Constant Aviation has developed a multi-pronged strategy to increase the MRO provider’s recruitment and retention efforts in a tight labor market. That strategy includes offering a $15,000 signing bonus to experienced military aircraft technicians. Constant CEO David Davies told AIN that he hopes the new incentive program will supply the company with the technicians it needs while at the same time balancing the experience level of its maintenance workforce.

“The primary goal is to put experienced technicians in our hangars,” said Davies. “Right now, we have an excellent program in place to bring new talent in and foster them up all the way from off the street with no experience through getting their A&P. But we need to make sure we cover the top end as well.”

Since launching the military veteran program this month, Davies said he’s already received several emails from aircraft mechanics in the Air Force and Navy who are transitioning out of military service and looking for a job. He estimates that 40 percent of Constant’s maintenance workforce in Cleveland, Ohio, and Orlando, Florida is ex-military so between word-of-mouth and social media postings the company is effectively getting the word out about the new program. “It doesn’t take much because it’s a pretty substantial signing bonus,” he stated. “And that’s part of the reason we did this. We wanted it to be noisy. A $15,000 signing bonus doesn’t need a lot of promoting.”

The incentive program builds upon other efforts by Constant for technician recruitment and retention, including the apprentice program it launched last year. Under that program, Constant covers the cost of training apprentices to get their FAA certifications, and they are paid while going through the program. “The success of the apprentice program is kind of causing us to take a look over the horizon a little bit at the tenure of our technicians. And so, we want to make sure we put something on top of the apprentice program, so we don’t end up having a technician floor that’s way young in all of our hangars,” explained Davies.

Also, Constant continues to offer a $2,000 signing bonus for other technical positions within the company, as well as award up to $8,000 for AOG technicians who complete their first year of employment.

On the retention side, Constant is also adjusting its technician pay 10 percent higher this year after completing a salary survey last year. Davies said the pay increase will put Constant technician pay in the top 1 to 2 percent in the industry.

“The big push is we could use more people,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work over the past few years to streamline the business and make it more efficient. The business itself is in a better footing than it ever has been before. But we’ll take as many technicians as we can get because it allows us to bring more aircraft in to help meet that demand.”

One challenge that has emerged at the same time as Constant’s recruitment efforts is the rising demand for maintenance as the business aviation industry sees higher aircraft utilization. In that regard, Davies said the company is offering customers “a little discount” if they schedule their maintenance 60 to 90 days in advance. “We’re trying to manage that demand by pushing it out in the calendar a little,” he added.