was removed.
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Cool. Just checking. You know how these things get over-inflated.
Thanks.
And thanks for starting. I'm loving the banter on here. This is what PPRuNe is all about. Love peeps getting totally bent out of shape about banter. In answer to Willard Whyte, it's this banter that's one of the reasons I'm still in the mob!!
Thanks.
And thanks for starting. I'm loving the banter on here. This is what PPRuNe is all about. Love peeps getting totally bent out of shape about banter. In answer to Willard Whyte, it's this banter that's one of the reasons I'm still in the mob!!
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I was told that quite recently, a year or two ago, an Ops Wing on a FJ base was referring to the resident FJ Sqns as its "customers".
If I provide services, why shouldn't I see those I provide to as my customers and seek to keep my customers happy?
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Cool, so he has a chance.
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Half of the service IT jobs in the section where I used to work were civilianised to save money - the MOD was really surprized that they could not recruit sufficient aircraft systems software writers for £19K per year.
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Enough nonsense!
I don't often post on the form but thought I would add my comments on this, especially as I work in an AFCO.
To get started and to stop rumours, the bar has not been lowered for any trade in the RAF. There is of course the occasion where we have waived certain aspects of the process, the majority of these tend to be AST (aptitude test) scores but please allow me to put it into perspective.
For example, imagine you have a candidate who wants to become an aircraft technician. He needs an overall score of 63 and needs to score level 2 in verbal, 5 in numerical, 5 in mechanical comprehension and 5 in electrical comprehension.
Just say he scores 61 and meets all the levels required in the individual elements. If he is a run of the mill candidate then he will be told to go away, study up and come back for another go.
However, imagine as well as having all his GCSE's and A-Levels he also has an HNC and HND in Aeronautical Engineering. It makes no sense at all to turn him away for the sake of 2 marks in the test where he has probably had his overall score dragged down by not doing well in the memory section of the test etc.
This is where we would apply for a waiver. If we didn't and let the candidate go, we would loose an ideal candidate who has already shown he has the ability to learn engineering.
We would never waive fitness standards or medical standards, in fact these are the two areas where we are most strict. I would never pass a candidate at interview that I wouldn't be happy to have working for me.
Some trades have had name changes to make them more appealing to candidates. Steward has been changed to Catering and Hospitality Specialist (With Cabin Crew Opportunities) and admin has been changed to HR specialist.
For certain trades that are classed as pinchpoint, we will expedite the process but all that means is we will process them faster. For example we may choose to send someone from Leeds to Manchester for a medical if there are slots available.
Whoever it was from Leeds that said we were lowering standards was wrong and obviously knows it.
Happy to answer any questions on here or via the PM
To get started and to stop rumours, the bar has not been lowered for any trade in the RAF. There is of course the occasion where we have waived certain aspects of the process, the majority of these tend to be AST (aptitude test) scores but please allow me to put it into perspective.
For example, imagine you have a candidate who wants to become an aircraft technician. He needs an overall score of 63 and needs to score level 2 in verbal, 5 in numerical, 5 in mechanical comprehension and 5 in electrical comprehension.
Just say he scores 61 and meets all the levels required in the individual elements. If he is a run of the mill candidate then he will be told to go away, study up and come back for another go.
However, imagine as well as having all his GCSE's and A-Levels he also has an HNC and HND in Aeronautical Engineering. It makes no sense at all to turn him away for the sake of 2 marks in the test where he has probably had his overall score dragged down by not doing well in the memory section of the test etc.
This is where we would apply for a waiver. If we didn't and let the candidate go, we would loose an ideal candidate who has already shown he has the ability to learn engineering.
We would never waive fitness standards or medical standards, in fact these are the two areas where we are most strict. I would never pass a candidate at interview that I wouldn't be happy to have working for me.
Some trades have had name changes to make them more appealing to candidates. Steward has been changed to Catering and Hospitality Specialist (With Cabin Crew Opportunities) and admin has been changed to HR specialist.
For certain trades that are classed as pinchpoint, we will expedite the process but all that means is we will process them faster. For example we may choose to send someone from Leeds to Manchester for a medical if there are slots available.
Whoever it was from Leeds that said we were lowering standards was wrong and obviously knows it.
Happy to answer any questions on here or via the PM
Last edited by fantaman; 27th Apr 2014 at 19:31. Reason: Spelling error
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RAF Careers office tells people "bar is being lowered" for entry.
Retaining quality is the issue in my opinion. Young NCOs , hell even SACs with 3-5 years experience are leaving at pace. Into very well paid technical jobs. What is being done to address this ?
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enginesuck
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RAF Careers office tells people "bar is being lowered" for entry.
Retaining quality is the issue in my opinion. Young NCOs , hell even SACs with 3-5 years experience are leaving at pace. Into very well paid technical jobs. What is being done to address this ?
Join Date: Sep 2005
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RAF Careers office tells people "bar is being lowered" for entry.
Retaining quality is the issue in my opinion. Young NCOs , hell even SACs with 3-5 years experience are leaving at pace. Into very well paid technical jobs. What is being done to address this ?
Totally agree with that, not all are high fliers and may be held back simply on dress standards at assessment whilst technically wise they are superior to those promoted, it always makes sense to allow certain numbers to bolster each rank thus improving it with a stronger and more experienced knowledge base, but didn't the RAF move over to a must reach x rank system by x years to be retained? I don't care what they say, not everything is in the manual, and it sometimes takes experience to diagnose the fault.
re IT specialists leaving the RAF, my last firm paid a number of ex RAF IT specialists £300 to £500 per day....
Fantaman Quote:. I would never pass a candidate at interview that I would be happy to have working for me.
Did you actually mean the opposite of this???
Did you actually mean the opposite of this???
Last edited by rockyDC; 27th Apr 2014 at 17:13. Reason: adding nameof poster
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
One area was on E3 Mission Programming developing and maintaining operational programs. The language was a rare Jovial and the guys were being paid peanuts for a highly specialised skill.
At one point a VSO was heard to say that the guys could earn megabucks outside; they must have heard him as many PVRd
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Dearest Fantaman,
Apologies for the (slight) thread drift...
As a recruiter, what would you say to me when I walked in off the street to enquire about being a WSOp (Acoustic)?
This...
Non-Commissioned Aircrew - Careers
From the RAF Careers website. Today.
Apologies for the (slight) thread drift...
As a recruiter, what would you say to me when I walked in off the street to enquire about being a WSOp (Acoustic)?
This...
Non-Commissioned Aircrew - Careers
From the RAF Careers website. Today.
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Fascinating to see some the changes I was staffing back in the 90s become reality, although I never envisaged a Sgt ATCO being described as NCO Aircrew 