Here's what our job site learned during the pandemic

This year marks one full year since the UK went into a national lockdown and international travel came to a virtual standstill around the world. After years of record traffic growth and profitability, the aviation industry faced its biggest crisis as air traffic demand plummeted to levels which had not been seen for decades.

Due to this significant milestone, we’re taking a moment to reflect on Aviation Job Search’s history to see how far we’ve personally come since 1999, how the industry has faced and overcome immense challenges along the way, and we also delve into what the future holds for Aviation Job Search.

Let’s go back to the start

When we look back over Aviation Job Search’s 21-year history, the aviation landscape has changed significantly since we launched. In 1999, the job board was launched to the world, which in itself was revolutionary.

In today's digital savvy world, job boards are thought of as ‘standard practice’ when it comes to searching for a job. Back in 1999, this was not the case as many homes didn’t even have a computer or the Internet.

We didn’t know it at the time but we were making history; many of the job boards emerging around this time were generic in their approach, i.e. targeting jobseekers in all industries. From day dot, we were a niche job board, purely focussed on the aviation industry. This is still the case today, all these years on, and this is what we believe makes jobseekers flock to us in their thousands.

Shortly after we launched, two passenger jets were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. What we now call 9/11, shook the aviation industry to its core and air travel dropped by 20% in the 3 months following the attacks (compared to the same period in 2000).

Over the years, the industry continued to face enormous threats, and these continue to this day. Climate change, economic recessions, rising fuel prices, volcanic ash clouds, geo-political tensions (such as Brexit) are all major threats to the aviation industry which commercial airlines have to manage in order to keep up with demand, stay safe, and remain profitable.

‍The evolution of Aviation Job Search

One of the greatest things about the aviation industry is that whatever challenges it is faced with, the people who work within the sector always seem to find a solution. As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way.

Despite the ongoing challenges, air travel continued to thrive. By the start of 2020, aviation and the tourism it facilitates, supported 87.7 million jobs worldwide. Over 11 million of those jobs are within the sector itself, including employment at airlines, airports, air traffic management and civil aerospace manufacturers.

As the aviation industry ‘took off,’ so did Aviation Job Search! To date, we’ve connected thousands of jobseekers - if not hundreds of thousands!

As demand, the Internet, and technology evolved over the years, we evolved too. The website itself changed multiple times, from the design to its functionality, to ensure we were always connecting jobseekers to jobs in the quickest and easiest way possible.

And then we reached 2020…

Our response to Covid-19

Whilst the industry stagnated due to Covid-19, we found ourselves in a position where we were quieter than normal. From very early on in the pandemic, we realised that this was our chance to give Aviation Job Search its biggest overhaul yet.

As Sir Winston Churchill said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” meaning that in times of trouble, great things can occur if the opportunity is seized - so that is what we did.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

When the industry returns to ‘normal,’ our goal is to be there, bigger and better than ever before to connect jobseekers with the best jobs out there. After a devastating year for aviation professionals, we’re fully committed to doing everything we can to help get everyone back into jobs they love.

As well as a contemporary new look, the site has now been relaunched with brand new features and old favourites which have been updated or revamped.

For our jobseekers, the new features will simplify the application process, offer more detailed job descriptions, and improve the job search functionality. Enhanced search functionality means that jobseekers can discover relevant career opportunities quicker and easier than ever before.

For the first time ever on our platform, jobseekers will be able to apply for jobs using their Aviation Job Search profile instead of their CV. This will allow jobseekers to showcase their talent, skills and experience beyond the CV, which gives them a better chance of reaching the interview stage and landing their dream job.

For our clients, it will be an easier and more efficient way to post jobs; as the job advert builder itself has been restructured, it gives the job advert the best possible chance of attracting quality jobseekers.

Clients will also be able to view detailed insights into the performance of their jobs and compare how they are performing against other employers on Aviation Job Search.

We’re also providing enhancement indicators on live job posts. For example, if the salary offered is below the industry average, we’ll flag it to ensure job posts achieve their maximum potential.

What does the future hold?

The world of recruitment, aviation and technology will continue to evolve over the foreseeable future, and it’s our mission to be right there at the forefront of these changes, just as we have been since 1999.

By introducing candidate profiles, as well as the CV, we are already preparing for one major change which is the ‘death’ of the CV.

CVs are declining in their popularity due to a number of factors, including the time it takes recruiters to sift through them, companies looking to find the right ‘fit’ for their business (prioritising interests/personality/soft skills over traditional skills) and the digital revolution (and digital footprints which jobseekers now have) which offers alternative ways of screening candidates before the interview process.

Through feedback from hiring managers, it’s expected that CVs are likely to become part of a portfolio of materials which jobseekers will use to showcase themselves. This could include candidate profiles, social activity, video CVs, cover letters, personality tests, skills-based questionnaires, screening questions and much more.

Aviation Job Search Director, Dave Capper, said, “No matter where we are in history, the end goal will always be for recruiters to hire the best talent which matches what they’re looking for. How they achieve that has already changed over the last few decades and it will continue to keep changing. The most important thing we can do is to evolve with it so our job board always caters to what our clients need.”

"The most important thing we can do is to evolve with it so our job board always caters to what our clients need.”