A leading aviation resourcing consultancy is spearheading a shake-up of the traditional method of recruitment, by urging airlines to adopt a longer term strategy when it comes to hiring – rather than the typical ‘quick fix’ reactive approach.
AeroProfessional, a specialist consultancy in international aviation resourcing and HR, says that airlines must see recruitment beyond filling vacancies in order to grow in such a competitive sector, and attract the best candidates.
Sam Sprules, a director at AeroProfessional, explains: “Recruitment is perhaps one of the most painful processes for an airline. They get inundated with a huge number of CVs and the actual filtering process – unlike any other sector – can take months, with rigorous and costly training to find the right candidate. So it’s understandable that many airlines won’t look into resourcing until they really need to.
“However, the downtime between somebody leaving their post, an airline finding a suitable replacement and then getting them up to speed can have a negative knock-on effect on many other areas of the business.”
As well as providing cabin crew and on-airport staff, AeroProfessional places pilots with airlines across the globe. They recently published a report on the pilot skills shortage, taking in the views of over 700 pilots and many international airlines. The report further reinforced the importance of airlines to be allocating time and budgeting for recruitment throughout the year, as the best pilots are being snapped up by proactive carriers.
Sam concludes: “While we’re still on hand to support airlines that have immediate vacancies to fill, we are increasingly partnering with carriers and assessing their overall resourcing needs. We advise on staff structures, if roles can be combined, and potential future gaps. Having placed 1,500 candidates with over 160 aviation companies, we can spot the trends, foresee market changes and advise airlines accordingly. The proactive airlines have embraced this strategy and got ahead of the race, and we’re urging other airlines to do the same to stay in the game.”
AeroProfessional is well placed to provide a longer term strategy, as many of its team have either worked as pilots or at airports, while the leadership team has over 50 years’ experience working with airlines.
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
