Search for Professional Employee

Introduction

In this blog I would like to explore the idea of using social networking and SNA to identify qualified future employees and/or temporary qualified replacements.  Here I will take an example from the Business Aviation Industry.

When consulting companies are overloaded with applications from qualified individuals there are some industries that do not have so many options for future employees or replacements.  In business aviation the number of qualified pilots is not too high and good pilots can be hard to find.  However this industry is relatively small and through a network and good references it’s often possible to get an interview and possible a position within an established company.

The nature of the industry is such that a certain amount of pilots are needed to cover each aircraft, and the aircraft needs to be covered 24/7.  This system is most of the time successful but as with all other industries there are times when people get sick or change jobs, which might require a quick qualified replacement.

When pilots are needed there are many qualifications that need to be looked at. First of all does the pilot have all licences valid, does he have a validation of his licence for the country where the aircraft is registered, is he type rated on this particular type and is the rating valid.  These are the minimum requirements needed before you can even start to look into experience, both years and locations, and of course personality. 

Main Question: Can SNA identify qualified candidates for an interview?

When CV is available it does give you the necessary relevant information about a person.  However often it is difficult to judge if this person is professional in the working environment, if they are flexible, safe and good tempered. 

With Social Network Analyses we could identify the individuals that are approached for professional advice, who are frequently approached for freelance work, the ones who are used for training others and in which geographical locations they have experience, where they have worked before and maybe the most important one, the comfort level of working with this person (safe, professional, good tempered and flexible).  These information are very valuable for an employer who is looking for a responsible qualified pilot.

A survey among the individuals is needed to get more information about them and to identify persons in their network and their qualifications.

Proposed Attributes:

·      Gender

·      Age

·      Language skills

·      Type Ratings

·      Work Experience

·      Geographical Experience

·      Hobbies

·      Sport

·      Professionalism

·      Temperament

·      Social media user

Conclusion

By taking into account these widely used social networking tools, both future employers and employees could benefit from the analyses.  They would get leads from the analyses of whom to approach for interviewing for a particular assignment or a permanent position within the company.  This could possible decrease expensive trial periods for the company, the pilot and the customer.