LinkedIn ‘best recruitment source’ for pilots says NICHOLAS AIR

Based on its findings, NICHOLAS AIR said it will focus investments in LinkedIn and the NICHOLAS AIR Careers Website.

LinkedIn is NICHOLAS AIR’s best-performing recruitment channel for Part 135 pilots, accounting for 40% of successful applicants, says the operator. 

In a close second is its careers website which produced oughly 30% of all applications while also contributing nearly one-third of active candidates. 

“Latest reports reinforce a critical principle of successful recruiting indicating that the number of applications received is far less important than the number of qualified candidates who advance through the hiring process,” said a spokesperson for NICHOLAS AIR. “As competition for experienced Part 135 pilots continues to increase, recruiting efforts must focus on platforms that consistently produce high-quality applicants rather than simply generating application volume.”

BizJets, while representing a much smaller share of the applicant pool, continues to deliver a favourable percentage of qualified candidates and remains a valuable supplemental recruiting resource for experienced corporate aviation professionals, said the company.

Conversely, Indeed has proven to be the least effective recruiting platform in this reporting period. Although it generated nearly one-quarter of all pilot applications, it produced only about 14% of the active candidates, while approximately 92% of applicants sourced through Indeed were ultimately rejected. 

The rejection analysis provides additional insight into current hiring challenges, said the company.

“Nearly half of all rejections were attributed to applicants lacking recent flight experience, making it the single largest disqualifying factor,” explained the spokesperson. “Other common reasons included duplicate applications, employment history concerns, insufficient Part 135 experience and Pilot Records Database (PRD) issues. These trends indicate that future recruiting efforts should focus more narrowly on active corporate and Part 135 pilots rather than broad aviation audiences.”

Based on its findings, NICHOLAS AIR said it will focus investments in LinkedIn, the NICHOLAS AIR Careers Website, and other targeted professional recruiting channels while reassessing the value of Indeed.