Nah, he’s right, dude.

I’m pretty f’ing awesome.

Buter

I think we need some lemons to sweeten up this thread a little bit.

Look. Let's not get our nickers in a twist here. Good and bad pilots in every airline. On my assessment day there were definitely some very bright and modest chaps who deserved the opportunity and got the job and they are the vast (75%+) majority. Do consider that when a right plonker no longer serenades us with his presence within the work environment, it gets noticed. As BA is within the top third of employers (in number terms) that's where we'll naturally see a lot of plonkers go.

This is pure fact and not anecdotal, I do know at least one pilot in the hold pool who claimed he flew 700 hours in 2015 on a part time contract whilst he's colleagues on a full time contract managed only 550. Now, if the BA interview went something like this... "I see you flew 700 hours in the year 2015, flying only 8 months of the year, tell me how you coped with being so tired?" ....The little weed would've been discovered! But instead BA have focused on his academic strengths and ability to talk about himself in one postive light after another and came to be impressed by him.

The beef some of us here have is that BA seems not interested in hiring pilots who can prove they know the job. What has worked for us and served us well for getting other jobs doesnt work at BA. BA are fixated on a set of personality and profile traits they believe they can siphon out using a recruitment process that makes some exceptionally talented people seem like they're worthless.

The 'It's their train-set' argument can stand til the end of time but that doesn't change the fact that the candidate experience for pilots (CX within the recruitment industry) is poor and many hundreds of candidates who have seen it since 2014 will be completely put off from applying again. Is that what BA wants? BA will not struggle to find candidates for the next recruitment campaign as they can rely on the Flight Schools that are EZY and RYR (and therefore employ more former CTC and Oxford cadets). However, it will always remain an elitest employer in my eyes because of a selection process that requires me to pretend to be 21 yo again with cute answers that took me 3 months to memorise. Anyway that's how I and a lot of us, rightly or wrongly, feel.

In defence of the BA process, they receive thousands of applications every time they open recruitment, with only a relatively small number of positions available. There has to be some kind of definitive way to select people. They can’t go around rejecting thousands of qualified pilots purley on the basis they did not like the way they look or their jokes weren’t up to scratch.

The process is clearly not perfect and no doubt some odd people do pass, it’s obviously not an accurate measure of ones piloting ability (sim check excluded) but it’s fair, free of nepotism, impartial and equal. Everyone who applies has the same chances of being offered a job and in my opinion that’s preferable to the “my mate Dave says he’s a good egg” school of recruitment.

For some smaller Airlines recruiting based purley on personality might work but for a company the size of BA that’s simply not practical or even legal. There has to be a process and you either jump through the hoops or don’t bother, if you fail try again or don’t bother, it’s up to you but there is no point in complaining about how unfair it is or slagging off the people who did pass.

Also it’s not that hard to pass, all they are asking is that you are numerate, literate and able to cope with a relatively simply non technical interview, they are hardly asking you to prove string theory or cure cancer.

Also adding to Enzo999 post. From the outside the selection process might look unfit for purpose and not providing the personalities one might want. However from the inside, comparing the different personalities encountered within the airline to those encountered within former airlines, the band of personalities seems to be much narrower with less extreme characters then experienced in those former airlines.

That does mean that unfortunately some good pilots don't make it through the selection process but I would argue that the overall selection process works. Also looking at the amount of pilots who end up failing their training after being selected there seems to be a fair argument to keep on selecting on personalities rather then piloting/learning ability, in the end of the day, apart from the FPP's, all going trough the selection have a pilot licence and should know how to fly airplanes, trying to change a personality on the other hand....

I would echo the above posters views. The vast majority of pilots I fly with seem stable and down to earth normal individuals. Ina company with over 4000 pilots, you will always get the odd outlier. Normally, it’s me.....:)

BA is an entirely process and policy driven airline. If you struggle to accept that during the selection process, then you will be miserable when you join. Everything has a written policy and process attached to it. It can sometimes feel like there is no place for pragmatism over at Waterside. But you quickly come to realise that as an individual on a one to one basis the company work with you personally, but in general you are a number, part of a wider work group and we are all channeled into process driven policies such as Absence Monitoring and sick day handling, Grievances, leave and holiday etc. Everything has a process and policy and very little of it is personal. The same applies to our recruitment. It’s not warm and fuzzy, it doesn’t recognise if you’re a ‘good sort’, but it is fair and I would say judging by the vast majority of the colleagues I meet, it works.

Your quote from September 5th 2017!

“BA has never appealed to me , I have not tried to get in and probably won't .“

It’s stuff like this Snapper that makes me mistrust most of what you say. Added to the fact BA were not running assements a year ago, you are either lying now or back then.

Ha ha busted.

Not only that Enzo but “today”of the post was a Sunday.....

Now I know we need pilots but recruiters working on a Sunday???? That would be something..

Me smells cow dung

The bigger the statement the bigger the lie!

Hi all,

Any chance BA openinig DEP for LH in the near future?

Regards

Angelo26

I haven't heard anything on that subject recently and TBH looking at some postings made in another place I think the people in manpower planning are task saturated trying to work out how to cover this spring and summer's short haul program....

Thanks for your reply Wiggy,
What about DEP on SH ?

Regards

Angelo26

DEP to long haul is happening already.

Yep, there are currently DEPs going throug Long Haul training, but AFAIK they are the result of the last round of recruiting.

I assumed (yes I know) that the question was when/are BA indulging in another round of advertising/recruiting with view to another tranche..AFAIK they are not at the moment but standing by to be corrected.

Can you start tomorrow?

I'd love to

regards

Angelo26

Yes, the question was if BA is going to open anytime soon another round of recruitment.

Regards and thank you all

Angelo26

A BA pilot I met yesterday said the word was, BA short of 100 crews (not pilots) for the planned Summer schedules. Said that was just SH, but sounds a bit excessive??