When it comes to advertising job vacancies, the times of ‘posting and praying’ have gone. We need to tell people what it’s really like to work here. To inform our employer proposition, we gathered views from across the company and came up with five themes that describe who we are and comprise our brand values (see below).
Last year, we mirrored our “why not?” consumer campaign in our recruitment advertising. Having encouraged customers to say “why not?” to holidays in Europe, we suggested potential employees prioritise a better work/life balance, asking themselves “why not get home for more bath times?”
Our hiring need is driven by growth: we hire 2,000 cabin crew and 500 pilots each year, plus 450 people into head office; around 30% of these are internal moves. Annually, 80,000 candidates apply to work for us. Our customer experience is designed to be quick, easy, affordable and friendly, so we need to reflect that when recruiting.
It’s about communication. We’ve relaunched social media channels to be less formal, letting people know what’s happening in the business and enabling candidates to engage. We’ve also made feedback more informal and authentic.
With our head office in Luton, we must act as a magnet for talent outside London, ensuring we give people flexibility to work from home, enabling them to connect through technology.
Of the 55,000 cabin crew applications received last year, some 6,000 will go to be assessed via automated situational judgement questions; applicants’ answers can be mapped against what we know makes people successful. It’s more effective than asking ”why do you want work for easyJet?”
We’ve started measuring candidate experience. Last year, we asked all candidates if they were currently an easyJet customer, and 80% said “yes”, translating to around £4.5m in revenue. If candidates answered “no”, we asked whether they would become a customer based on their experience: 71% said “yes”. The value of the 20% who were not customers is £1.6m; if 71% of those 20% become customers we have translated value. We know they have had a sufficiently positive experience to be a customer.
easyJet brand values
1. Spirit of the generation: as a disruptor, we are defined by our spirit of entrepreneurialism.
2. Lean not mean: we have to be low cost and able to compete. We are low carbon, recognise unions and are good to our people. That’s why our people are nice to customers.
3. Freedom in a framework: we want people to show their personality and feel empowered to take action where they need to.
4. No one stands on status: we are meritocratic. We are open plan with no segregation. Everything is about what you do, not your status.
5. Develop in orange years: it’s high energy and high pace; the pace of development is incredible. Here, a pilot can get to captain in six years; it would be 10-15 years at any other airline.