Job 𝓞𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓮𝓼 – 3 Skill Areas Aviation Professionals Need Today – Up-skilling, Re-skilling, Change-skilling!

I will be taking you through some headlines. Some from the past, a few from the present and a sprinkling from the future!

2019

After Challenging Year, Improvement Expected for 2020 – IATA [11th Dec 2019]

The airline industry will need to produce 70 new type-rated pilots per day to meet global demand – CAE Airline Pilot Demand Outlook [2019]

65.5 million jobs supported by aviation world – Oxford Economics analysis

2020

Now fast forward to 2020 – after COVID-19 has made a place for itself in this world of ours! Two headlines from a few months ago! Two slightly more recent!

Qantas to ‘Stand Down’ at Least Two-Thirds of Employees, Plans to Redeploy Some into Overstretched Supermarkets

Furloughed crew from crisis-hit Scandinavian airline SAS are taking a three-day course in basic hospital duties to help plug gaps in a Swedish healthcare system strained by thousands of coronavirus cases.

Icelandair says it’s letting go of all its flight attendants — and shifting their duties to the pilots! The legality and practicality of having pilots act as flight attendants are unclear!

Transferable skills give pilots a reason to stay positive – Flight Global

2020 - The Future Perhaps?

The two headlines below are warning of a future to come!

American Airlines to warn 25,000 workers of potential furloughs! – 16th Jul 2020

United Reaches Agreement with Pilots Over Furlough Scheme – 17th Jul 2020

Moving away from aviation and looking at a global job overview, this is what Microsoft says:

Global unemployment in 2020 may reach 250 million people. The pandemic respects no border.  Over the next five years, Microsoft estimates that the global workforce can absorb around 149 million new technology-oriented jobs! Keeping this in mind they announced a new global skills initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire new digital skills by the end of the year!

Let’s move back to aviation! The challenge that aviation professionals face is that they have been cocooned in an industry that was growing, stable and required a specific skill set.

Think of the jobs that are aviation specific:

Pilots, crew, aircraft engineers, to a certain extent ground handling staff!

Yes, there are still a few job opportunities around. Some pilots and crew could perhaps find work with private jet operators, but it must be considered that the number of people looking for jobs vastly outnumber the jobs available.

Even outside the industry, we as aviation professionals will now need to compete with other (perhaps more qualified and worldly-wise) people for jobs in an environment that does not have the comforting appeal and familiarity of aviation.

Unfortunately, there is magic solution for the current situation, except wishing that COVID-19 will soon disappear, and growth will soon reappear!

We are looking at a staircase recovery over 2 to 3 years (as Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian said)

Now is the time to take a step back and look into the future – no crystal ball necessary, just some common sense. This is applicable for those looking for work, open to work or for all of those still at work!

Commenting “interested” on a recruiter post is not going to help; neither is a deluge of applications & CVs to companies and every email address that you know!

Look at your CV. Is it a 7+ page detailed overview of all your experience till date?

Does it clearly reflect your key skills and job role?

Shorten it. People and recruitment algorithms do not have the time or patience to read a big document. Ensure that your key skills and job role is clearly highlighted. Use keywords related to your job profile in the CV!

Is your picture from a forgotten time or a more recent one? Update it, but keep it professional!

Follow the same steps for your LinkedIn profile as well.

Now let’s talk about the 3 skill areas - up-skilling, re-skilling, change-skilling

Up-skilling

Take this opportunity to up-skill yourself. Look at that course or courses that you’ve always wanted to take but never could! Now that many courses have become virtual, they are now much more easy to complete.

Re-skilling

Look at new skills that would be useful in industries or job roles that are not as badly hit as aviation. New skills can even help you in aviation as jobs become more specialized and technical! The earlier paragraph on Microsoft is an indicator.

Change-skilling

Get out of that comfort zone! Change that mindset! Change has always been around, but with COVID-19 change has accelerated tenfold. Getting change-skilled includes a variety of core areas – resilience, positivity, grit, confidence, respect, focus, strength, wellness and health to name a few!

While you are #opentowork, be open to change as well! Please do not focus on the external (LinkedIn, your network, opportunities), but remember the internal – YOU!

Technology & LinkedIn is magical, but you as a human are awesome!

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” - Mahatma Gandhi