Market Intelligence: -Airline Hiring

United Kingdom headquartered pilot assessment and selection provider Symbiotics were delighted to be approached by digital platform Airline Pilot Club (APC) on behalf of Columbian Airline Avianca to support them in streamlining their recruitment campaign.

Avianca is the largest airline in Columbia and is the flagship of a group of ten Latin American airlines – these operate as one airline using a code sharing system. As an employer, Avianca inspires great loyalty amongst its employees. The Airline is inspirational for many Columbians who are looking to enter the aviation industry, including the younger generation who are drawn to the airline seeking a long-term career within aviation.

The Airline Pilot Club (APC) is a smart recruitment company that combines proven and innovative AI tech to enable its community of aspiring pilots, newly qualified pilots, flying schools and airlines to meet their professional and commercial targets. APC’s focus on quality in pilot selection, training and recruitment is a unique blend of decades of airline experience coupled with leading edge Personal Evidence Based Training (PEBT) software.

The Need

Avianca sought backing with their vision of creating a cultural profile of the optimum Avianca pilot in support of their pilot recruitment programme selection process. The Airline has been anticipating significant growth, with plans to take delivery of new aircraft, and therefore anticipated increases in the number of pilots and instructors that are required.

To help them with challenges in recruiting, APC set out to examine, with the support of Symbiotics, the following criteria:

• Optimum pilot profile
• Candidate mental processing capacity (cognitive aptitude)
• Candidate workload management capacity
• Candidate situational awareness
• Candidate personal attributes
• Spoken English capability of applicants

The Solution

APC deployed their software platform within Avianca. This platform enables candidate profile build, delivery of training and other resources, publishing to job boards, reviewing of applicants, setting up of communications, testing of candidates and scheduling interviews. The platform also aides with selection by culminating a series of data points to produce a map of candidate suitability.

To support Avianca with their vision of creating a cultural profile of the perfect pilot, Symbiotics sought to create an Optimum Profile to be included within APC’s tracking system. The Profile looked at Job Description, Organisational Culture, Skills and Attributes of the role, training syllabus and challenges against the backdrop of the national educational standards and culture of Avianca and its requirements.

The information was then analysed and mapped against 64 ADAPT behavioural profiles, along with any key competencies, attributes, attitudes, and skills that would inform the selection process. Doing this helps to ensure that the right candidates are being identified who would not only be competent pilots or maintenance operators, but also good employees who would provide a sufficient length of service to maximise the Airlines Return on Investment.

The Benefits

Across the entire recruitment campaign, 49 data points were produced and analysed with APC’s applicant tracking platform and AI. A heat map was created which highlighted high-standard candidates at the top and those with competency development issues toward the bottom.

This process clearly identified who should be recommended to the Airline with the likelihood of having a successful, safe, and efficient career.

Source: Symbiotics
Photo Credit: Symbiotics