During the corona pandemic, Lufthansa laid off many employees. This was mainly accomplished through financial incentives for early exit or golden handshakes. In the meantime, CEO Carsten Spohr admitted that too many employees had been laid off. The result: Acute staff shortages in many areas. Now the employees should help with the search for new Lufthansa employees.

In the past, aviation rarely had problems finding new employees, because working in this industry not only had a lot of prestige, but was also a dream for many people. Lufthansa enjoyed a very good reputation as an employer in Germany and was the dream destination for many people in aviation. However, the corona pandemic and the associated job cuts at the crane, at airports, service providers and other airlines meant that interest in jobs in the aviation industry was kept within very narrow limits.

There are vacancies almost everywhere, but employers don't receive many applications. The reasons for this are varied and cannot be completely lumped together. In general, however, the behavior of many employers seems to have had a negative effect, because potential applicants do not even try their luck because they consider the industry to be risky in terms of job stability. Who knows, maybe you'll be unemployed the next time you lock down, or you'll end up on the measly German short-time work, which low earners in particular find it difficult or impossible to live on. So far, potential employers have done little to make the jobs more attractive. Especially in the area of ​​ground staff, the service providers have not raised wages at all or only slightly. This raises the question for many: Why work in shifts when there are jobs with regular working hours in supermarkets, for example, with at least comparable wages?

A smorgasbord of reasons means that there is currently little demand for work in aviation. This is a serious problem for airlines, airports and service providers because it is difficult to find new employees. Lufthansa is now trying to go the "original" way of recruiting: The workforce is asked for recommendations or the placement of suitable friends, acquaintances, family members, club colleagues, etc. who are interested in jobs at the Kranich.

Up to 1.500 bonus for the tipster

Lufthansa even charges quite a bit for these recommendations. According to a report by the Hessenschau, they want to pay a premium of 500 euros for successful mediation. The decisive factor is that the applicant explicitly refers to the recommendation of the respective Lufthansa employee when submitting his documents via the Group's own job portal. If an employment relationship is established and the new employee stays with the company after the six-month trial period, the Kranich Group pays another 1.000 euro bonus to the employee who made the recommendation. At Lufthansa, it is hoped that the many vacancies can be filled using this “original” method of recruitment. The entire workforce is therefore called upon to address potential new employees in their personal environment and to motivate them to apply. In many companies, this path is quite successful, even if the motivation is usually "friendliness". But there are so many happy jobs at Lufthansa that far too few applicants can be found through the normal recruitment channels, so that the HR departments are obviously happy about every recommendation. According to Lufthansa, however, the usual application criteria still apply, so that a mere recommendation does not automatically lead to employment.