Story ID: 378JetProStaffing
Aviation Employees Feeling Growing Demand
By: Amy Laboda
Caption: Jet Professionals sees the business aviation job market as being an employee’s choice these days.
Word Count: 665
If you’ve been around business aviation for a few decades you know that the hiring climate we are entering is rare and, well, for some, sweet. That is, if you are in the market for a career in corporate aviation.

If you are a corporation, or even a family looking for the right trusted staff to manage and fill out a flight department, well, times could be tough. Predictions vary, but the numbers don’t lie: there are fewer certified pilots today then in 1980, and if Boeing is correct, we’ll need at least 95,000 new pilots in the U.S. alone to meet industry employment demands in the next two decades. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics backs that up, noting that non-airline commercial aviation’s need for pilots is expected to grow by 21 percent over a single decade. That’s why many companies and private individuals rely on Jet Professionals, a globally-based Jet Aviation company (Booth N5932) that specializes in placing well-qualified aviation professionals into careers with their clients’ flight departments.

For the moment, Jet Professionals isn’t seeing fewer candidates for its flight or cabin crew positions. Instead what they are seeing are job seekers who know what they want. “These qualified candidates are not just jumping at any opportunity. They are doing a great deal of research about the position beforehand and being more selective when it comes to the jobs they are accepting,” Jet Professionals Director of Operations Elaine Lapotosky told AIN. “The right mix is imperative–salary, benefits, equipment, type of missions, work culture and work-life balance are all drivers in making their employment decision.”

And what qualifies a pilot candidate for consideration by a Jet Professionals client? For captains it is upwards of 3,500 total logged flight hours, with more than 100 hours in type; a current first-class medical; aircraft-specific simulator-based training within the past 12 months and a valid FAA ATP rating.

To ensure clients’ recruiting success, Lapotosky said that Jet Professionals tries to counsel its clients to ask the right questions of potential employees. “As much as you are interviewing a candidate, they are interviewing you,” she said. She asks her clients, “What are you offering that they are either not getting in their current organization or that they can’t find anywhere else?” Corporate self-awareness is key. The interviewee might be trying to make a good impression on the potential employer, she said, but the employer, too, needs to ask what impression is it leaving on the candidate, from the moment they arrive on site, throughout the interview process and even as they head off at the end of the meeting.

In response to what is becoming, in the words of Lapotosky, “An employees’ market,” Jet Professionals recently launched a global Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) service, which is designed to make it simpler for its clients to recruit on a larger scale. The Jet Professionals RPO can take over the tasks of both recruiting and training entire flight departments, if necessary. And it is more cost efficient, in the long run, according to the company.

“As the range of the aircraft continues to expand, so does the need for safety-trained flight attendants,” said Lapotosky. “Earlier this year, we launched a Flight Attendant Training Partnership Program with FlightSafety International to support professional development of the flight attendant community, and help them receive the best training in the industry to ensure the safety of their passengers, other crew members and the aircraft.” The program should also provide Jet Professionals with a group of trained flight attendants ready to be recruited.

Beyond partnership programs and client coaching, Jet Professionals, as well as sister company Jet Aviation, accept a limited number of undergraduate interns into their ranks every year in an effort to grow their own new staff and keep up with expansion. These internship opportunities are posted on the company websites and are competitive.