Bond International Software wins sixth airline with its Applicant Tracking solution

January 2008

18 January 2008: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has selected Bond Talent - online recruitment & talent management system - from stock market-listed Bond International Software. The contract will see the airline outsource the development and hosting of its online recruitment systems for the next three years.

When launched at the end of the first quarter of 2008, the Bond Talent applicant tracking solution will deal with in excess of 2,500 job applications per month, supporting all of Etihad's divisions including: flight deck, cabin services, engineering, admin, operations and ground services.

Bond Talent will speed the recruitment cycle by inviting candidates to interview and assessment and then fully automating the applications review process. Bond Talent is also fully integrated with the agencies that Etihad is partnering with providing secure web access through a portal.

Etihad required an online infrastructure that could support the demands of its latest extensive recruitment and expansion drive. The system that Bond provides tracks each online application received and includes an intuitive recruitment tool to manage all applications more effectively and ensure that candidates are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Etihad Airways was set up by a Royal decree in July 2003, with Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, as its hub. Etihad started commercial operations in November 2003 and the four-member team that started the airline has now expanded to a family of more than 4,000 employees across the world. Furthermore, the airline has won the highly coveted "leading airline" award at the World Travel Awards for the Middle East and Africa.

Jill Turner, Etihad Airways' head of recruitment and nationalisation, said: "We needed a dynamic recruitment strategy to encourage the top candidates in the industry to apply. Bond International Software is now helping us to find the right individuals.

"Airlines are global businesses and our website is vital to our recruitment strategy. Bond Talent has become an integral part of its development. We need to draw in the very best people with the right experience from around the world and driving the recruitment process on line will bring about a number of key benefits to our business, including reducing the cost per person hired and shortening the time taken to fill each vacancy."

Philip Jones, Sales Manager - Bond Talent, comments: "Etihad Airways - one of the most visible brands in the aviation industry - is constantly innovating and striving for customer excellence. We identify strongly with this approach and, as a result, we felt that there was considerable synergy between Etihad and Bond. The scale of the Middle East market potential is very exciting for us and we hope to continue to raise our profile in this region."

Bond Talent is a specialist application for the global recruitment and talent management markets which has been designed to greatly reduce hiring costs and to enhance the strategic capability of in-house resourcing teams. Over the last 18 months Bond has developed a strong presence within the aviation industry and Etihad is the sixth airline to select the Bond Talent system.