Recruiting Aviation Executives in Germany and Luxemburg: the ideal process

What does the ideal recruitment process look like? A strong first shortlist and a smooth candidate experience are often enough. It's even better when every candidate presented is impressive enough to receive an offer. For this German site of an international business aviation group, on the French border, two technical leadership positions were filled in under a month.

Our client operates and maintains a fleet of business aircraft, with a technical site based in Germany, on the French border, reporting to a headquarters in Luxembourg. The company was looking for a profile to take operational leadership of this site: team management, organizing maintenance, and strict compliance with the regulatory requirements specific to the aviation industry. 

Since eurojob had already successfully completed assignments in the aviation industry, we approached this search with an established niche network already in place. The team's expertise made it possible to factor in the market's specifics: the rhythm of market fluctuations, salaries, and candidate expectations. 

Our client had a strong market position and could rely on the stability of an international group, while offering its German site genuine operational autonomy and an agile culture, typical of a human-scale structure. The salary on offer was broadly in line with the market, even though larger competitors in the sector could offer more; on top of that, candidates had to accept the absence of any benefits beyond salary, aside from relocation cost reimbursement. Some negotiation was therefore to be expected with the most qualified candidates. 

The sought profile combined several criteria that significantly reduced the available pool: a technical or engineering background in aviation, proven experience in a highly regulated industrial environment, genuine change-management ability, plus fluent German, solid business English, and French as a bonus. Our recruiter therefore built a dedicated assessment framework, combining role-plays on concrete regulatory scenarios with in-depth interviews on past change-management experience.

Our recruiter and sourcing team identified strong-fit profiles in just over a week. The recruiter conducted the interviews and presented a compelling shortlist of 3 profiles. 
All three were invited to an initial interview and then a final on-site interview, and all were rated excellent by the client. As a safeguard, our recruiter presented 3 additional profiles while the initial ones went through the client's process; a precaution that proved unnecessary.

The first candidate quickly wins over the management team and positions himself as the frontrunner. The second candidate impresses too, but on a different note: her sharp grasp of compliance requirements catches the executive suite's attention, who at that point are considering a new Compliance & Airworthiness Manager role at headquarters ; a position not part of the original mandate at all. The client then offers her a conversation about this second role, showing a flexibility that lets them get ahead on their workforce planning.

The candidate hesitates at first: the role means relocating to Luxembourg, a life change she hadn't anticipated when she applied to the original posting. Our recruiter supports her through this, in particular making the real value of the offer tangible beyond the headline figure: Luxembourg's tax framework, favorable to profiles who settle there, noticeably changes the equation compared to an equivalent offer in Germany. Reassured, the candidate accepts.

The third finalist had also fully convinced the client, but since the initial position was filled, no suitable role was available for him at the time. When we reached back out to him a few months later for a new assignment entrusted to us by the company, he had already accepted another position.

In 29 days, our team successfully completed two placements of highly technical executives. Our client proved able to provide quick feedback and a smooth process for us and our candidates. 

With twenty-five years of experience in aviation, the first candidate rose through every level, from technical roles to management, and in particular structured the processes of a fast-growing operation from the ground up, one that until then had almost no organized procedures in place. A brief professional detour outside the industry only confirmed his passion for aviation: today he takes over leadership of our client's German site.

Having moved from luxury into aviation engineering, the second candidate has made rigorous processes and regulatory compliance her business, leading her technical teams to substantial savings without ever losing sight of the human side of leadership. She now moves to our client's headquarters, into a role closer to operations.

« The ideal recruitment consists of a detailed briefing, a first shortlist that's immediately convincing, and a smooth process for candidates. When a client tells us they'd happily hire every profile we shortlisted, we know we've done our job well. »

Nikolai Rabald
Recruiter
Eurojob-Consulting

This assignment was led by Nikolai Rabald. Our team is on hand for all your recruitment needs. [Contact]