Holer....

If invited for interview you'll get a phone call first, followed by a letter with details of the interview day.

If you are successful at interview, you'll get a phone call a few weeks later to let you know you're in the pool. If unsuccessful you'll get a letter.

As far as time in the pool is concerned, it seems to be a minimum of 6-8 months at the moment.

Hope that helps

:cool:

Bearing in mind that last year another company was contracted to produce a new Airbus CBT for Virgin and at that time the 300 series aircraft were due to be phased out, can anyone confirm whether new joiners on the Airbus fleet are being trained onto the 300 or the 600?

It's not much different to what you're getting - I get about £3200 before pension contributions. But I get useful allowances, I don't go to work as often as you do (like 4 times a month!), there are no 'earlies' or 'lates', I don't pay for my uniform, or food and I have a 3% annual increment whatever else goes on pay-wise.

Dunno. Virgin USA is nothing to do with Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin has fewer female pilots than you'd imagine, given the progressive image the company likes to give out. The proportion is about 10% or less. Anyway, your qualifications are fine, so please apply if what we do floats your boat.

Scroggs,


Thanks for all the good info! But what about VS gearing up for the Sydney route, has this been approved yet and is there a start date?

TBE.

scroggs,

Do you know if VS recruitment is ongoing? Or is the hold pool now full? Thanks.

TBE There is no news on the Sydney route at the moment. The projected start date remains at the start of the winter schedule - October 04. As far as I know, the only remaining hurdle is EU approval, which will presumably include approval of CX operating LHR-JFK.

go_edw As I understand it, interviewing is still going on. The company has publicly stated a need for 70 new pilots this year, and I'm pretty sure that we haven't selected that many yet. The hold pool was intended to allow training to start as soon as expansion plans were known. While there are still imponderables, which might limit the rate of uptake of new pilots (see above), I imagine that the hold pool will gradually be emptied. I will see if I can find out more next time I'm in UK.

Holer Moler Sorry - missed your post. The usual deal is that Janine will try and ring you to arrange an interview. I imagine that if you're not available on the phone for whatever reason, she'll try e-mail and snail mail. Depends how much notice she has of an interview slot, I'd guess. Same goes for notification post-interview, though an offer of employment must (I think) be in writing. Um, forgive me, but I would have thought this is pretty obvious?

Scroogs: Thanks

Regarding vs recruitment does anybody have any information about the interview style and test formatt? Is the tech test still a group thing?

Regards Easyflight

does virgin interview and/or hire foreign pilots?
i'm italian with 2000h military jet + 2000h MD80 JAR25. here the career is dead!
thanks scroggs
:D

Is it Virgin Atlantic policy not to acknowledge applications unless they are interested?

I ask this because I applied about 2 months ago, both online and by sending a cv, I meet all the application requirements but have since heard nothing either way

Any info Scroggs?

harrier67 Virgin does employ non-British nationals - as it must by EU law.

AERO DYNAMIK I'm not sure what the current policy is about acknowledging applications. I imagine that there are too many to reply to all of them, but I would be surprised at you not receiving some kind of communication if you meet the requirements. There's no harm in writing to Janine to see if she has received your CV (make sure your contact details are up to date), but I would avoid trying to telephone her as she is extremely busy!

They have just announced new routes to the Bahamas and Cuba.
According to the BBC that means 70 new flight deck jobs there:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3562717.stm

Good luck to all those applying.

Cheers,
--
HaM :}

Here is Bloomberg's take on it: Virgin Expansion Plans.

Vigin's own web site (see here) suggests that there will be two extra A340-600s arriving in the next two years, bringing the total to 12. These aircraft may be from a cancelled order, though I can't be certain of that. The suggestion in the Bloomberg article (and above) that a further 70 pilots will be required doesn't seem credible to me - 2 extra aircraft would require around 40 pilots (16 captains & 24 FOs), but I believe that's on top of the 70 new pilots required by the already-announced extra routes to Australia and the USA.

Whatever the final numbers, things are looking up!

Still waiting patiently.
Hopefully it won't be too long now.


Thanks Scroggs for all the info so far.

Scroggs,
I'm still treading water in the pool - is there anyone else who we could get in touch with at HQ to get an idea of when we might get pulled out?

Many thanks! :ok:

I (and a load of my pals) all got start dates over the last few weeks (some 340, some 744). We all got the call on a Friday afternoon with 3 months and a couple of days notice of our start dates. This tight timing means you have to quit your current job before getting a chance to do the Virgin medical. Shouldn't be a problem but still unnerving. Everyone on the 340 is getting a full course unless you have 500 hours operating 330 experience. Current Boeing pilots seem to be invariably ending up on the Airbus and current bus drivers seem to be going to the Boeing! Whatever floats their boat...

Out of interest Virginia would you mind telling me when you were interviewed? I have a few mates in the pool and was just trying to work out how far down the line they are.

Cheers

Well it would give the game away if I gave you the date of my interview but I can say I know a guy who was interviewed in the last month who already has his start date! On the other hand I know a guy who is a CCQ from the 330 who is still waiting for a start date who has been in the pool for 6 months.

Virginia Plane:

You haven't even joined Virgin and you have that handle already, keen or what ;)

Scroggs:

You on commission? :)

crewrest: I wish!

Goodness Gracious Me: No, not as far as I'm aware.

Quote 'You haven't even joined Virgin and you have that handle already, keen or what '

Sorry to dissapoint but I'm a re-joiner. That name was registered in the mid-90's when I last worked for VS!

VP, were you redundant post 9/11? I was just wondering how many people returned. I know it wasn't as many as the company assumed would.

No I left voluntarily in the late 90's to pursue a life overseas.

That's slightly infuriating news as I fall into the latter category! I was under the impression from Janine that being taken from the pool was a case of first in, first out. :confused:

GGM,

You have PM from a fellow CCQ marathon swimmer :)

Energiser

PM replied to! My arms and legs are starting to ache - particularly while everyone else seems to be overtaking us.....:(

Hi, i just recieved a letter from janine confirming my details have been updated altho this is the first time i have applied! Is this just standard procedure to acknowledge your CV has been received? Any of you guys in the holding pool receive this or did you just get called straight for interview? Just wondering if I can expect anything further, I have 3500hrs TT nearly all of which is airline on Jet.

Hi everybody!

scroggs,

Do you think I can get a job with Virgin if I have the work permit for uk but don't have the EU passport.

Maybe you know somebody who can answer this question.

Thanks for any information.

Ops controllers
 

Would anyone have any idea on ops controler vacancies or crewing jobs in VS, I note that none are currently advertised, but surely with a fleet and route expansion..some of these jobs may come up

Thanks

honey737 I believe that, as we are a JAA airline, you need to have the right to live and work in the EU rather than the UK. However, I'm sure Virgin's Human Resources Dept could put you straight.

Flame Why don't you ring Virgin Ops or Crewing departments? I'm sure you can find their 'phone numbers if you try! Flying and pilots is my area of 'expertise' (loosely speaking).

Thanks for infor. Will try to send them my request

Does anyone out there have a feel for Virgin's attitude to hiring ex-military multi-engine pilots (say, hypothetically of course, with 4000TT, of which 3000 4-jet). Any masonic hand-shakes, nods, winks or reality checks would be gratefully received!

There are a lot of you (us) already there!

A few of my colleagues are off to Virgin.

Can someone there tell me - with all the added extra from the latest pay deal, what is likely to be the average take home pay for a new FO.

Also, what are your rosters like (number of trips, how long for, days off in a month, hours per month, etc.)

What are your leave and RDO booking systems like?

Can you request preference for any trips?

What are the benefits like.

Are there many ex-airforce pilots?

How many levae Virgin and where do they go?

Airbus Girl most of this has been covered before on previous Virgin threads (there have been many!); you may like to do a search for more detail, but I'll give some basics here.

The initial basic pay for a Virgin FO is just under 42K pa from July '04. Hourly profit-related and productivity pay will add a further 7.7k (taxable & pensionable) assuming contract hours (750) are achieved. Subsistence allowances (not taxed) will add a further 5 to 7K, but that is not paid with salary. Take home pay will depend on your tax status and the amount you elect to contribute to your pension (the company contributes 15% as long as you contribute 6%+).

Rosters depend on the aircraft type; the 744 flies shorter trips (generally), and so pilots will average about 4.5 trips a month, the A340 peeps about 4. Days off monthly (at home) will be around 10-12 (but a lot of that will be spent sleeping!).

The leave system is about to change, so any comment is likely to be overtaken by events. Days off (and specific flights) can be requested two months ahead.

Benefits are similar to most major UK airlines: loss-of-licence, death-in-service, permanent health (critical illness), private medical cover, staff travel, discount schemes within and outside Virgin Group companies etc, etc.

There are lots of ex-RAF (and Navy and Army) pilots.

Very few leave Virgin, with the obvious exception of those forced to after 9/11. Most of those came back subsequently. Most pilots see Virgin as a permanent career move, not a step to anywhere else.

could anybody tell me what is the best way to make, they have a look at my cv? Phone call? to submmit one cv a month? To fill the applicattion form often?

I thinkI think i do have the requirements

Or after nearly one year trying to get their attention, should I give up? thanks

Scroggs, thanks for the info, I did a couple of searches but couldn't find this info out, and the various websites (ppjn, balpa, etc.) seem to have out of date info.

So from what you say the trips are around 4-5 days long. I guess that is one day out and two days (overnight) back, or vice versa depending on direction of travel. Then 2 days off, then another 4-5 day trip?

What are your average hours per month.

Just want to get all the (first hand) info as don't want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire!!!

An east coast USA trip will leave UK pm day 1, nightstop USA that night, return the following evening US time, arriving home roughly 48 hours after departure. West coast trips add a day to that. Far East flights vary, depending on the schedule. The longest trips (Shanghai, Delhi, some Caribbeans) currently have you away from home for about 5 days total. Australia (if and when it turns up) will be around 9/10 days. Time off depends on the length of the trip, but is a minimum of two days post-flight (not including the day of arrival).

Hours are contracted at 750/year. To achieve that with leave, sim, courses etc, requires rostering at about 80 credit hours/month, or around about 70 flying hours in a month with no leave scheduled. A JFK represents about 15 flying hours, Hong Kong is 25 or so.

Thanks scroggs

your last two post have been very informative, also tried the search function but has not brought up a lot of the info you have just posted.

cheers

fc

Scroggs, I take issue with your statement that most post 9/11 redundees came back. I know of only a couple who returned. In my airline, there are seven of us and as four already have their wide body commands with our new employers with the rest to follow soon, it's unlikely they will! And I can think of at least another dozen or more who went to other airlines who won't be coming back.

Quite a few of us (self included) took the voluntary redundancy option when we realised just how long it would take to get a command in Virgin.