Your Guide to Talent Acquisition & Recruiting in the Aviation Industry: Insights from FEAM Aero

Hello, and welcome Aviation enthusiasts to another I think episode of Beyond MRO brought to you by FEAM Aero. I'm your host Michelle Dawn Mooney, and today we dive deep into the world of air craft maintenance, repair, and operations. On today's episode, we'll uncover the main takeaways that make FEAM Aero stand out from the rest. First, it is a company that fosters growth and development, providing employees like you with the tools and resources needed to advance your career, Whether you are an aspiring technician or maybe you're a seasoned professional theme arrow offers an environment that Nurtures talent and propels, pun intended, you to new heights. Today's guests are Christy Harris, director of talent acquisition, and Ruben Ramos talent acquisition recruit. I wanna thank both of you for joining me today. Thank you for having us. I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I think it's going to be especially interesting because you both have military backgrounds, which, first and foremost, I wanna thank you both for your service. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Great to have you here looking forward to the conversation. So can we start off by having you share a bit about your background? And I wanna thank you first and foremost for your service. You both have military background. So I'm curious to learn how has your background with the military helped shape your journey and your career. So, Michelle, I knew kind of from a very young age and I wanted to be part of the aviation industry. My father was in the military, and he always were on an aircraft his whole entire life. So we were always around them. We've always seen them, you know, in our backyard just jetting by us. You always heard the sound of the f fifteen's, the c one thirty's, you know, just riding past the house, shaking the house at times. I was like, I'd go out there with him and say, wow, I really wanna be part of this. So when I was old enough, you know, to enlist, I decided I was gonna out of the Air Force enlistment office, and I I joined the Air Force right out of high school. Although I was not working on on playing specifically at that time, I was always around them. And then my love for aviation just continue to grow and grow, you know, from that point on. Ruben, what about you? You know, I'm I'm just same as Christy. I always had this fascination with aviation. I recall as a a young boy, my father would take me to the auxiliary airfield used by the air force when they had their undergraduate, training, pilots come and land at this field doing touch and go and so forth. And then I remember when it was time to graduate as well, I decided to enlist in the air force. And I originally wanted to come in as a legit engine mechanic, but unfortunately, I didn't I didn't make the cut. So which was kind of a blessing in disguise. I came in as a weapon system specialist instead. Which in addition, gave me an opportunity just to work on multiple aircraft, multiple fighter aircraft, multiple, bomber aircraft, and so forth, kinda got out of that career field. I was a drill sergeant actually for four years. And then after that, I've actually became I went into recruiting. It became a career recruiter. After retiring from the Air Force, I still have this passion and this drive just to learn more and more about aviation. So I then pursued my master's degree, in aeronautics in specifically aviation safety from Louisville University, and even, you know, continue to get my pilot's license as well. So it's just a continuous growth and love just or aviation. To your point, Ruben, talking about the recruitment, that is why we're here. So Christy, I'd like to pose this to you. Can you tell us about the recruitment team at theme Arrow, how did the team come together and grow over time? Yes. So, buddy, a year and a half ago, we only had one per one man team of a CVG. HR was doing most of our, hiring for us. It was, you know, hiring here and there, but it wasn't where it's at right now. We're hiring, you know, sixty to a hundred people a month, currently. So in a year and a half, it went from a team of one to a team of seven right now. The team expanded rapidly due to themes, reputation as a global leader in aircraft line maintenance. So we had to hire very fast because, we had to keep out with our customers' needs and demands. One just wasn't doing it. So we had to bring on a whole entire recruitment team to ensure that we could keep up with those demands. Since the newly established recruitment department was created a little over a year and a half ago, we have expanded our footprint into over forty state side locations right now. As well as twelve European locations too. Again, Phoenix goal was always, to become a global leader aircraft maintenance. And we have, accomplished just that. It's a good problem to have when you're growing so fast that you need to add people. So Ruben, I wanna ask you, Can you walk a stereotypical week for the recruitment team at theme era? What activities do you engage in? Like, school visits or job fairs. And then why are these interactions so important? Oh, definitely. So it's a good work where it involves this traveling to various job fairs, school visits, and other aviation events throughout the United States. This gives us a really good opportunity to educate others what a theme is about, tell them about the theme story and more importantly, help their story as well. This is what I think of the majority of Cruisers, what we enjoy most. Like I said, it gives us that opportunity to have that one on one interaction and have them share with us what they love, OldSpot Aviation, and what inspires them. When we're not traveling, we're typically at our home offices, still having these one on one meaningful conversations. For those that are interested in coming on board with FEAM and joining our family. You know, Christy, you mentioned the challenges of trying to grow to meet the demands. So I wanna talk about some more challenges as a recruitment team. What are those big challenges that you might face in attracting and finding that new talent. And how does the recruitment team overcome these challenges? So I think, you know, our biggest challenge that we currently are facing is a shortage, excuse me, the shortage of skilled technicians across the board, just not for FEMA, but in in the entire aviation industry. Like Rooma said, we are on the road a lot. They're going to military installations, different schools. They're going to the aviation A and P, schools. Not only are they going to the aviation schools. They're hitting high schools as well. And we're embedded into these schools. And I think that's very important, because we need to educate these young adults early, not when they are getting ready to graduate from high school. We need to let them know, hey, you have other options. You know, a lot of people don't come in and know there's creation paths and how to get, you know, down that path or, you know, how to explore those different avenues. So our goal is to go in there educate them, let them know that there are other things that they can be doing. And get them excited about, you know, wanting to have a career in aviation. We're also, like I said, embedded in the aviation schools. We're building those meaningful relationships with the students and faculty. Having those relations, as I mentioned, it is imperative. It lets them know that we are a company that bosses growth and development, and team will provide the tools and resource that are necessary to advance their careers. I believe not only that, but also lets them know that, we're here to support them in the progression, you know, from school to industry. So, of course, we're talking about the challenges, and I'm curious to ask you as a follow-up to that, Christy, what strategies or initiatives has FEMA implemented to enhance the recruitment process. Yeah. So the biggest thing that we're doing right now, industry partnership is critical to combat the massive labor shortage. But that said, FEMA is currently partnering with Epic Flight Academy. So open a thirty thousand square foot A and P school at our CVG location. The new school will host an expected twenty five students during the first class and fifty additional students thereafter. It will be incorporated with ten classrooms and it'll be to the active airfield at CDG. I think having that airfield there at CBG will be a huge benefit for the students They will receive hands on training that will advance them to the program and ultimately meeting them to a wide variety of opportunities within the industry. Not only are we opening the new A and P school, but FEMA is also offering sign on bonuses, relocation bonus for mechanics as well as an enhanced training program and enhanced benefits for our employees. So this is the time when I get to ask you both for your best elevator pitch. Why should someone consider working for FEMA Arrow? Why is it such a great place to build a career? Michelle, the reason I personally chose theme arrow. I really wasn't looking. I knew who theme arrow was. I was really content when I was honestly. I work for these massive companies, Northrop Grumman, Rocky Martin, the SpaceX is the big, big companies. And I love those companies to this day. However, You know, hearing the theme story and how to how it has started thirty years ago, which is two men in a truck, and what has a what it has evolved today it really caught my attention. I love the family feel of the company. I love the culture. I love the initiatives. We are implementing to create opportunities for so many young men and women in the industry. And not only that. I'm very passionate about helping people And ultimately, at the end of the day, I get to positively change young lives, you know. That to me, you know, is the greatest thing that I can do on this plan is help people, you know, and and get them, you know, to a point in their career where they can look back and say, wow. Thank you. So that makes me feel good. You can see that. You can feel that. You don't feel just like a number here. Everyone knows your name. They take time to get to know you and they care about you professionally and personally. They invest their time in their people and ultimately, those people invest their time and make them think a great place to work. So immediately, I knew that I wanted to be part of the team team. It's a hard act to follow Ruben, but I wanna hear from you. And it is a hard act to follow as always, but just to add on to what Christy was saying, you know, also in a theme, you know, we're gonna give you that opportunity to work on today is getting edge Boeing and airbus type aircraft. And in doing so, you're gonna holistically learn the aircraft for nose to tail and wing tip to wing tip. So we get like Christy mentioned, we get a lot of young men and and women that are excited about just changing it up a little bit to come out of these A and P schools working on these smaller type aircraft. And when we tell them about the opportunities that we have, to work on multiple sized aircraft from different manufacturers. They get excited. They get their adrenaline. And they guess about the opportunity just to, just to Just to learn, I just to grow with a great organization. I know that you mentioned heading into schools and telling students about opportunities they may not have known about. So I wanna ask both of you what can prospective employees expect when joining FEMA Arrow. Are there sign on or retention bonuses, relocation assistance, or opportunities for internal movement and upward mobility? As a fee employee, you will see pay time offer, vacations, sick time, bereavement, holidays, In addition to that, we also will provide health benefits to include medical, dental, and vision. We also have a four zero one k that matches dollar for dollar up to three percent, as well as FSA life insurance, short, and long term disability, as well as accident, insurance, and critical illness, insurance to name a few. Ruben, I think that maybe you can touch on the sign on bonuses and the relocation. We currently do ask sign on bonuses, of course, relocation assistance. And retention bonuses pending, of course, on the top position and the location itself. And as far as internal movements, typically after about a year, you are eligible to transfer within the theme network. Of course, that's gonna be pending both managers' approval on both ends. And as far as upward mobility, like I tell everybody else you're captain of your own ship, and there'll be numerous opportunities over the fee for that upward mobility. So I've heard the term family used a few times in this conversation Ruben, I wanna point this to you. FEAM Aero is known for fostering, you know, a family atmosphere. So can you elaborate on how this environment is cultivated and then why it makes theme arrow such an attractive workplace? Yeah. Simply put is when you sign with theme, you're signing to join our family. And we do this by supporting and challenging and empowering each other, in work, life, and beyond. Let's talk about the training and experience opportunities available. At FEMA Arrow Ruben, can you tell us how this FEMA Arrow differentiate itself from other MROs in terms of the variety of aircraft and aircraft systems that employees get to work on. So we currently have two aircraft hangars, one in Miami, and the other at CVG. We do have another hangar at CVG currently under the kitchen that can be fully enclosed with room to have multiple aircraft, parking site for maintenance. With that being said, with this new addition to the new hangar, we're gonna need more than two hundred and fifty more additional mechanics at this one location. So you're definitely gonna see a lot more recruitment efforts going on throughout the nation's fulfill the needs of this one particular location. In addition, when I'm working for FEMA, that we invest in an initial and continuous training for all all of our technicians to ensure that they're fully equipped with the skills, knowledge, and confidence with various types of aircraft, that are these mechanical tests performed the maintenance on. So as the recruitment team, what efforts are you making to specifically target and support the military in your hiring process because clearly you both have military backgrounds, and this seems like a pretty good fit. So can you talk about that, Christie? We just recently hired in addition to our recruitment team. He just start maybe two or three weeks ago. His goal is to target our military community. With that said, his goal is to visit the military in relations and educate them on those transitioning, veterans on theme arrow, what we have to offer, and the many opportunities that we do have for them coming out of service. He also will help them understand the pathways that they can take to be certified mechanics and how to start their civilian careers with FEAM Aero. In addition to visiting the military installation, he's also attending military recruitment events, attending CAP seminars, which or transition assistant programs that are exiting the military. He is attending those and educating them and letting them know all about theme and you know, what their career could look like after the military. You know, a lot of these guys and women, you know, they that's all they know is military. Like myself and Ruben, You know, we both joined probably when we were seventeen, eighteen years old. So all you know is military. So his goal is to go in there and try and, you know, teach them and educate them on know, you don't need to have anxiety because everyone has anxiety coming out of the military. You know, just to, you know, calm them down and let them know, you know, your goal, your, excuse me, your skills, and even your soft skills, they do transition, and FEMA Arrow can help those, you know, coming out of the military, start their careers in, you know, in the civilian sector. As Ruben mentioned earlier, we do have that second hanger that is opening in CVG, with two hundred and fifty additional opportunities for aircraft mechanics and other skills. You know, this is something that this recruiter can go out and educate, you know, on that there are opportunities and, you know, CVG alone has two hundred fifty jobs coming down the pipeline that these guys can come into. Not only that, as I mentioned earlier, we do have forty other locations across the US. So we have many, many opportunities for these young men and women exiting the service. So the big question here as we are wrapping up where can people get more information? How do they reach out? How to contact the powers to be? To see if they can get the ball rolling and maybe become part of that theme family. So they can always reach out to us by recruiting at theme dot arrow. W w w dot theme dot arrow. We're also on Facebook. We're on Twitter. We're on LinkedIn. We're on Instagram. So they can reach out to any one of us at any one of these Avenues, and we'll be more than happy to have these one on one conversations with them and answer any questions that they might have. Christy Harris director of talent acquisition and Rubin Ramos an acquisition recruiter for FEMA Arrow. I wanna thank both of you a great conversation. A lot of reasons that people would want to become part of the FEAM family. So you so much for your time. Looking forward to the future to see just how many prospective employees get in touch and and see what that family looks like going down the road. Thank you for having us, Michelle. Yes. Thank you. And I wanna thank all of you for tuning in and listening to the Beyond MRO podcast brought to you by FEAM Aero course, you can visit the theme website for more information there and be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you can hear more great conversations like the one we had today. Thanks again for joining us. I'm your host Michelle Don Moody, and we hope to see you soon. Christy Harris director of talent acquisition and Ruben Ramos, talent acquisition recruiter for FEMA Arrow. I wanna thank both of you for your time. Once again, a great conversation with the Beyond MRO podcast. And exciting to see where the future will take you with new prospective employees who are hearing this and hopefully will want to be come part of the theme arrow team. So thank you for being with me today. It's a good problem to have when you are growing so fast that you need more people. So, Ruben, can you walk through a typical week for the recruitment team at FEMA. What activities do you engage in such as school visits or job fairs? And then why are these inter so important. Christy, you mentioned the challenges of trying to grow to meet the demands. So I wanna talk about some more challenges as a recruitment team, the challenges you face in finding and then attracting top talent, how does the recruitment team overcome these challenges? A follow-up to that, Christy, when you're combating these challenges, what strategies or initiatives has FEMA implemented to enhance the recruitment process? That's a hard act to follow Ruben, but I do wanna hear from you. So what are your thoughts there? I've heard the word family coined a few times during this conversation, Ruben. I'd like to ask you, fame era is known for fostering a family atmosphere. So can you elaborate on how this environment is cultivated and why it makes theme arrow such an attractive workplace. As the recruitment team, what efforts are you making to specifically target and support the military demographic in your hiring process. Obviously, you both have military backgrounds and This seems to have worked out pretty well for both of you. So share some insight there if you can. So the big question as we are wrapping up, how can people reach out? They love what they're hearing, they wanna learn more, maybe they wanna find out how they can become part of the team. How do they do that?