I never imagined I would be signing up for a 401K at age 21 with Southwest Airlines…
My last blog post was quite a while ago and I have had many changes as of late. I am now a Customer Relations Writing Representative at SWA – a full time job, aren’t you proud Mom and Dad?
I never imagined I would be working for an airline (and dating a pilot)! In training for my new position I have learned all city codes that SWA and AirTran fly to, FAA requirements, TSA requirements, DOT regulations (they really like acronyms) and SWA policies almost verbatim. I feel like I am back in school again, and I still learn something new every day. My hire date for my full time position was April 30. From then until June 23 I was in training as a “multi-channel representative” for my department. Beginning June 23 I moved from the training room and now have my own cube and am participating in writing training, which is my primary skill set as a representative. For almost a month, I trained on bags: carryon, checked, damaged, delayed, wet- you name it! I then moved on to reservations and fares training, not quite as dramatic. And soon I will train on our frequent flier program, Rapid Rewards. I work in many systems to be able to research and respond to our Customers. You would think all Customers who write in are angry, but it is quite the contrary. We have amazing Customers and many times they are just writing in for help or to give a compliment.
I have met many new people in my department – recent college grads, as well as specialists and trainers who have been with my department for more than 20 years. Within CR there are many teams: writing, phone, support, advocacy and social media.
I LUV my new team and department, but I still keep in close contact with my previous team in Communications. Lauren Cook and I (previous PR ‘terns, as Brad would say) recently had the privilege of hosting SWA’s internal weekly news cast that is broadcasted to all 40,000+ Employees on our intranet, SWALife. For those of you who know, it reminded me of my old CATv days!
If you are ever in Dallas and want to see what all of the LUV Culture is about, let me know!
catherinefaye 