Virgin Australia smashes gender targets for pilot cadetship program

Virgin Australia smashes gender targets for pilot cadetship program
By Alexandra Coulton


Virgin Australia has exceeded its 50-50 intake target for the 2018 Pilot Cadetship program, with a 56 per cent female intake.

That’s a huge 200 per cent increase on the last program!

“Virgin Australia is committed to increasing gender diversity across all areas of our business and in particular the non-traditional roles of aviation,” Virgin Australia Group Executive People, Lucinda Gemmell said.

“Both the young men and women who have been accepted into the next program are all extremely passionate, talented individuals and we are very much looking forward to welcoming them all into the Virgin Australia family.”

Virgin Recruits

The recruitment process for the program is run over a 13-week period and involves rigorous skills-based and academic testing, designed to identify the most promising talent among candidates selected for the assessment phase.

“We received more applications than ever before which has allowed us to select the best individuals for our next cadetship,” the airline’s Director of Group Flight Operations, Stuart Aggs said.

“At the end of the day, the selection process is merit-based, and the application and assessment process sets a necessarily very high standard.”

“Candidates are exposed to screening and panel interviews, abilities testing, personality profiling, computer based learning and examination, and reference checks. We also look at cultural fit, motivation, passion, and community involvement.”

This announcement comes after the Virgin Australia Group was selected by Tamworth Regional Council in October as the preferred airline group to establish a world-class pilot training centre in the New South Wales city.

The 2018 Pilot Cadetship will run for 54-weeks at Flight Training Adelaide in South Australia, where cadets are trained by some of the best instructors in the industry. At the end of their training, the cadets will graduate with a Commercial Pilot Licence and will be offered roles as certified First and Second Officers with Virgin Australia.

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