With MRO industry labor shortage looming, Paz Aviation shares tips on attracting top talent

HIALEAH, Fla., Jan. 11, 2017 -- With technological advances and growing fleets putting pressure on MRO station owners to find highly-qualified professional technicians to meet demand, Paz Aviation is responding by embracing some productive human resources initiatives that are attracting top talent.

“These initiatives seem to be working for us, so I wanted to share them with my industry colleagues,” said Brendan Campbell, Principal and CFO at Paz Aviation, which has just announced hiring a trio of experienced industry veterans with major certifications.

Some of the hiring practices Campbell has instituted include:

• Observing and celebrating employee anniversaries, and maintaining a culture of employee appreciation. Campbell had a lengthy career as a leading executive with a hospitality company, and is transferring “some of the good stuff” in HR policies to operations at Paz.
• Strengthening existing staff morale and productivity with regular Employee of the Quarter Luncheons where employees receive honors and awards. Keeping current employees is essential, Campbell says. Paz Aviation has grown from 21 a year ago to 25 today, with more growth expected in 2017.
• Job postings on Monster.com.
• Seeking talent from larger companies who are being paid by the hour on time-limited projects and want a permanent position with a steady paycheck.
• Enhancement of pay and benefits, including health insurance for new hires. “When skills are in great demand, you have to pay more to obtain them,” observes Campbell, who has an MBA in Finance and a BS in Management.
• Incentive compensation and bonus packages.
• Pitching the benefits to potential employees of working with a relatively small MRO station where people can set professional goals and move up with the company.
• Reaching out to George T. Baker Aviation Technical College in Miami. The skilled labor shortage in the Asia-Pacific market is so acute that some airlines and MROs are partnering with technical schools to develop aircraft technician education and training programs, while the launch or expansion of training programs at U.S. colleges is always in the news, Campbell observes. “Working with technical schools is a great way to develop a pipeline for new employees and get positive exposure,” he says. “It’s something we may consider for the future.”
• Please visit our blog for more insight into the workforce “crisis” of the future.

ABOUT PAZ AVIATION

The professional MRO technicians at Paz Aviation have been trusted for more than 25 years to provide dependable, on-budget, on-time delivery of a comprehensive suite of MRO services. The team at Paz Aviation is collaborative and cooperative in providing cost-effective customer service with a reputation for high-quality MRO service. Paz Aviation is proud of its culture of honesty, openness, fairness and reliability, where customers and brokers are part of the Paz family. For more information, contact Paz Aviation at 305-825-4828 or contact Campbell at [email protected].