Puzzle me this....

How many industries allow another industry to hijack them? I am referring of course to Aviation and Recruitment. The ever increasing number of agencies that seem to be appearing on an almost daily basis is staggering. The first question I have is “who are they”? The second is “what is their purpose“? This might sound obvious however, given my personal dealings with them I’m not convinced that most are fit for purpose.

As a training manager I fully understand the need to utilise the services of a recruitment agency, to help source and screen prospective applicants. My issue is with the service they provide, or not, as the case may be. One would think that any agency would want to secure the recruitment business of an airline. And yet it is nigh on impossible to get most agencies to understand your needs and worse still to communicate in a timely manner.

As an instructor/examiner I have approached and been approached about various assignments from line Capt to DFO. There is a common thread with all but a very few of these agencies - extremely poor communication, uninformed staff and clearly no concern for the client airline. Furthermore they expect to be furnished with a great deal of personal data in return for, at times, almost no information. As a recent example, I was “cold called” about a DFO position, asked for expected salary, present salary, CV etc and not even furnished with the location of the position. And who were these people who contacted me? Through social media sites such as LinkedIn, these so called “agents” could be anyone. Needless to say I furnished nothing. On the flip side, when I have expressed interest in a position and had no response from the agency and no phone calls returned then I have to ask how this agency is serving the client airline? They sure aren’t serving me.

In what is a clear battle to win our services, either personally or as an operator, the majority of these agencies are failing our industry. Part of the problem is the staff don’t understand Aviation, ergo do not understand the requirements of the operator nor the aspirations of the crew. Our industry is being eroded by too many extremely sub-standard and poorly run agencies who should have all of our interests at heart, yet seem to be totally self serving and failing us all.

I can only hope that natural selection will take care of some of the problem however, looking at all the new comers I am a little sceptical. It is no wonder the industry is struggling to crew aeroplanes, it’s nothing to do with a shortage of pilots, just a total lack of organisation by those who purport to represent us.