2014 Career Aspirations Poll

As we looked at the year ahead, Peak Performance devised a poll asking people ‘What are your career aspirations for 2014?’ The poll finished at the end of February 2014, having received 250 responses.

The results provided some clear answers:

·         32% of people hope to directly change their employer

·         18% are targeting a promotion from their current position

·         17% are seeking a salary increase

What is interesting about the result, is that two of the top three results, ‘Promotion’ and ‘Salary Increase’ (totalling 35% of respondents) are areas potentially within the control of their current employer. This begs the question: do employees feel that they are limited within their own organisation? Aircraft lessors are typically quite lean organisations and, with that, opportunities to progress internally are not always available.

This may, explain why 32% of people responded to say they would like to change employer. Often, we notice particular candidate interest toward start-up opportunities.  People like to be part of that exciting growth period and to be provided with the opportunity to advance their career and be rewarded through the growth stages.

We also see new opportunities for change stemming from the growing interest from hedge funds and other investors looking at aircraft leasing as a suitable investment space.  Companies like First Star, who have opened their doors to aircraft leasing and Apollo Aviation who recently raised USD$640 million in funding for aircraft and engine acquisitions. These funds, as well as others, need staff, both to originate and manage the transactions. People have a natural curiosity to see what is new and with that they are always keen to see what opportunities there are for them.

On the reverse side, ILFC the 2^nd largest lessor will soon merge with Aercap and this may create duplication of roles and bring new candidates into the job market.  Both ILFC and Aercap have offices in China, Singapore, USA, Amsterdam and Ireland. No doubt Aercap will seek to gain efficiencies across the board.

The remaining results:

·         9%          Learn New Skills

·         7%          Career Change

·         7 %         Change Geographical Location

·         6%          Improve work life balance

As with promotion, people are usually hungry for some form of advancement. As we see mid-sized lessors continue their growth, people’s roles become more defined and organisations need to establish more structure to manage increases in deal flow. Learning new skills is closely related to promotion as people seek to develop their skill sets to allow them to take on new roles and of course enhance their own contribution.

In Ireland there has been a lot of media coverage around the growth of the aircraft leasing industry. We frequently advise people on the prospect of a ‘Career Change’ into the space. It is not widely understood that lessors differ from airlines which are more people intensive.

Internally, we have dealt with a high number of enquiries from people wishing to ‘Change geographical location’ and relocate to Asia from both Europe and the US. These people are often happy to work on a local contract basis, not requiring the burden of expensive expat conditions. This is across all disciplines within aircraft leasing.

We find this interesting as the majority of requirements we receive from lessors that want to expand in Asia require finding locals or people already based there. Asia has seen continued growth with further demands for experienced staff in the region, yet the region is still in its infancy, with many lessors fighting for a very small pool of people. If employers were willing to relocate or hire someone on a contract they could have a larger pool of people to choose from who have the required level of experience.

Attaining proper ‘Work Life Balance’ is always a challenge within aircraft leasing, given the 24/7 nature of the business.  However, some companies are better than others at ensuring their organisations are sufficiently staffed to allow people breathing space when required. This is also often common within law firms where people are known to work excessive hours.

In conclusion, we believe that individuals within the aircraft leasing market are highly motivated people, otherwise they would not survive the demands put on them. This high level of motivation means people want to be continually challenged in their work and rewarded for their efforts.  From an employment point of view the industry at present is the most vibrant it has been since the credit crunch. With so much activity and interest in the market at present, people have a natural curiosity to see what other opportunities are available.

For more information contact Keith Garry - keith@aircraftleasing.ie 

Small Firms Association 2013 Awards

Peak Performance is delighted to be a finalist in the ‘Outstanding Small Business’ Small Federation Association (Ireland) 2013 Award category.

 

Since our inception in 2009, we have worked hard at building a global client base and are proud of our achievements to date in effectively delivering recruitment and talent search services to the aircraft leasing and aviation finance industry, worldwide. Receiving recognition for our entrepreneurial spirit and success encourages us towards further growth. Thank you to all our customers for your continued support.

Results from our recent poll

To coincide with the launch of our new website, we created a poll to try and establish the reasons why people would consider new employment. The following categories were provided to participants:

• Work not challenging
• Salary / Bonus not meeting expectation
• Strategic direction not supplied by management
• No promotional opportunities
• Micro Management
• No feedback on personal performance
• Other

Within the results there were two clear reasons why people would consider new employment:

• ‘Work not challenging’ (25%)
• ‘No promotional opportunities (24%)’.

It is well known that the structure of aircraft lessors tends to be flat, the smaller the company the more this really stands out with owners / principals taking a hands on approach with most divisions. Within larger aircraft lessors there is usually an abundance of internal competition for senior roles when they arise. Examples of this would include ILFC – Phil Scruggs, Macquarie - Harry Forsythe and Aercap - Kenneth Wigmore. The entire RBS management team that moved to Avolon were all replaced internally and I am pretty sure there was no shortage of internal interest in the vacant positions. Evidence of a strong desire for people to seek promotion. Therefore, people are most likely to be receptive to external promotional prospects when they are presented. The path to a role in Marketing is seen by many as the ‘Holy Grail’. Many people (not all) who are in the other divisions like to see a logical or achievable path to a marketing position, through Credit, Pricing, Technical or Legal. If the company has a smaller or established marketing function then a person may be willing to take a sideways step to another organisation in order to ultimately move to a position of advancement. Within Peak Performance, lack of promotion is usually the main reason people would cite as a reason for change.

 

We were slightly surprised to see ‘work not challenging’ rate so highly and we wonder if this could be partly linked to a lack of promotional or advancement opportunities. Also, in some of the larger aircraft leasing entities, functions are very much defined and the person may not have an opportunity to step outside of their core duties, in comparison to a smaller organisation that could provide a person with a broad range of responsibilities. We have noted that recently, people are often more selective on the roles they want to apply for, sometimes stating that a role is not broad enough for their interest.

 

The third place result is ‘salary / bonus not meeting expectations’ (19%). This is something that would be reasonably common across many disciplines within aircraft leasing. There has been a lot of interest from aircraft leasing companies on salary benchmarking in recent times which may be an indicator that pressure is coming internally from employees or that companies have lost staff for this very reason. I think that it is human nature that some people will always place a higher value on their own self worth. People not only desire career advancement but also improvement in their financial status.

 

Fourth place at 16% is ‘strategic direction not shared by management’. It is interesting to see this score reasonably highly. We rarely hear this as a specific reason to leave a company, but judging by the results, enough people place a significant amount of importance on this shared vision. If people are being kept in the dark with regards to the company direction, it is less likely they will be as loyal to the company as they may feel that they are ‘just another employee’. People prefer to share in the strategic direction of the company so they can align their own values to it and ensure they are contributing individually to the growth of the organisation. People also like to celebrate successes, and will collectively gather to try and reach a goal if a major milestone is about to be achieved.

 

Following up at the rear are ‘micro management’ (9%) and ‘no feedback on personal performance’ (2%). Micro Management is self explanatory and there may be reasons for this; if a person is performing well it might be worth giving them some autonomy. The 2% vote for feedback on performance is an excellent sign that the industry is proficient at providing employees feedback on their own performance, perhaps some companies/managers should think a little further about how they communicate their corporate vision.

 

To summarise, employers should note that providing challenging work and promotional opportunities are areas that can be addressed through personal development plans. We are now coming up to annual reviews which are a great time to not only assess a person’s individual performance but also to consider how the company has assisted in the employee’s own development or progression? Is there room for the person to take on more responsibility and/or be trained in a different aspect of the role? If promotion is a key driver for the employee and there may not be a role open immediately, sharing the company’s vision or growth can help highlight future growth opportunities for the individual.

Watch out for our new poll that will ask what key attractions employees seek in a new company.

New Website Launch

The new website of the Peak Performance Recruitment went live on 01st November 2012.

The launch of the new site, which offers quick and easy access to essential information, is part of our companies’ ongoing efforts to enhance the quality and availability of information to candidates and clients worldwide.

 The website features new types of rich content, inspired by our experience, and gathered materials. You will find this content in the blog section in the form of articles, updates and presentations.

 The website will be updated on a regular basis, with new jobs, news of events, and new content. We will be encouraging you to contact us and sign up for our newsletter.

The jobs section provides easier search capabilities for candidates to choose between category, location and job title to allow quicker and easier access to jobs that are applicable to you.

For clients there is evidence of the clients that we work with along with a better outline of the services we provide.

The website offers two special features: The boss is coming; the boss key is a special keyboard shortcut used to quickly hide our website and it displays a special aviation themed screen that appears to be a normal market related program. My Favourites; the ‘My favourite’ function allows you to "save" jobs without having to scroll through the list again.

The website’s user-friendly nature provides more efficient access to our resources.

If you have any feedback on our website we would love to hear your comments please email to richael@aircraftleasing.ie

Keith Garry will be attending the 13th Annual Asia Pacific AirFinance Conference, 01-02 Nov 2012 in The Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong.

Keith will be available for meetings from 31st October 2012. Why not contact Keith to arrange a time to meet or visit our website www.aircraftleasing.ie

Avolon fleet exceeds 160 aircraft

Total Capital Raised reaches US billion

Avolon, the international aircraft leasing group, today issues a trading update announcing that its fleet now exceeds 160 aircraft and that total capital raised has reached US billion.

Highlights | April to September 2012

• Delivered 24 aircraft, valued at over US.1 billion to twelve customers across the globe including seven new customers
• Announced an order for 15 Airbus A320 neo and 20 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft - Avolon is one of the first major lessors to secure attractive early delivery slots in the launch phase of both of these highly fuel-efficient new technology aircraft.
• Delivered the first four of its direct order Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft and announced a further order for 10 737-800 NGs to support Avolon’s near-term growth plans.
• Successfully completed the sale of two aircraft on long-term leases to two new investor clients
• Total committed fleet has increased to 164 aircraft (160 owned and 4 managed).
• Secured financing commitments from three new lending banks – Avolon now has a global lending group of 22 institutions.
• Committed capital now stands at US.0 billion (US.4 billion equity and US.6 billion debt).
• Strengthened the Avolon team with 5 new hires bringing its total team to 42 people across 6 offices globally

Dómhnal Slattery, Avolon CEO, commented:

“Our progress in building a leading global aircraft leasing platform continues to accelerate. In the two and a half years since launch we have built the world’s youngest lessor fleet comprising over 160 young, fuel-efficient aircraft, including an order for 35 new technology Airbus A320 neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Alongside our recent new order activity we have continued to remain very active in the sale and lease-back market; in the third quarter alone we underwrote over US0 million of new aircraft financing for carriers in the United States, Europe and Asia covering single-aisle and twin-aisle aircraft that will deliver later this year and in 2013”.

 

“This impressive growth has been built on the back of our robust capital position and the continued strong support of our owners and lenders. We continue to see attractive investment opportunities for well-capitalised lessors with the global reach and execution capability to capture them. We remain firmly on track to build Avolon into one of the world’s leading aircraft leasing businesses.”

Delivered to Japan Airlines June 2012

Avolon Fleet

Avolon Aircraft Portfolio Developments
Avolon’s fleet has reached 164 aircraft comprising 160 owned and 4 managed aircraft.

• Fleet age of 1.7 years is the youngest large lessor fleet in the world.
• Avolon delivered 24 aircraft to 12 customers including seven new customers around the globe.

New customers include:

• Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras (Brazil)
• China Eastern (China)
• Japan Airlines (Japan)
• Jet Airways (India)
• KLM Cityhopper (Netherlands)
• TAM Linhas Aereas (Brazil)
• US Airways (USA)
• Avolon’s delivered fleet now stands at 87 aircraft

In June, Avolon celebrated the delivery of its first Boeing 737-800 NG direct to JAL Express. This was followed by two further units for JAL Express and a new delivery to China Eastern Airlines.

Avolon completed its first aircraft sales with the successful delivery of two aircraft on long-term leases to two new investor clients.

Aircraft Leasing Opportunity – Pricing / Financial Analyst with an aircraft lessor in Dublin

Pricing / Financial Analyst – Dublin 

This aircraft leasing company have a new opening for a marketing analyst who will support the marketing team in the origination and remarketing of commercial aircraft transactions. 

Requirements: 

• Complete transaction modelling in the pricing of aircraft lease purchase, sale & lease transactions
• Assist with the analysis of investor returns
• Analysis and pricing of funding costs
• Must have strong financial modelling experience


Ideally the successful candidate will have worked in an aircraft leasing company in either the credit or business analysis side of the business and is now seeking a role in more of commercial direction. Applications will also be considered from people with a non aviation background but a strong emphasis on financial modelling

Applicants need to be eligible to work in Ireland.


Interested? Please apply to keith@aircraftleasing.ie or call +353 (0) 86 8233084

Interested in other roles in the aircraft leasing industry globally?
www.aircraftleasing.ie