Richard Yeomans

 We have been ‘live’ for a week and it has been the best possible start we could have wished for.  We would like to thank everyone who has registered with us and we really hope we can get people the jobs they want.  

We have a growing number of people who have created their profile pages that can be searched by employers.  The ability to search our database is a feature the employers like the most.  Many employers don’t want to post a job for various reason but, want to have a look at who is available to fulfil a crewing requirement.  So the best way to get ahead is to post your details and we will do our best to promote you.

The Forums are starting to build momentum and despite the odd tantrum, they seem to be constructive and helpful.  We are delighted that Flintstone is there moderate and enforce good order!

In the next week we are going to step up our advertising and media activity.  Our major focus is engaging with the employers and aeroplane owners, the more jobs we can list the better for everyone.  We are working with various companies encouraging them to list the jobs as well as just searching our database of flight crew.  

 We really believe that the economy is starting to emerge from the most brutal recession in 80 years.  There are jobs out there if you look hard enough and if you are willing to travel.  If you have time on a Boeing or Airbus and you are current you should be able to get some work.  We want to list the jobs that our subscribes want, the jobs for broad cross section of flight crew and we are going to do everything we can to get them for you.

We completed the final checks today and tweaked a few last little items and now we have opened the doors to our site.  We are looking forward to people coming to our site and building the community, it has been built to help the flying workforce find the jobs they want.  

Please have a look around and see all the cool things you can do.  There are aircraft databases to look at and contribute to, forums, news and articles to read.  

If you subscribe, you can upload your CV and create a profile that is searchable by employers. You can remove personal information to protect your identity, the employers will get in touch with you directly via our email system and your email address will not be seen by the employer.

The employers can make a profile page and list as many jobs as they like.  These jobs will be available and searchable by the flight crew and they can apply direct to the employer.  It is quick, simple and provides an employer standard information that makes initial screening easy.

The work for us at Flight Crew Finder has really started, we will continue to get out and build those contacts with the aircraft operators.  We will be attending as many trade shows and career shows as possible to spread the work and network for our members.

Good luck with the job hunting.

Yesterday I managed to recharge my batteries for an hour by going surfing at lunchtime.  Yes, surfing in the UK in January and it was freezing but, it gave me a chance to order my thoughts and recharge my batteries.  Surfing is good for the soul I reckon.  

Today was a rainy day and I was happy to sit in the office for the most part of the morning.  I travelled up to Farnborough for lunch with Capt Flintsone, our Forum Master.  We had a chat about the forum and how we are going to drive it forward.  I think the forum is really important and it will be the centre for the FCF community.  It is our village pub, our town hall and our therapy centre.  

I took the opportunity to continue to build my network of contacts that I am going to use to get the jobs we all want to see on flightcrewfinder.com first.  Networking is difficult but it can be fun.  I sat in the canteen and saw a few friendly faces and I picked up some really useful information.  I am going to spend more and more time seeing the right people over the next months, that will be more time in the car.  I am building up my network to share with the Flight Crew Finder members….the things I do!

We have some exciting news regarding an affiliation….more new to come over the next few days once our relationship confirmed……

Today has been another day stuck in the office glued to the phone.  I am trying to increase the awareness of the employers and make sure they know we exist.  When they recruit I am confident they will contact us and we can get our members to the jobs first.

I spoke to the airlines and the biggest struggle was to get past the fierce receptionist and get some time chatting to the HR manager.  I am getting a real insight to what the future might hold for the operators and I am continuing to develop the links I have with the recruiters.   I like to think I can be a single point of contact with the HR departments and they will be able to give me a little time and then we will be able to get the jobs onwww.flightcrewfinder.com for our members.

Has the summer recruiting started yet?  I had a long chat with a small airline who usually hires seasonal pilots and they are just going to wait an see what the booking levels are like before they hire any flight crew.  All we can hope for is the thaw in the economic climate and then for everyone wanting to travel.

Whatever happens, we will be looking for the jobs in places others don’t know exist.  We will go the extra mile to make all our members aware of every suitable job out there.

Monday was the first day of proper marketing of the site.  I called every GA aircraft operator who I could think of.  The response was overwhelmingly positive and 99% of the people I spoke to loved the idea.  There were a couple of cynics and I ended up gossiping with Phil Brockwell from Centreline for ages about the state of the industry.  

Best email of the day,  "Dear Richard,  Thank you for your call this morning – well done for taking a positive approach to the challenges aviation is facing at the moment."

So, what have I learnt today?  I now have a very good feeling to what aircraft operators are thinking and what there plans are.  Most operators are being pretty defensive and not planning any wild expansion. There are some operators who are thinking about when to make their move and you can be rest assured that we at Flight Crew Finder will be there waiting to help them find the best possible crews.

The future is so much brighter than just 4 months ago, there is a feeling that we are at the beginning of the end of the recession.  Will it be boom times like 2007 again?  Not for many years to come if ever.

Tomorrow I start to speak to the airlines.  I am thinking they may be a little harder nut to crack than ringing up some old mates.  I will have to deploy all my skills to charm just to get put through to the head of aircrew recruiting.  Wish me luck.