Taylor's Experience as a Qantas Graduate

Why did you choose the Qantas Graduate Program?

I can’t narrow this down to only one reason so here are several: Staff travel, variety – a variety of roles, networks, development opportunities and volunteer commitments, support – whatever you are struggling with, there is someone in the grad program ready to help you.

Tell us about the Rotations you worked in. Were there any key highlights?

I was fortunate to rotate through four completely different teams at Qantas: the Qantas Airline Loyalty team, the New Zealand Commercial Sales team, the Customer Journey team in the International Operations Centre, and the Qantas Airlines HR team. The breadth of that experience facilitated professional growth beyond my undergraduate and post graduate qualifications.

I’ve had some amazing experiences in the Grad Program (learning that Loyalty is more than just how Qantas Frequent Flyer points work, watching Pink perform at Qudos Bank Arena whilst hosting our Platinum One members, attending a Halloween party hosted by American Airlines in New Zealand and working with our offshore teams to launch a new product to help us manage customer disruptions). However, the key highlight has been the people I worked with throughout my time in the program, particularly my leaders. All of my leaders successfully balanced supporting me (giving me time to learn and adjust) and empowering me to do things that were completely new to me, to offer my opinions on key initiatives, and to have ownership over key projects.

How was your development supported as a Qantas Graduate?

Your ‘support crew’ consists of your grad buddy, your mentor, the grad program manager, your graduate cohort, and of course, the supportive managers and teams that you work with throughout your rotations.

What was your biggest misconception about working for an airline?

I somewhat underestimated how large and varied Qantas is. Of course, we have pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground handlers but a lot of people don’t realise that we also have Freight teams who assist with organ transplants, security controllers who are monitoring world events, doctors who are supporting the physical and mental health of our employees, sommeliers who select our onboard wine offerings, and climate change managers who are looking to reduce our climate footprint. If a role exists, I can pretty much guarantee that you will be able to find someone performing it at Qantas.

Advice for those looking to apply for the Qantas Graduate Program?

Highlight your strengths – out of the hundreds of candidates that are applying for the role, think about what makes you unique and make sure you spotlight this throughout the application process.