WN Employment/Interview Process Questions

Hi everyone:
I made it through the phone interview process with Southwest for a PT Customer Service Agent job at LGA and I got the call yesterday for the face to face interview. Now, I wasn't planning on moving back to NY until July 7 but since my interview is July 2, I figured I'd just move back a week early instead of paying $500+ to fly up to NY for the day. I do have some questions for those of you who have gone through this process already and are working/have worked for WN in this type of position:
-For the face to face, if they like me do they offer me the job on the spot or do they call back after a few days?
-If they offer you the job, how long before you have to go to Dallas (thats paid for by WN right?)?
-How easy is it to hold down college along with this (part time) job?
Any other info is welcome! Thanks guys. Can't wait to come back to NY, its about time I can move back permanently.

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

Hi everyone:
I made it through the phone interview process with Southwest for a PT Customer Service Agent job at LGA and I got the call yesterday for the face to face interview. Now, I wasn't planning on moving back to NY until July 7 but since my interview is July 2, I figured I'd just move back a week early instead of paying $500+ to fly up to NY for the day. I do have some questions for those of you who have gone through this process already and are working/have worked for WN in this type of position:
-For the face to face, if they like me do they offer me the job on the spot or do they call back after a few days?
-If they offer you the job, how long before you have to go to Dallas (thats paid for by WN right?)?
-How easy is it to hold down college along with this (part time) job?
Any other info is welcome! Thanks guys. Can't wait to come back to NY, its about time I can move back permanently.

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Job Offer-- You have to go through drug testing and fingerprints before they can offer you the job. Technically they can say they will offer you the job or go you have the job assuming you pass the testings but you will not be hired until you have passed both testings.

Dallas Training--You will typically have 3 weeks of on the job training at LGA then you are sent to Dallas for I think 4-5 days. It depends on the scheduling and when WN can send you. This is paid for, you are paid the hourly rate.

I went full time on SWA and I had to drop out of school. If you can make it work doing part time then great but WN will dictate your schedule, not the other way around. If WN calls you for mandatory you MUST accept during probation or you will get a strike against you. You will be placed on probation for 6 months and that is a critical time at WN to ensure your spot at WN.

They will be asking questions such as, When you had a disagreement with a co-worker/Customer, how did you solve it? Be sure to call the passengers Customers and NOT Passengers. WN takes great care in that thing. Notice I capitalized Customer, and Employee, these two are WN's biggest asset and WN capitalizes them to recognize it. Why do you want to work at Southwest? What can you bring to the job? Think of a time where you were in a hurry to meet a deadline, how did you achieve it? They will probably repeat some questions during the one on one too.

That should be it, anything more let me know. I did CSA for WN in STL.

Alex

Thanks Alex. I have seen friends balance part time CSA Jobs and School so hopefully I can do the same. I'm not looking for full time right now but I do need my foot in the door. I did not know I would have training at LGA first. That's something good to know because I have to do the whole NYS Resident stuff again, so I do have some other minor work to complete in a certain time frame. Southwest.com said 2 weeks, but if they changed it to 4-5 days or so I have no complaints.

Also, this is a union job I hear. What is that like? I've never worked in a union job before (they don't come by very often in Florida except for education) so is there any extra information to expect there?

Thanks again Alex.

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

Thanks Alex. I have seen friends balance part time CSA Jobs and School so hopefully I can do the same. I'm not looking for full time right now but I do need my foot in the door. I did not know I would have training at LGA first. That's something good to know because I have to do the whole NYS Resident stuff again, so I do have some other minor work to complete in a certain time frame. Southwest.com said 2 weeks, but if they changed it to 4-5 days or so I have no complaints.

Also, this is a union job I hear. What is that like? I've never worked in a union job before (they don't come by very often in Florida except for education) so is there any extra information to expect there?

Thanks again Alex.

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It was two weeks for me in Dallas when I went to training, however this was during the old reservation system when we were using SAAS, however we are now using CS2, which was supposed to shorten the Dallas training for cost, but if they are still doing 2 weeks for new hires then go with that. If that is the case, I am going by the schedule I had to go through. You will work 13 days straight including travel days, You will be paid for the flight time to DAL as part of your working duty. You will be paid a per diem of 100 dollars (this may have changed due to cost of living or inflation). You will probably get 1 day of overtime and 1 day of double time pay during training in Dallas because of only working 13 days out of the 14 days.

Yes, you should be training at LGA first has called "on the job" training where they train you for Dallas, but sometimes schedules are flipped and you are sent to DAL first, that is the rarity and not the norm.

Part time positions are still 5 days of 6 hrs each with 2 days off, that's why I went ahead with full time so I could get overtime and double time pay.

Union will be the IAM, International Association of Machinist, you will have to pay I think 50 dollars a month, I do not know if NY is a right to work state regarding Union so you will need to check that out if you are not interested in joining a union. We don't do anything else separate or more regarding the union, simply pay the union due each month, automatically deducted from the paycheck. As you are probably aware of, Southwest is the most and heavily unionized airline in the US, with over 86% of the Employees in a Union, and Labor and Mgmt relations have been pretty good so I never had issues during the time I was there.

If you get the job you have to be flexible, as I said there are chances of being mandated to work, if flights are delayed and such you will have to stay until the last flight leaves etc etc. I had a good time there, but it really gets on ya, especially if you are doing school too.

Go to the interview, and be sure to ask them questions, they LUV it when you ask the recruiters why did they choose to work for Southwest. It is ok to turn the table on them also, it's interaction and they appreciate it just fine. It sounds like I drink the kool aide and maybe I do but they really want to see the LUV and Spirit come from you, Southwest hires based on ATTITUDE and not APTITUDE. They can train you how to do the job, but they can't train you to be yourself, smile and have spirit. That is the key in being hired at Southwest Airlines.

Alex

Just want to wish you good luck & please let us know how he interview went.

Even though I have never worked for WN want to add a few coments. If you don't have school over the summer and you could go thru the training process while you are not in school that would be ideal.

While I realize school is probably much more important to you than a PT gig at WN unless you want a very short career their you are going to have to put the job first when you have scheduling conflicts, hope you are willing to accept that. At LGA delays of several hours on most flights during the evening are comon, if you have early morning class and your part time shift ends at 8:00PM understand you may get mandatoried to 10, 11, or later on a regular basis, especially as a very junior employee.

A friend of mine is pursuing a PT cust svc agent job with Virgin America in FLL, several hundred applicants for I think 5 part time jobs. My point is why should WN have to worry about your school schedule when many un-employed people with famlies would be completely flexible and happy to have the job. Just trying to share a little perspective on how an airline thinks in this day of age.

And finally if you want to send engine46 a PM, he works for WN in LGA and I am pretty sure spent time in DAB at Riddle, he can probably add much insight.

Best of Luck JetBlueAirwaysFan

LGA777

Thanks everyone. Alex, the attitude is there. I personally can't do a customer service job without adding some sort of humor to it. It is very easy for me to make people laugh, especially strangers. I am also very empathetic and am able to do so while following protocol as well. School is just what concerns me. If I get stuck with night and weekend shifts I don't mind, that's actually what I want, regardless of how late it is. If it goes further than this, I will have to think long and hard, and if I end up doing part time year round school I do that. Alex, what is the $100 per diem for?

Ron, as of Tuesday I don't have school until August 30. I'm leaving over the summer so I can get a job before school starts and leaving wednesday instead of the 7th because of the interview.

Coachrowsey, sure will!

Anytime you have to travel on SWA for business reasons and it is an overnight trip, the per diem is there to cover any extra expense such as tips, and whatnot.

When I went, Breakfast and Dinner was served by the hotel, paid for by Southwest, lunch was given to us by the Airline there as well.

LGA777 is right too, if you do have school, you may run into a conflict. Looking at the seniority rate (engine46 can give you a better idea being at LGA) you will most likely be working a 2-8:00pm shift Thurs-Sun with Tues/Wed off.

However, LGA777 mentioned the mandatory, as PT Employee, WN will not force mandatory a PT Employee first, that goes to the FT employee, because that is supposed to be the benefit of being FT. As per the contract, when Mandatory Overtime is issued for a full time shift, the FT folks will be awarded the OT first before it goes to PT Employees.

Edit--To add on to that, the situation I described is when WN is assigning overtime for those who listed for it, it is awarded to FT folks first. However, the situation LGA777 was talking about, where say a PT and a FT agent is working the flight at a gate, and the Sup needs one of you to stay behind, he will choose based on seniority within the START TIME. So even if you are a new hire, but you started at 1pm, the guy working next to you, started at 2pm, you still get to go home, and he does not. So while seniority is put into play, it is categorized even more when it comes to that situation.

Alex

So school for me from 8-noon or whatever if I can work something out...

The recruiter actually told me that LGA has 7 FT and 4 PT positions. 3/4 part time positions are up for grabs and the FT and PT have different seniority. So if I am the first of the 3 new hires I am high up on the seniority list already.

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

So school for me from 8-noon or whatever if I can work something out...

The recruiter actually told me that LGA has 7 FT and 4 PT positions. 3/4 part time positions are up for grabs and the FT and PT have different seniority. So if I am the first of the 3 new hires I am high up on the seniority list already.

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Here is the problem. WN can mandatory you to work ANY shift whatever they want.

If you do have school 8am-12pm Then your sked to work 2-8pm that's fine and dandy. But then someone calls in sick the next day in the morning, say 8am shift. You are the last one there to work because you're doing the 2-8pm shift, WN will mandatory you to work the AM Shift, then what? You cannot deny it but then you miss school. That's why you have to be absolutely flexible with your schedule.

Alex

Okay, thanks for the info Alex. I will keep it in mind.

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

Okay, thanks for the info Alex. I will keep it in mind.

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We aren't trying to put you down, and this is not going to be the scenario every single day to be quite honest, but all it takes is ONE mando, and during probation it could mean the diff between keeping your job or not if you have to decide between class and a shift.

Alex

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Originally Posted by Alex T

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

Okay, thanks for the info Alex. I will keep it in mind.

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We aren't trying to put you down, and this is not going to be the scenario every single day to be quite honest, but all it takes is ONE mando, and during probation it could mean the diff between keeping your job or not if you have to decide between class and a shift.

Alex

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Oh no no, I know that. I meant that sincerely no sarcasm. I really do appreciate the info. I actually got back to NY today. I do have one more question:
Will I find out at the interview if they want to move me forward or will they call me a few days later and let me know?

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

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Originally Posted by Alex T

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Originally Posted by JetBlueAirwaysFan

Okay, thanks for the info Alex. I will keep it in mind.

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We aren't trying to put you down, and this is not going to be the scenario every single day to be quite honest, but all it takes is ONE mando, and during probation it could mean the diff between keeping your job or not if you have to decide between class and a shift.

Alex

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Oh no no, I know that. I meant that sincerely no sarcasm. I really do appreciate the info. I actually got back to NY today. I do have one more question:
Will I find out at the interview if they want to move me forward or will they call me a few days later and let me know?

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They can suggest they want to hire you, but legally cannot offer you the job until you have passed the drug and finger print test. If you are called to do a drug test within a few days, you can be sure you will eventually have the job offer, you just need to pass those two!

For me, I was in a group interview, and then the same day was called back for a one on one and out of the one on one they told us they planned to hire us but we had to go through paperwork and such, and then 3 days after the on on one I was called for a drug test.

Alex

They did not suggest hiring me but they had all interviews in one day. If they say they want to hire me I will be declining. After careful thought and consideration I have decided that for now school will come first and a job like this will obviously not work out now. Maybe down the road but not while I have two years left of my Bachelor's Degree. Thank you for the input Alex. It really did help a lot.