Airline Recruitment - A New Strategy?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 21
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From: Taunton
Airline Recruitment - A New Strategy?
Options, options....it's nice to have them don't you think? But I'm at a juncture in life which has some is throwing some serious decisions at me! I've recently finished my job to concentrate on a career as an aviator of some sort. Nothing new there in this forum I hear you say. Indeed you're probably right - there are clearly thousands of Wannabees out there and a dauntingly large pool of unemployed yet experienced airline pilots. Yet one day, in I dare say in the not too distant future, an advertisement will be found in the Classified section of Flight International in very small print for XXX airline recruiting or sponsoring. That advert will be known about within nanoseconds of the magazine hitting the shelves and naturally this Pprune forum will be flooded with posts on the merits, drawbacks and conspiracy theories on the subject. All well and good, but the killer question is - What makes you think you are good enough? 
I'm sure none of us doubt that hundreds if not thousands of applications will be sent when this happens. And it will happen. It is just a question of when. Yet each of us has an innate arrogance to believe we may be in with a chance, at least for an interview. What is this based on? I'd love to believe that I could secure a job put against the rest of you but that just isn't reality.
You see my point here is that largely, from a recruitment perspective, we are all the same. Ok, you may be able to filter out a few that don't meet the medical standards or the GAPAN aptitude tests, but on paper by a large, most of us will be seen as the same - wannabees of varying flying hours and experience having the same tunnel vision that a flying career is what they were made for. The airlines will be laughing when it comes to recruitment time again. They are gonna have a plethora of highly skilled, self-funded wannabees to choose from, many with over 1000 hours P1! And what is more, this wealthy pool of airline pilot potentials is vast enough to fill any posts for a good few years as it currently stands!
This is definitely not normal behaviour! No other recruitment processes would expect such high risk investment in their career in the face of such adversity. The 50 - 60k that many are investing in their airline hopeful careers, would quite comfortably get you through 4-5 years of medical or law school with an almost guaranteed first job and a handsome salary to go with it! But you've got to love the Wannabees for their steely nerve and blind faith in their dedication. I'd be lying if it doesn't scare the hell out of me, but somehow I get reassurance from knowing I'm not alone in this endeavour. And please, please, Saddam keep your index finger away from that red button, and Bush just try to say something that isn't controversial for once - we Wannabees don't need any further setbacks - our nerves and certainly our bank accounts couldn't hack another 11/9!
So guys and girls, what can we do to improve our prospects? At the moment we are all competing by ploughing more money into hours and ratings in an attempt to stand out above the crowd. I don't believe the situation has ever been this tough. But surely there must be a better way? Can we put more pressure on the government to help or maybe secure more private investment deals? The essence of the Malgus idea isn't such a bad one, but one would have more confidence if perhaps it was CAA backed or run. Does anyone else have any ideas on this? Surely what we need is more creative thinking, rather than just ploughing on with hours building and currency like most of us have become obsessed with. Sorry to sound a bit Nat-West here, but come on guys, there has to be a better way! Through the skills and knowledge in this forum I’m sure we can generate some really new thinking and apply some significant pressure where we need to.
Reply, even if it's a seemingly meaningless idea or comment, just reply - it might just be the change of direction we need.
The Cat.
I'm sure none of us doubt that hundreds if not thousands of applications will be sent when this happens. And it will happen. It is just a question of when. Yet each of us has an innate arrogance to believe we may be in with a chance, at least for an interview. What is this based on? I'd love to believe that I could secure a job put against the rest of you but that just isn't reality.
You see my point here is that largely, from a recruitment perspective, we are all the same. Ok, you may be able to filter out a few that don't meet the medical standards or the GAPAN aptitude tests, but on paper by a large, most of us will be seen as the same - wannabees of varying flying hours and experience having the same tunnel vision that a flying career is what they were made for. The airlines will be laughing when it comes to recruitment time again. They are gonna have a plethora of highly skilled, self-funded wannabees to choose from, many with over 1000 hours P1! And what is more, this wealthy pool of airline pilot potentials is vast enough to fill any posts for a good few years as it currently stands!
This is definitely not normal behaviour! No other recruitment processes would expect such high risk investment in their career in the face of such adversity. The 50 - 60k that many are investing in their airline hopeful careers, would quite comfortably get you through 4-5 years of medical or law school with an almost guaranteed first job and a handsome salary to go with it! But you've got to love the Wannabees for their steely nerve and blind faith in their dedication. I'd be lying if it doesn't scare the hell out of me, but somehow I get reassurance from knowing I'm not alone in this endeavour. And please, please, Saddam keep your index finger away from that red button, and Bush just try to say something that isn't controversial for once - we Wannabees don't need any further setbacks - our nerves and certainly our bank accounts couldn't hack another 11/9!
So guys and girls, what can we do to improve our prospects? At the moment we are all competing by ploughing more money into hours and ratings in an attempt to stand out above the crowd. I don't believe the situation has ever been this tough. But surely there must be a better way? Can we put more pressure on the government to help or maybe secure more private investment deals? The essence of the Malgus idea isn't such a bad one, but one would have more confidence if perhaps it was CAA backed or run. Does anyone else have any ideas on this? Surely what we need is more creative thinking, rather than just ploughing on with hours building and currency like most of us have become obsessed with. Sorry to sound a bit Nat-West here, but come on guys, there has to be a better way! Through the skills and knowledge in this forum I’m sure we can generate some really new thinking and apply some significant pressure where we need to.
Reply, even if it's a seemingly meaningless idea or comment, just reply - it might just be the change of direction we need.
The Cat.
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 1,095
Likes: 0
From: UK
Err - Good idea, but such Utopian ideals will not get us far in the real world.
All in all, its the "dead-mans" shoes that will get you in at the moment, and as I've learnt, this forum is used by everybody to get themselves in over their fellow "competitiors".
All in all, its the "dead-mans" shoes that will get you in at the moment, and as I've learnt, this forum is used by everybody to get themselves in over their fellow "competitiors".
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 113
Likes: 0
From: You Kay
One of the longest most point-lacking posts I've seen in a while Thundercat. What made you type it mate? Was it a boring day in the office and you wanted to kill time? Sorry to sound like a scathing old git but jeez.....
To stand out from the crowd you must do whatever you think will make you stand out! Use your imagination. Charity work? Nobody is going to give you the answer even if they had it. As you say it's fellow competion.
Good luck.
BM.
To stand out from the crowd you must do whatever you think will make you stand out! Use your imagination. Charity work? Nobody is going to give you the answer even if they had it. As you say it's fellow competion.
Good luck.
BM.
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,991
Likes: 8
From: UK
Thundercat, I think I may know what you are getting at.
"Technical Knowledge" is just one side of the Success Triangle.
If you want to be successful (at anything) you need to have good "internal communication" (ie have a belief system that knows you can succeed) and good "external communication" (ie how you interact with others).
To a large extent selection is a lottery - even with the psychobabble techniques which some companies now use.
However, to be outstanding you need to "stand out".
Do something lateral like learning a foreign language to add to your cv. Most people will think this idea is "off the wall" but you never know when it will make that little bit of difference when a potential employer reads your cv. In other words, work on your skills/knowledge/qualification outside flying, it might make all the difference.
Hope this helps but don't think you are on your own. I have 15,000 hours (9,000 on modern jets) with 10 years in training but, due to a family bereavement, have not flown a big shiny jet for 7 years and even I cannot get a job!
"Technical Knowledge" is just one side of the Success Triangle.
If you want to be successful (at anything) you need to have good "internal communication" (ie have a belief system that knows you can succeed) and good "external communication" (ie how you interact with others).
To a large extent selection is a lottery - even with the psychobabble techniques which some companies now use.
However, to be outstanding you need to "stand out".
Do something lateral like learning a foreign language to add to your cv. Most people will think this idea is "off the wall" but you never know when it will make that little bit of difference when a potential employer reads your cv. In other words, work on your skills/knowledge/qualification outside flying, it might make all the difference.
Hope this helps but don't think you are on your own. I have 15,000 hours (9,000 on modern jets) with 10 years in training but, due to a family bereavement, have not flown a big shiny jet for 7 years and even I cannot get a job!
