Southwest Airlines

This internship is turning into a great hands-on learning opportunity for you. Your manager has tasked you with proposing a talent management plan for pilots at Southwest Airlines. Your proposal will be considered by the Director of HR to make a formal plan.

Develop a 3- to 4-page proposal that include the following:
o A recommendation of 3 recruitment sources that are best suited to recruit pilots. Consider the quantity of resumes generated, the percentage of resumes likely to result in accepted offers, the time to fill a position, and the cost to fill a position.
o An evaluation of common methods used to select a candidate
o Recommend 3 methods for selecting new pilots. In your evaluation, consider reliability, validity, utility, and legality.
o An evaluation of common methods used to train and develop employees
o Recommend 3 methods for training pilots at Southwest Airlines. Consider learning and development outcomes, cost of training and development, effectiveness of training and development, and risks.
o An evaluation of common performance management systems
o Recommend 1 method for performance management of pilots at Southwest Airlines. Consider strategic congruence, validity, reliability, acceptability, and specificity.
o An evaluation of common methods to minimize voluntary turnover
o Recommend 1 approach to retain pilots at Southwest Airlines. Consider methods for retaining employees, meeting pilot needs, and cost.

Cite all sources.

Format your citations according to APA guidelines.

Week 4 Assignment: Recruitment

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Week 4 Assignment: Recruitment

Talent Management Plan for Pilots at Southwest Airlines

Introduction

Southwest Airlines is one of the world’s popular airlines. The American airline is a low-cost carrier and continues to use various strategies to ensure that it maintains a low cost of operations. Talent management is one of the key operations within the company, determining the costs of sourcing new employees, recruitment, hiring, and training. In this paper, a talent management plan proposal for the company is provided to ensure that the company acquires top talent pilots, selects qualified candidates during recruitment, develops and trains its pilots, develops a performance management system to ensure that high-performing pilots are identified, and retain its pilots to minimize voluntary turnover.

Recruitment Sources

Over the past decade, the aviation industry has experienced substantial growth. Airlines have increased drastically and the demand for qualified pilots increased sharply. Pilot shortages continue to be a problem for most companies, with an increase in the number of operational airlines across the world. Job boards and aviation organizations are the best recruitment sources for Southwest Airlines to consider since they have high numbers of registered pilots looking for jobs or wishing to change companies. The cost of sourcing pilots through online job boards is low, with only a commission paid to the company managing the site. Some of the best job boards to source pilots include airpilotbase.com, Avjobs.com, and the FAA. Airpilotbase.com is an aviation network that has a worldwide regularly updated database of pilot CVs and skills (AirPilotBase, 2019). The job board provides companies with a database for selecting the best suited, skilled, and available pilots to ensure safety and reliability.

The professional pilot database provided by airpilotbase.com is a time-saving tool for recruiters in today’s everchanging world characterized by competition and professional pilot scarcity. Southwest Airlines can access the site and view potential candidates that fit the company’s requirements. There are no delays when using the site since there is no need to list vacancies and wait for responses. Avjobs.com is one of the world’s most reliable pilot recruitment and job search websites. The website has been around since the 1980s and is one of the leading sites for airline and aviation jobs (Avjobs Inc., 2020). Through the site, companies can search for pilots while pilots can search for jobs and even get help with their resumes. There are affordable payment plans for the services provided by the site, but it provides an easy and convenient way of sourcing potential candidates for pilot jobs. The company may also source pilots from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a body that regulates civil aviation activities in the country. The FAA hires pilots especially for purposes of enforcing regulations, inspecting operations, and developing rules.

Selecting New Pilots

The common method of selecting appropriate candidates is to use recruitment agencies. These agencies conduct all the procedures involved in sourcing, selecting, interviewing, and hiring pilots on behalf of the airline company that has contracted them. The selection process includes various stages, including screening, shortlisting, invitation, follow up, and document check, before the candidates can go through the interviews. Screening and shortlisting are conducted by experienced pilot recruiters based on knowledge of airlines, aviation, aircraft, aviation regulations, language requirements, and company requirements. Shortlisted candidates are invited for an interview after their documents, including pilot logbooks and licenses, have been collected and checked for adequacy and authenticity. To ensure that the best candidates are selected, the following methods are recommended (OSM Aviation, 2018):

Simulator Tests

A flight simulator test should be conducted to check a candidate’s level and adaptability. Skills such as handling, threat and error mitigation, management, communication, and problem-solving can be assessed using flight simulators.

Reasoning Tests

Psychometric ability tests should be used to measure the lateral thinking ability and speed of processing data logically skills of the candidates. This way, the company can predict how quickly a candidate can learn new complex information and use it logically. Numerical reasoning tests should also be used to indicate the numeracy level of candidates – how they understand and apply numbers and data.

Personality and General Aptitude Tests

These may include psychometric and aviation-related ability tests. They should be administered to assess hand-foot-eye coordination, crosscheck, theoretical knowledge, short-term memory, mental math skill, and multitasking. Personality tests can be used to assess the behavior of candidates especially when facing challenges.

Training and Developing Pilots

Most aviation companies train and develop their pilots through simulators that can be used to improve their skills and their ability to handle unexpected flight situations. Southwest Airlines should use this method to train and develop its pilots regularly. Also, the company should use pilot projects and invest in training young talented candidates to meet its employee needs while improving the skills of existing employees. For a successful pilot project, the company needs to first develop the goals for training, after which the measures to be used can be identified (Lewis, 2019). Testers can be hired from the FAA to improve the training. Simulators can be used for the pilot projects to identify areas of training, such as navigation or the use of instruments. The data collected through the testing will direct what the hired testers and experts will train the pilots on. The company should also form partnerships with aviation colleges to identify young talented candidates and invest in their training in terms of financing their training and assisting in the application and acquisition of commercial pilot licenses.

Performance Management and Employee Retention

The common performance management method used by airlines is the evaluation of completed flights and the quality of work for each pilot. The performance of pilots during flight challenges and simulations is used as a means of assessing their performance. Southwest Airlines should use this method for measuring the performance of its pilots. The company should also incorporate the use of KPIs in the measurement of pilot performance. These should include items such as arrival punctuality, the Misconnex quota, delay minutes, and departure punctuality (Walther, 2020). By using these KPIs, the airline will effectively assess the performance of its pilots. To retain its employees, Southwest Airlines should develop strategies for ensuring that the needs of employees are met. The company should ensure that its employees are offered competitive salaries and employee benefits. Also, good relationships between the management and the employees should be fostered to improve the working environment and relations within the company. This way, the voluntary turnover rate of the company will be minimized greatly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Southwest Airlines needs to utilize a talent management plan to ensure that it acquires the best pilots for its operations. A talent management plan will assist the company to acquire top talent pilots, select qualified candidates during recruitment, develop and train its pilots, develop a performance management system to ensure that high-performing pilots are identified and rewarded, and retain its best pilots to minimize voluntary turnover.

References

AirPilotBase. (2019, May 29). Recruit Pilots. AirPilotBase. https://airpilotbase.com/recruiting/.

Avjobs Inc. (2020). Aviation Jobs, Employment, Careers. Avjobs, Inc. http://www.avjobs.com/.

Lewis, D. (2019, September 10). Prove and Improve Your Training Program with a Pilot Project. AllenComm. https://www.allencomm.com/blog/2016/07/improve-your-training-program-with-pilot/.

OSM Aviation. (2018, April 20). The Elements of Pilot Selection. OSM Aviation. https://osmaviation.com/elements-pilot-selection-osm-aviation/.

Walther, B. (2020, April 30). 6 Most Important KPI For Airline Operations. Information Design. https://www.id1.de/2019/10/25/6-most-important-kpi-for-airline-operations/?cli_action=1588797359.557.