Tell me about yourself
- I’m 41 years old, spent last 20 years in finance, wide variety of roles building a well rounded skillset
- Kept in touch with interest in aviation through hobbies like skydiving, paragliding
- Lucky to have the opportunity to take a risk and work for my passion…
- Led to me starting work towards commercial pilot licences in 2023 and an ambition of being a Jet2 pilot.
Key characteristic
- How colleagues would describe you
- How you behave at work
Professionalism
- Means not only doing a good job but doing it in the right way
- Important to me that if somebody gives me a responsibility (whether work or in personal life) they’re glad they asked me to do it
- It’s a vague idea, but that reflects the fact that professionalism means different things in different situations - communication as a trade vs cabin crew with nervous flyer… professionalism is knowing what good looks like for the situation you are in
Key characteristic
- Key skill
Adaptability
Why do you want to be a pilot?
- Obviously thought about this a lot, and it’s a complicated question. What I’m not going to do is talk about how much I love aviation because I don’t think trying to make your hobby or your passion into your job is always a smart move. Often the reality of doing something professionally is very different to what you expect.
- My philosophy on work is that the 2 things it can bring to your life is challenge and a sense of achievement, and I think these 2 things are key to being happy in your work.
- Being a commercial pilot fulfils these things perfectly because every single day you are challenged, you have to focus. Even as I get more experience and the job gets easier, I’ll still need to be fully engaged for every flight.
- At the same time there is a sense of achievement from every flight in terms of the impact you have on customers, getting people to and from their holidays.
Greatest achievement
Transition to Deloitte
- Achievement was that in first 2 years I was the only person in my intake of 30 or 40 to achieve the highest grading
- Reason it means so much to me is the change it demanded from me after 7 years as a trader.
- As a trader I had to be highly specialised, very technical and focussed. Worked with people but my own performance was all that really mattered. Even though I worked with lots of people, relationships were very set and defined.
- Specific challenges - working with young managers, making extra contributions, putting energy into supporting peers
Challenges faced by the industry
- Climate change - related regulatory restrictions (emissions, landing slots)
- Economic - oil price, global growth
- Geopolitical risks (Ukraine)
- Supply chain - aircraft delivery, MRO
Why are you leaving finance/current job?
- Not desperate to leave, had a great career and still things to do.
- Opportunity to take financial risk and do something new for second half of my career.
- Finance can be great but compared to being a pilot it is less challenging, the sense of achievement is less tangible and the levels of professionalism are lower.
How would you act in an emergency?
- Based on previous experiences I think calmly and methodically.
- Experience skydiving
- Doing Fran’s HR presentation
Why do you want to work for Jet2?
Lots of reasons, but I’ve narrowed it down to a top 3.
- James Seward, Jet2 First Officer my PPL instructor - diversion to Welshpool
- Future Second Officer programme
- Customer focus
Jet2 fleet
After recent retirement of last 757s, simpler fleet
Mostly 737s (about 100)
Small number of A321s
About 100 A321s on order
Jet2 history
- Original company started in Channel Islands around 70s doing cargo type operations
- Jet2.com founded in 2002, first flight from Leeds Bradford to Amsterdam
- Strong growth as a low cost carrier until Jet2Holidays opened in 2007
- Tour holiday arm synergised with the airline resulting in strong growth, to a targeted 13 UK bases (after Luton opens) and over 70 destinations.
- Largest UK tour operator, 3rd largest airline
Jet2 Strategy
To be UKs leading leisure travel business
Jet2 Values
- Create Memories
- Be Present
- Work as One Team
- Take Responsibility
… gone the extra mile (for company)
Angel trains
- Rebuilding financial model
… gone the extra mile (for customer)
AFH divorce pension ombudsman complaint
- Advocating for her against pension company
… resolved a conflict (with customer)
AFH
- “One particular customer” looking to withdraw funds in covid crash
- Sensitivity around what you can say, “no guarantees but history says…”
… resolved a conflict/communications issue (for company)
Angel Trains
- Disagreement with ratings agency
… influenced somebody (customer)
AFH
- convinced client to take money out of company instead of pension
… influenced somebody (company)
HSBC
- slide presented at board meeting
… failed/made a mistake/learned from a mistake
Merrills
- Wrong way trade
- Acknowledged error
- Fixed position
- Implemented new procedures for future
… made a difficult decision
Merrills
- Price out of line with competition
… made a bad decision
APC UK approach
… made a decision under pressure (2)
- Skydiving emergency
- Merrills price out of line
… dealt with a difficult colleague
UKPN manager
- remember helping junior
