I'm very sceptical about the value of verbal and numerical testing when it comes to airline recruitment. I've completed and passed half a dozen or so of these bloody things since entering the industry. In the early days I guess it's a measuring stick when there's nothing else to go by. However, passing the Basic flight training without the ability to read, comprehend and deal with numbers would be very difficult.

The benefit of these tests dwindles with experience and for guys with a type rating and hours on type they become nothing more than another way for HR to justify their corner of the wage budget. My 2p worth anyway.

Back on topic, when I joined J2 a number of guys and girls were asked to repeat one or more of the test elements if they were Type Rated and a quick bum on a seat. My point is that these tests may not necessarily be a barrier to joining the company and this is particularly true at a time when J2 are DESPERATE for experienced, rated pilots.

Recruitment processes always turn into a farce the minute HR are involved.

Do a sim test, chat for 30 mins ( the widely known share El sheikh test).

Just look at big airways ? They took on two of the biggest tossers I ever met, but turned over many good people I know.

It seems like they've kept those standards for the latest round of recruitment too.

Doesn't it Sean?

Management at Base level are getting it and are concerned! Chatting to the lads leaving, LBA is in its own little world!

Re: Jet2 Recruitment
 

Hi, can anyone enlighten me about the current recruitment drive at Jet2? I am currently at Turkish Airlines, but The DGCA is at loggerheads with the CAA. They won't validate UK licences currently, so have to look for a new position!
Any info would be great, from salary to conditions and recruitment process?
Lincoln

You can browse the pilot vacancies at http://jet2careers.com/career-search?searchkeyword=Pilot

NTR recruitment
 

Does anyone know how many NTR FO's will be recruited this year ? Having read most of this thread (if believed) it seems to be a changing landscape at Jet2 so a rough idea of numbers would be great.

I was told that over 150 pilots will be recruited over the next year, with the pool of type rated pilots currently running somewhat dry. No mention of FO/captain split.

Lucky old training department.

Have any non rated people been called for the next stage yet?

Don't be daft, of course not. Hardly food for thought.

Assessments
 

I also did the tests about a month ago now. I'm guessing that I passed them as I've had no feedback to the contrary ? Profile just says application recieved.

Chating to an old friend still in the Jet2 family, he advises 165 pilots required to bring them up to full strength for next year with no expansion and that flights have been cancelled recently due to a lack of crew.

I don't know if he is correct, but it appears to closely match what other ex colleagues have suggested, if correct then the trainers are going to be stretched and so will the sim centre, this doesn't allow for any further attrition from "the airline of choice".

165?, thats a shed load of inexperienced guys. Even if half have 500 hours and a P2F 737, hardly helps on a dark windy november night for a newly promoted Capt.

Btw how many hours do FOs need for command upgrade?
Do current FOs get by passed by direct enteries with more hours?

Are DECs hated by the current crop of remaining FOs who couldnt get into BA ?

They could always do the unthinkable and employ guys with some other aviation e experience to fall back on ! Sick of beating this worn out old drum :yuk:

Before I am lambasted for my last post, I realise J2 are about the least guilty airline of destroying the industry with P2F !

4Screwaircrew same what we were told within the base.

I would only recommend Jet2 if you are non rated and are planning to use it as a stepping stone to get yourself moving up the career ladder again. If you are rated I wouldn't recommended it.

You are always going to find negative people and overly positive people on pprune. The latter group are generally people we live local to the base, the ones who had a fast track career and those who have passed the point were it would be sensible to move on. The first group on the other hand are generally the people who have worked for other airlines and are unable to cope with the (unstable) summer roosters or the company culture.

Whichever of those two groups you find more convincing within this topic or the Jet2 topic within "Airlines, Airports & Routes", with over 15% of the pilots leaving (and many more to come) there must be something going on.

PressTheTit if they could they would. However a pilot who hasn't flown a heavy turboprop or medium/heavy jet would need 40 line training sectors, if they have it's 20 line training sectors and rated would be 10 line training sectors.

With the amount of pilots who have left the training department doesn't even have enough capacity to train the heavy turboprop or medium/heavy jet guys who joined. They tried to find rated pilots but realised they couldn't find any who were willing to apply and pass the selection.

Shame for me.:ugh:

or (standard answer) you have seen how much worse it can be elsewhere, want to get back to the UK, want to live in the north, want to be home every night, want to have really easy winters etc etc
Not so sure about the BA thing but in my time as DEC NTR I have only flown with one person who made it abundantly clear they had a problem with DEC NTR. Pretty much every other FO/SFO I have flown with have been talented people, some very experienced and more often than not a real pleasure to fly with especially when you are new on type. The big suprise to me was how many of these much more experienced on type FO's/SFO's would show real respect for you as captain and would very much want to tap into your previous airline experience on other types which for some of us is considerable.

I think quite a few SFO's at my base just can't be bothered with the difficult command procedure as it may mean a base move or failure etc so are happy to just sit tight or wait for other jobs they are applying for. Pity for the company/them but great news for people like me!

Jet2 Autumn 2014
 

165 crew required = 82 crews divided by between say 5 and 6 crews per aircraft = a bloody lot of aircraft to recruit for let alone train as mentioned. If its true then the flow has to be reversed

The Crew...
 

Quite an insult really. Some FO's actually don't want to go to BA and are happy carving out a different path - which may or may not mean staying put for a while...

Happily I believe the grand total of nobody will pay your advice the slightest bit of attention.

@de fumo in flammam - when did you apply?

I believe they will bin an applicant if they fail to meet the companies expectations with regards the psychometric evaluation. With around 220 questions, the structure will certainly indicate any undesirable qualities a applicant may have.

I actually think these psychometric test could have far reaching implications on a pilots career. Airlines talk. So do licensing authorities. Information is so easily shared now, and information is power.

I would expect Jet2 are looking for a very specific type of employee, judging by the anount of effort they have put into devising the online assesments.

Clearly they cant say they want a 30- 35 year old 2000 hour captain, single with no debts or hidden agendas. But the tests will allow them to reduce the pile of CVs without rejection based on race, age or religion.
Remember the equal opportunities part of the application. I mean who are jet2 to ask me wether im bi sexual asian . Its HR none sense .

Am I the only one who just had an image flash up, of Alan Partridge watching Bangkok Chick Boys? :D

Seriously though, airlines and authorities simply don't have tumecto share the psych data and wouldn't e stupid enough to believe it could indicate a madman anyway. My guess is Andreas Lubitz could easily outwitted the 220 questions... It's just simply a way for HR to whittle down the applicants to a more manageable level.

Does grate when people imply young and single without kids equates to somehow being of a more stable state of mind.I'd argue if our German friend had kids of his own he may not have found it an acceptable thing to do !

Im not implying that single are more stable. I was simply stating, that if Jet2 had a preference, it would be for 30 somethings, single and no hidden agendas, i.e. huge debt or possible .gambling habit They cannot state this in their adverts, equal opportunities etc. However, its unlikely they will recruit anyone simply to be politically correct. By using a comprehensive selection process, they can legally whittle out the undesirables, i.e. wrong race, age, or even body mass. They of course are not unique in allegedly using a selection "process" allowing circumvention of so called equal opportunities for all.

Singles are preferred by LoCos as they have less responsibilities and therefore can tolerate the ups and downs of the seasonal business that is say Jet2. I don't remember getting a discount during the winter from my private school, nor any mortgage reduction. The salaries are simply too low for todays pilots to enjoy the lifestyles and securities offered 20-30 years ago. When I was a kid, Pilots were always thought of as dashing types in their E Types, with their Surrey detached mansions.

The reality of the modern day Jet2 pilot, apparently, is a 10 year old Daihatsu, driving to going to the local OFSTED criticised school, with a rusting Aldi shopping trolly in their front law. Oh what aspirations some have lol.

Hence why every airline on the planet is now struggling to fill a position, less and less people were prepared to invest so much time and effort to fill.

BA, Emirates, Ryanair etc are all in desperate need of experienced crews and are now finally prepared to start paying a more apt going rate. The boot folks, is now firmly on the other foot, and we should keep it firmly on the neck of those who try and diminish our t&cs purely to fund the grotesque greed of the few at the top.

The reality of the modern day Jet2 pilot, apparently, is a 10 year old Daihatsu, driving to going to the local OFSTED criticised school, with a rusting Aldi shopping trolly in their front law. Oh what aspirations some have lol.

What a lot of sh1te. LOL 😩

It would be interesting to put board members through the psychological tests...... I suspect most airlines would find issues with those results !

Everyone on my course when I joined was in their 40's/50's, married and had a hidden agenda of working in the north of the UK for an airline that didn't threaten them with/make them redundant every 6 months.

Anyway, what I wouldn't do to drive my first car again ! A 1988 white Daihatsu Charade GTti, 1L 3cyl Turbo injected.

Not 100% off topic....

Hello,

Seriously contemplating Jet2 for family reasons and would appreciate it if somebody could help me out with a few questions in return for beer! Experienced FO, 3000+ heavy, but no Boeing.

I have read the entire thread but would be grateful if people could help me specifically with the following.

1. Understand summers are "crazy busy", winters quiet. In complete confidence, would somebody be kind enough to send me a sample roster of each? I would just like to get a handle on start/end/duration/sectors in a typical FDP, amount of time sitting around on the ground etc.. Winter: Lots of home/airport standby or just pure days off? Roughly how many? Blocks? Requests etc: How many, if any, weekends can a Junior/Mid/Senior guy expect to get off a month? Days off: Fixed after roster publication I assume?

2. Coming home purely for improvement in lifestyle with a requirement to be based c.60 min radius LBA and home most nights. In truth, even 70% would work for me. Given this, is there anybody else you would be strongly considering over Jet2? P.s I am not paying for any rating out of principle!

3. Heard rumours of Airbus orders. Any update on this?

Anything else relevant would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Busy depends what you are used to, but yes, they can be hectic. There is no roster pattern (fixed or otherwise), and you can expect plenty of changes to the published versions. Days off don't change once published, but the duties either side can (and do) change.

Typically 2 sector days.

How busy you'll be is base dependant. If you are at a base with lots of trainers, I don't imagine you'll be getting much flying at the moment - or next year with the volume of recruitment planned.

If you mean on turnarounds, little if any. An hour max, usually 30 - 40 min turnarounds. Unless you are on airport standby, once you're home, you're done.

Winters are quiet, expect plenty of home standby, and probably airport standby if MAN or LBA based.

No update, They're still looking at different options, but there is an upgrade program on the cards for the winter to modernise some of the existing fleet.

Hi guys,

Have had a browse through this thread, but just wanted to confirm a couple of things for Jet2 non rated applicants. Currently a 747 FO in Asia looking for a potential route home. So just had 3 quick questions.. Do the company cover the cost of the type rating? From reading on here it seems they do but no pay during training (approx 4 months?) just wanted to confirm this.. And also is the pilot jobs network salary scale fairly accurate? So starting wage would be around £50k?

Any info would be hugely appreciated.

Recruitment road shows now planned for Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the hope that some of those looking to get home will be tempted. Things must be getting tight for such drastic action to be taken.

Are they not getting enough applicants?

At least they could take a sweep through their CV backlog, send off the PFOs to those that have been hanging out for MONTHS (i.e. NTR but still experienced) and go ahead with their things. I cannot blaime J2 (or any other operation) for looking at TR/Experienced folks but I think everyone deserve an answer within a reasonable time. Last time I applied the PFO took in excess of 12 months to arrive!

See above

DK :*