Southwest Airlines University VP on flight attendant recruitment
Southwest Airlines University Vice President Elizabeth Bryant spoke with Yahoo Finance’s Adam Shapiro to discuss flight attendant recruitment and career opportunities.
Video Transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: When we talk about jobs, the airlines are all hiring, not because of layoffs, because remember, you and I as taxpayers helped give them billions of dollars through the Payroll Support Program so that they wouldn't have to have mass layoffs. But a lot of the airlines took early retirement programs and early leave programs for their employees. And they got caught short-staffed.
So we actually were down in Dallas at Southwest Airlines headquarters. And we talked to them about all kinds of things. We got to meet Elizabeth Bryant, who is the vice president at Southwest University, that's kind of their training program. Here's a little bit about what she said about the people they bring in, and not just the flight attendants.
ELIZABETH BRYANT: Everyone who works around the aircraft or works with our customers come for some technical training, the how-to. And then we offer leadership and employee development training. So if I want to just grow in my career-- what does a leader look like at Southwest Airlines? You come to us, and we talk about what that means.
ADAM SHAPIRO: People at Southwest, by the way, have a tendency to be here decades. So do you have people who might start out in one role, and then they start moving up through that program into different areas? How often does that happen?
ELIZABETH BRYANT: It happens all the time. In fact, we like to say we don't have a career ladder at Southwest. We have a career lattice, meaning you have an opportunity to grow and learn in a variety of different areas. And so if you have an idea in mind as to what you want to do, you can work with your leader, identify a career plan. And then you use the university to help build your skill set to help you be competitive for that position.
ADAM SHAPIRO: These days, is it 50-50 men and women applying for the job of flight attendant?
ELIZABETH BRYANT: Yes, absolutely. We have about equal distribution.
ADAM SHAPIRO: And what are you looking for if somebody wishes to be a flight attendant?
ELIZABETH BRYANT: We're looking for someone who, number one, loves to serve others. That is a prerequisite to be a flight attendant. If you genuinely want to care for other people, this may be the job for you. Not afraid of scary situations. We try to prepare you for the worst-case scenario, hope that never happens. But someone who can absolutely handle that.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Worst-case scenario, I'm thinking the bumpy ride that nobody likes but is part of just traveling, no matter how you go?
ELIZABETH BRYANT: Yeah, absolutely. And there are things that happen. There are delays each day. There's weather. So many things can go wrong. Typically, a flight attendant packs for all the scenarios that may happen. They may think they're going to Florida. They may end up in Buffalo. We're certainly in the middle of the great talent shortage, right?
So we are looking for really great people. And we are hiring those that can help take care of our customers and take care of our employees and keep our culture the special culture that it is. And so we are hiring a lot of people, and we are bringing them and getting them prepared for the holiday to make sure that our customers get where they need to go in only the Southwest spirit way.
ADAM SHAPIRO: I know it's 5,000 across the company by the end of the year. But are you having trouble recruiting people right now for the specific role of flight attendant?
ELIZABETH BRYANT: For the flight attendants, we are not. We have thousands of applicants for our flight attendant position because it is so coveted. And we really care about our employees. And our flight attendants feel that. And they take that hospitality, and they pass it along to their customers.
ADAM SHAPIRO: And just so you know, we have an article about all of the airlines hiring and some of them raising wages. It's on our website, YahooFinance.com. Or if you search airlines hiring on Google, it'll pull it up. And we've put a link in the article to the majority of airlines and their job application site.
