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Summer Session: College Interns Work on Projects While Learning About Alaska Airlines
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10/6/2008 11:36 am (PT)
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Among the new faces at Alaska Airlines offices in Seattle this past summer were 19 college interns. According to Amanda Lau, recruiter in supporting college relations and outreach, the internship program is structured to ensure that the experience is mutually beneficial to students and the airline.
"It's an effective way to attract people to the company and it gives students a chance to apply what they've learned to a real-world situation," she says. "Nationally, one-quarter of all new-hires from college campuses come through a company's own internship program. In a tight talent market, we want to make sure Alaska has a strong, visible presence."
Alaska's internships span a variety of departments, providing a glimpse into a diversity of careers at the company.
Suttipong "Jiro" Boonthong, who is studying industrial engineering at the University of Washington, worked on a project in Revenue Management to determine the peak seasonality of every market Alaska flies, using past data and computer software to forecast future demand.
Rick Bendix, a double major in international studies and Spanish at Seattle University, joined the Employee Culture, Programs & Events Department. Bendix, who continues to work part-time in the department, is involved with the diversity and inclusion initiative and company archival project. He is also working on a new Culture and Diversity section of the Human Resources Web site.
In Flight Operations, Gonzaga University mechanical engineering major Tim Mealy tested a new flight planning system called JetPlan. The testing compared JetPlan to the previous system, Electronic Data Systems' Flight Planning, and involved developing and updating the database of airport and aircraft characteristics.
Kevin Nguyen, a double major in English and international political economy at the University of Puget Sound, wrote stories for the Alaska's World Web site and monthly newspaper in Corporate Communications. Several other interns worked in IT, Flight Operations and the Safety Department.
In addition to their specific responsibilities, interns were able to see aspects of the company outside their department, including operations at various levels and job shadowing opportunities.
"I've been able to do a hangar tour and an in-depth tour of the Seattle station," Bendix says. "It's totally awesome seeing all the different operations at Alaska."
The airline has sponsored an internship program intermittently for more than two decades and it has become more active in the past seven years.
"Our interns don't just make coffee or sit by a photocopier," Lau says. "They are energetic, enthusiastic members of the Alaska team. We want to make sure our interns get as much out of their summer here as we do."
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