Baylor MBA students enjoy internships at Continental, Southwest Airlines

As the airline industry faces today's monumental challenges--anti-terrorism and security problems, exorbitant fuel prices and customer apprehension--it is looking for creative solutions for financial recovery and perpetuity.

This summer, three Baylor MBA students served paid internships with two major carriers--Continental and Southwest--whose headquarters are based in Houston and Dallas. Both carriers have long histories in aviation: Continental began 72 years ago with single-engine Lockheed aircraft on dusty runways in the American Southwest. Founded 35 years ago in Texas with three jets, Southwest is now among the largest airlines in America. Yet both carriers are striving for sustenance during this turbulent period in their histories.

"Baylor's MBA students are being taught to bring new ideas and recommendations to the airlines. We equip our students to view all problems and solutions in an innovative, yet realistic manner. The innovation aspect requires new ideas. The realistic aspect requires that we view all problems from a multidisciplinary perspective," said Gary Carini, associate dean for graduate programs at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. "The problem with the airlines is not just one of cost reduction (accounting); it's also a matter of customer satisfaction, information systems, strategy and economics. Our students tackle the real-world business problems or issues and forward recommendations from multiple perspectives."

Hankamer MBA students Byron Blaschke and Eric Monaghan served internships for Continental Airlines in Houston, and Thomas Nelson worked for Southwest Airlines in Dallas. (See sidebars on these students.) All three said they enjoyed their internships and believe they made valuable contributions to the companies. A fourth Hankamer MBA student, Aimee Clement, is currently serving a fall internship with Continental.

"This is the first year that both airlines have provided internships for Baylor at the graduate level, said Kevin Nall, associate director for career services at Baylor. "They may have had Baylor interns at the undergraduate level."

Last February, a representative from Continental came to the Office of Career Management's Spring Career Fair to meet with potential interns. They returned to campus to interview students for a second round, then the students traveled to Houston for their final interviews.

"The internship is basically a 90-day trial period," said Nall. "It gives the employer a chance to see the student in action before they actually get a job offer. It also gives the student an opportunity to evaluate whether this is a company they would like to work for."

Nall works with MBA students and alumni, offering information about job search skills, current job listings, employer recruiting materials and salary data. He and his colleagues in Career Services offer workshops on resume writing, job search strategies and interviewing skills, as well as organizing career fairs and job expos.

"Sending out students like Eric, Thomas and Byron makes our job much easier. They are each very qualified and we know they are going to do a great job representing our MBA program which in turn will enable us to further develop our relationship with both Continental and Southwest," said Nall. "The supervisors were just overly complimentary of all three of them in their maturity, in their ability to hit the ground running, and the fact that they didn't need someone looking over their shoulders making sure they're doing the work. I think we made a really big splash with both of these carriers with the quality of the individuals who served internships this summer."

Byron Blaschke

A native Texan, Byron Blaschke grew up in Bryan-College Station and earned his bachelor's degree in information and operations management at Texas A&M. He joined Southwest Airlines' technology department and spent three years as a business analyst before entering Baylor's MBA program. While his family was pushing for him to stay in Texas by attending Rice or Texas A&M, two Baylor alumni on his team at Southwest urged him to take a look at what Baylor has to offer.

"My final decision came down to Rice and Baylor. I really liked the Baylor campus, the program and the people involved with the program," said Blaschke. "Baylor made the decision easier when they offered me an assistantship and scholarship. Overall, I knew this would be the best place for me to earn my graduate degree."

Last spring, Blaschke learned that Continental was participating in the spring career fair for the first time to recruit potential interns from the MBA program. Knowing Blaschke's analyst and aviation experience at Southwest, Associate Director for Career Services Kevin Nall encouraged him to stop by the Continental booth.

"I knew that Continental was one of the top companies to work for," said Blaschke. "They've received many prestigious awards over the years, too (including Fortune magazine's award for 'No. 1 Most Admired U.S. Airline' in March 2006)."

The representative from Continental just happened to be a finance controller for the technology department, so the fit was perfect.

Blaschke spent 10 weeks on various projects, including a major project titled the "real estate cost savings analysis." His job was to collect information such as square footage of Continental offices domestically and throughout the world, a total of nearly 100 facilities. He gathered rent figures, terms of leases, square footage, number of employees per office and number of vacancies. With that information he calculated the cost per square footage per employee at each location and offered suggestions on how each location could save money.

With one semester to go, Blaschke should have his MBA in December. He'll be a prime candidate for landing a job in the airline industry.

Eric Monaghan

Growing up, Eric Monaghan knew he was destined for a job in the airline industry. His father spent his career in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul side of the aviation business. Eric spent a considerable amount of time at airports and enjoyed hearing his father talk about aviation.

Originally from Iowa, Eric also lived in Kansas and Oklahoma. He graduated from Oklahoma State University, earning his B.S. degree in business management. He worked for two and a half years in the corporate office of Payless Shoe Source, and another two years for JC Penney Corp. before deciding to pursue his MBA degree at Baylor.

"I worked while my wife, Erin, went back to school to get her master's degree in Spanish," said Monaghan. "When she finished, we kind of switched roles, so I'm now in school full time and she's working for the Telemundo Spanish television affiliate in Waco."

After visiting the Baylor campus, sitting in on a class and talking with faculty members and students, Monaghan decided Baylor was the perfect fit.

With two semesters to go at Baylor, Monaghan spent 13 weeks at his internship with Continental in airport services finance, along with four interns from other schools.

"I had one major project that spanned 12 weeks, and I had a list of smaller projects that I'd work on in between the large project. They were real-world projects--things that really made an impact on the organization. I worked under the managing director of finance for airport services. It was a great opportunity for me. I learned a lot from him and was able to gain some good insights," said Monaghan.

He earned two round trip flights for every month he spent at Continental, so he and his wife were able to do a little traveling over the summer.

"I don't think I could find a better company or culture to work for that fits my personality," said Monaghan. "We're planning to meet in the next month or so and discuss the details of a job offer."

Thomas Nelson

A pilot with a commercial multi-engine instrument rating and about 350 hours of flying under his belt, Thomas Nelson said he's "always had a passion for aviation."

In July 2005, Nelson graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., majoring in aviation business administration and minoring in flight operations.

After graduation, Nelson decided to pursue an MBA, in order to develop a better background in general business practices to strengthen the set of skills to add to his aviation knowledge. "I was familiar with Baylor because my brother Timothy is in the undergraduate accounting program here--he's currently a senior at Baylor. I like the program, the small class size and the ability to communicate with my professors on a one-on-one basis, which a larger program could not provide."

Nelson initially made the internship connection through Southwest's career Web site. He also talked with Byron Blaschke to learn a little more about Southwest, as Byron had previously worked there. Nelson spent nine weeks in the financial planning department at Southwest.

"One of my major projects at Southwest was a detailed industry analysis, specifically looking at pilot rate comparisons--hard pay and soft pay, including benefits, retirement, vacation package--in preparation for the pilot negotiations coming up in September," said Nelson. "I also worked on an updated fuel-burn project for the Boeing 737-700 aircraft, as well as other projects that compared Southwest's forecast of projected earnings per share with analyst projections."

Nelson enjoyed what Southwest calls "non-revenue" flying privileges for its employees, taking trips to Orlando, Phoenix, Tulsa and California. As a private pilot, he says he tries to get out a couple of times a week, renting an airplane by the hour and flying out of McGregor Executive Airport, about 10 miles west of Waco.

With one semester to go at Baylor, Nelson plans to apply for a position at Southwest following graduation. After completion of a successful internship, Nelson is an excellent candidate for a position in the financial planning department.

"Southwest is exactly what everyone says it is--an absolute blast to work for. The culture is something you have to experience to truly grasp. You can read so many case studies about the people and how friendly everyone is, but it's hard to imagine until you've truly experienced it," said Nelson. "The halls of the headquarters are loaded with pictures of employees and the history of events throughout Southwest. They try to do everything with the customer in mind. Even in the finance department, the customer comes first. When you work there you definitely feel like you're part of a team and that people care about you."

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