We are true believers that the company is, in the first place, its people. And we take pride in various human resources projects – from internship and apprenticeship programs to internal career development, we aim to grow professionals at every step of their careers.
What is a Magnetic strategy for recruitment, and what additional steps we are taking to grow aviation professionals? Helena Ainsoo, HR Business Partner at Magnetic Group, shares her insights.
What would you name Magnetic Group's strategy for recruitment?
In Magnetic Group we are firm believers that the real competitive advantage of any business is its people. We aim to bring the best and most promising new talent into the organization. We seek professionals from all countries, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. In a competitive job market, our “recipe” for the successful recruitment is:
- Employer branding, both external and internal.
- Job posts that reflect our brand and give a clear insight to the candidate about who we are looking for.
- Cooperation with schools, and universities.
- Employee referral.
- Providing the best possible recruitment experience to our candidates.
We aim to create a great team of diverse and like-minded colleagues. We strive to create an environment where people enjoy what they do and that starts with getting the right people on our team. To join Magnetic Group, you don`t have to have previous experience in aviation. You have to have to be motivated, willing to learn and be ready to enter the magical world of aviation. For example, I have previous experience in the hospitality and finance sector but I would not imagine working anywhere else than here in the aviation sector with such great people as we have in Magnetic Group.
In your experience, what are the best practices that help tackle workforce issues?
I believe it starts with employer branding, both internally and externally. In March we participated in the Võti Tulevikku career fair in Estonia, which is one of the biggest career events for students in Estonia and ISM Career Days in Lithuania. Both of these events were an opportunity to make connections and introduce Magnetic Group. Recently, we also took part in the Ülemiste City Work Shadow Days and welcomed 4 students at our hangars in Estonia. One of the students had the chance to see how our Supply Chain works and three of them had the chance to spend the day with our Base Maintenance Project Managers. Enhancing our employer brand more and bringing Magnetic Group closer to our possible future team members, start with initiatives like these. Also, this gives us a chance to help spark students` interest in aviation.
Providing internship possibilities for students is also crucial for every company. In 2020, we were recognized as “Best Internship Provider 2020”. In the same year, we won the VET Excellence award for our Training at Work program. This is how we tackle workforce issues – we provide great internship possibilities. We teach the trainees and by doing that we allow our trainees to grow within the company and continue as permanent employees.
What are the key factors behind employee satisfaction in Magnetic Group?
Magnetic Group`s companies play an essential role in enabling aviation companies to better people`s lives worldwide. Our employees are passionate and enthusiastic and they have the drive to go the extra mile. We know that we are responsible for the safety of human lives and therefore we focus on improving and enhancing our employee`s skills. We give them the possibility to learn and develop. The sense of mission that our employees have, keeps them going and they are genuinely excited about everything they do. In Magnetic Group, the sky is not the limit and every person can find the possibility for an interesting international career in aviation.
What are the key factors behind the satisfaction of students who did apprentice and traineeship programs with Magnetic Group?
The key factors are welcoming colleagues. They are ready to teach the trainees and give them a possibility to grow in the company. The traineeship in Magnetic Group is a great challenge to take on. Many of the previous year's trainees are now working in Magnetic Group. For this year we have still some traineeship positions available, so head to our Internships & Apprenticeships webpage to apply.
What are the main projects Magnetic Group is working on to prepare the new generation of aircraft mechanics and aviation industry professionals?
We have many great projects ongoing. One of them is developing and enhancing mentoring in Magnetic Group. Just recently we gathered our mentors together and talked about how to give and receive feedback. Together we also discussed the “pain points” in mentoring and how we can tackle these problems together to provide the best teaching to our newcomers. I hope having the mentoring community in Magnetic Group will spark even more interest internally and soon we will see new mentors joining and sharing their knowledge with their mentees.
We continue our cooperation with the schools. Our team in the Vilnius office is connecting with the schools and universities in Lithuania to bring Magnetic Group closer to the Lithuanian students. My Lithuanian colleagues have already visited schools and I hope that by that we have made the youngsters curious about aviation.
Estonian Aviation Academy students are joining this summer for traineeship and summer jobs. Many of them have already expressed their wish to do their mandatory autumn/winter traineeship in Magnetic Group. At the beginning of this year, our new Aircraft Maintenance Technician Vocational Study group began its work. I can already say that if you are interested in joining the vocational study, keep an eye on our social media and webpage because we will soon open the recruitment for the 2023 vocational study.
We have also established a great partnership with other aviation schools in the Baltics and Scandinavia and continue to keep the cooperation ongoing by providing traineeship possibilities to students. It is great to see that we have more and more students applying for longer traineeships from other schools as well across the world.
What are the future plans (some other projects, initiatives etc)?
Magnetic Group is constantly growing and we need to keep up with the growth. As mentioned, working closely with the Estonian Aviation Academy, we plan to open the new Aircraft Maintenance Technician Vocational Study group in 2023. We also see that there is an urgent need for Sheet Metal Workers. Therefore, we hope that our dream comes true and together with the Estonian Aviation Academy we can develop a vocational study program for Sheet Metal Workers.
We will continue to work on employer branding activities. The nearest future activity is participating in the Estonian Aviation Days that will take place from 11.06.2022 to 12.06.2022, in Lange, Tartu county. Magnetic Group has always been represented in the aviation days and this year is no different. So, if you happen to be in Estonia at that time, then make a road trip to Southern Estonia to Lange, search for our Magnetic Group hangar and let`s have a chat!
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