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How to Build a Business Aviation Safety Culture With New Hires

Today, successful new employees must demonstrate that they’re a “good fit” with the people, the mission – the soul, if you will – of the organization. For employees in a business aviation flight operation, that includes buying into the company’s safety culture.

“If you think of your safety system as the meat and vegetables of a stew, your organizational culture is the broth,” said Jennifer Pickerel, president of Aviation Personnel International. “It doesn’t matter how good your potatoes are. If the broth is rancid, it’s not going to be any good.”

An organization’s culture is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate, Pickerel said. “When negative behaviors, such as disrespect, micromanagement or lack of accountability go unaddressed, they set a low standard for what is acceptable.”

This creates an environment where employees may feel undervalued, unmotivated or even mistreated, leading to frustration and disengagement. Over time, this erodes trust and morale, making it difficult to retain top talent.

Finding a Good Fit for Aviation Safety

“Everyone in aviation has to be a leader,” said Jim Lara, principal at Knoxville-based Gray Stone Advisors. The candidate, the organizational culture and the safety culture must work in harmony. Those stakes are just as high for the company as for the applicant.

Finding that great fit begins with an in-depth understanding of the hiring process, said Jenny Showalter, chief motivational officer at Showalter Business Aviation Career Coaching. Job seekers need to stand out from the crowd.

“You can't use the same old pilot resume and be successful anymore.”

Jenny Showalter Showalter Business Aviation Career Coaching

“You can’t use the same old pilot resume and be successful anymore,” Showalter said. “Your resume must be structured properly and contain the right keywords to capture the attention of a computer, or it gets bounced.” Showalter sees a resume’s top third, “as the penthouse and the best real estate on the resume. That’s where your contact information goes, including your LinkedIn URL, your career or professional summary including your most relevant experience, key skills, flight times and ratings.” Next, candidates should promote their hard skills as well as their soft skills.

Also, it helps if an applicant knows someone inside their target company, someone who can offer a perspective of the company’s culture, Showalter said.

Clues to Look for During Interviews

An initial interviewer will likely search for the clues that demonstrate the candidate is a good fit. Initial questions might include:

  • “Tell me a little bit about your experience.”
  • “Why do you think you’re a good fit for this position?”
  • “Why do you want to leave your current position?”

The interviewer might also ask why an applicant wants to work for that particular firm and what they know about the company.

On the flip side, candidates should also ask questions and be alert for opportunities – such as an interviewer saying the company is “very collaborative” or “a great team.” That’s a cue for the job candidate to speak about their own experience in that arena.

Role Descriptions

At Gray Stone Advisors, Lara believes a good fit begins with a role description that functions as a job specification, instead of a “job description.”

“We write those descriptions after we work in the company and understand that company’s culture because the aviation department’s culture has to fit with the company’s culture,” Lara said. “And there are vast differences in those cultures throughout the United States.”

Creating the Culture and Assessing the Fit

Understanding the company’s soul begins by talking to the executives, said Lara. “You’ve got to listen to what they say because it’s the senior folks in the organization who create the primary cultural definitions, the cultural norms for the rest of the company.” Those should filter down to the operational and safety cultures.

Executives want people to run the aviation operation as a business unit, Lara said. That includes hiring people with an appropriate amount of business and technical skills, often equating to the role of a plant’s general manager. It’s during those initial interviews that Lara believes the hiring team can assess a candidate’s fit with a flight operations safety culture.

Imagine the first question from a flight department’s hiring team is, “Tell me about your experience with the SMS in your prior company.” Answer one might be, “What’s an SMS?” Answer two, “Yeah, we had one, but it was kind of eyewash. Nobody ever paid any attention to it.” Answer three, “Yes, we had a good SMS. We almost developed it from zero, but we had some help with it. And one of the most important things that I got as a captain is that whenever I saw something that needed to be looked after, I wrote it up. And when I wrote it up, there was no worry about retribution. We had a goal. Every one of these write-ups had to be cleared in 10 days. Clearing them told me I was being listened to. I think the safety management system is a positive part of the job because it helps me have a voice as a captain.”

So, which interviewee do you think got the job?

The long-term cost of hiring the wrong person is more than just the money the company might spend on a type-rating, or other training or even possible relocation costs. As Lara put it, “The half-life of a bad hire is forever.”

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