SAN FRANCISCO – August 19, 2020 – Corporate flight department closures and layoffs are never easy. And navigating the post COVID-19 job market has never been more challenging. That’s why best-practice organizations rely on Aviation Personnel International’s (API) outplacement service to support their aviation employees throughout the transition, and prepare them for workforce re-entry. The longest-running business aviation recruitment and consulting firm, API, has just updated its “Your Best Foot ForwardTM” aviation outplacement program to support a virtual delivery platform and incorporate the latest technology and tools.
“When a company hires API for outplacement, they demonstrate to their flight department employees that their departure will be handled with great care and concern,” explained Sheryl Barden, President and CEO of Aviation Personnel International. “We’re a specialized aviation outplacement firm, so it’s a win-win. The displaced employee reaps the benefit of aviation-specific career coaching, and their employer is able to do the right thing. Additionally, the employer can shed a positive light on their brand.”
What’s New to Your Best Foot Forward™
API’s outplacement program has many new updates and features that lend themselves to these COVID-challenged times. In addition to enabling career coaches and participants to meet virtually in small group workshops, the updated program also lets the coaches work one-on-one with each outplacement participant to develop a job-seeking strategy.
Below are some of the recent updates to API’s Your Best Foot Forward outplacement offering:
- Virtual platform – With COVID-19 limiting face-to-face interaction, a new virtual delivery platform has never been more compelling or necessary. Now, the API team engages with its participants in a compassionate and collaborative way using online video technology. What’s more, all workshop training materials are accessible via a secured website.
- Emotional support – “Realizing the reality of their situations, many downsized employees fall into a fragile state of mind, which further impedes their ability to move quickly and assuredly in the direction of finding a new job,” said Jenny Showalter, API’s Client Services Manager. “Because our motto is ‘It’s About People™,’ we’ve really honed our focus on the all-important emotional component, investing the time to understand what makes each situation unique,” she added.
- Branding – Many outplacement participants haven’t been in the job market for a decade or more. Thus, an API coach helps them review and update their social media footprint, and ensures that they’re aware of popular job application sites. “A comprehensive LinkedIn profile is just as important as a print resume,” Showalter explained. “Both need to be chock-full of keywords to help jobseekers stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.”
- Resume – API now offers new resume templates designed to make it past an electronic scanner, an internal corporate recruiter or an aviation director. “Since a resume is judged within six seconds, jobseekers must be armed with expertly written resumes,” Barden said.
- Cover letters – “A tailored letter highlights relevant experience and helps add important context and color to a resume,” Showalter explained. “Thus, we’ve refined our cover letter component to help resumes shine.”
- Interviewing – In 2020, jobseekers are more likely to have a video interview than an in-person interview. Hence, an API coach helps them to understand and be comfortable using new interviewing protocols and tools to their greatest benefit.
How API’s Aviation Outplacement Service Differs
Following are ways that API’s aviation outplacement service differs from companywide programs:
- Aviation network access – API’s career coaches have over 80 years of combined experience, which affords them a massive network of industry contacts. “We’re in a ‘who-you-know’ industry, and we know most aviation directors and their plans for hiring,” Showalter said.
- Understanding of aviation-speak – As an industry outsider, an outplacement generalist serving the needs of the entire company is unlikely to grasp the nuances of business aviation. API’s coaches are well-versed in aviation lingo, including flight hours, type ratings, aircraft equipment and certifications, as well as important acronyms such as “CAM,” “A&P” and “IS-BAO.”
- Experience with families – API maintains a “big-picture” approach in every hiring scenario, taking into consideration how the hiring process and result might affect the families of the job candidate. “Finding a new Falcon 2000 piloting role is much more complex than finding a new accounting position,” Sheryl Barden explained. “It may require a cross-country relocation and/or the possibility of sending a key-contributing parent away to lengthy training.”
To learn more about Your Best Foot Forward, call API at 1-415-751-3250, or request an outplacement consultation.
About Aviation Personnel International
Founded nearly 50 years ago, API is the longest-running business aviation recruitment firm, exclusively serving the hiring needs of flight departments in business and private aviation. A woman-owned and -operated company, API offers its clients the broadest portfolio of fully vetted candidates, including senior aviation leaders, pilots, maintenance, cabin safety crew, schedulers and dispatchers. Headquartered in San Francisco, API’s team members combine their extensive aviation knowledge with their expertise in human resources and executive aviation recruitment to provide retained talent identification, staff development and outplacement services for flight departments with one or more aircraft. apiaviation.com
Media contact:
Jill Henning (for API)
Forward Street Marketing, LLC
602-502-6206 (Phoenix)