A year after rolling out a study highlighting a looming workforce shortage, HAI unveiled a new partnership with job search specialist JSfirm to create a job bank on the association’s website.
Under the agreement, the website will house JSfirm job listings, with member company postings highlighted. JSfirm (Booth B4917) has housed hundreds of thousands of jobs, said Abbey Hutter, JSfirm manager of marketing and partnerships, adding this will greatly expand the reach for helicopter professionals. “Through HAI’s network, we will enhance the ability to make jobs readily accessible to current and future helicopter professionals.”
The listings are expected to go live on the Rotor site this spring. HAI member companies new to JSfirm will get a 90-day free listing while existing customers who are HAI members will receive a 20 percent discount.
For HAI this presents an opportunity to tap into a significant employment resource at a time when worker shortages are intensifying. “We have a real concern about our future job shortages—we need pilots, we need maintenance technicians, we need engineers, we need management, we need all kinds of people to be involved in the future of our industry,” said Karen Gebhart, v-p of business development for HAI. The association could have tried to recreate such a site on its own, but “why would we when we could partner with someone with such a huge network and so many resources devoted just to helping our industry find future employers and future jobs?” she asked.
HAI president and CEO Matt Zuccaro further underscored the association’s concerns about workforce shortages. "The shortage of pilots and mechanics is real, it’s here and we’re trying to address it in an aggressive manner,” Zuccaro told AIN. “How do we capture the hearts and minds of young people at that point in life when they are deciding, "What I am I going to do with the rest of my life?' Hopefully, the answer to that is going to be going into the helicopter industry."
During last year’s Heli-Expo, HAI released a study finding that, during the next 18 years, the U.S. helicopter industry will face a shortage of more than 7,600 pilots and of 40,600 aviation mechanics.
