How My Co-op Launched My Career

Despite a late night and early morning repeating my elevator pitch and practicing my corporate smile, my stomach was still knotted. For weeks, my professors, advisors and collegiate organizations emphasized the importance of securing a job at the Career Fair. As a junior looking for an internship, this was make-or-break time.

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American Airlines wasn’t on the list of companies I was interested in, but a last-minute change of heart told me to stop by their booth. Before getting in their line, I stepped out of the throng of over-caffeinated and job hungry students into a deserted stairwell at Gallagher-Iba Arena for a quick Google search of the company. After emerging from the stairwell, I met the American Airlines recruiter who shared about a seven-month Technical Operations co-op (a co-operative educational experience, as opposed to an internship) that works as a partnership between the company and universities to provide a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. The program allows students to experience “real-life” as an employee and the company to vet students for future hiring – it’s specifically designed for students pursuing careers in Engineering, Aviation Management, and Business Analytics. Other benefits of the program include salary pay, vacation accrual, and yes, flight privileges. The Tech Ops facilities with co-op positions include Fort Worth, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Everything about the co-op sounded great…except the whole taking a semester off from school thing. As any other college student, I wanted to graduate as soon as possible, not add more time to my sentence. I was still on the fence when I received a call to schedule an interview and although I agreed, my mind was already made up this wasn’t something I was ready to commit to. The comfortable and natural conversation I had with my interviewers, and the job offer I received shortly after, only made my decision more difficult. As a lifelong overthinker, I resorted to the tried-and-true decision-making tool: a pro and con list. It’s a big step to put school on hold to move to large city away from family and friends. Not only that, but I needed to see how leaving school short term would affect my current living situation, the rest of my course schedule, and even my financial aid. On the other hand, fully immersing myself into an aviation focused field with a reputable company could very well set the path for my future career. After discussing my options with family, my college advisor, and financial aid advisors, I had changed my mind. I was actually going to do this thing.

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Despite my original unease of the nature of the co-op, I grew to appreciate the uniqueness of the opportunity. Although the process can be overwhelming, Stephanie Phillips, the amazing Co-op Program Manager, makes the process a breeze. She and the co-op management team will reach out before you move to your assigned location and happily help with your preparation tasks. They’ll send out a list of potential housing options in the area and can even arrange a day trip for in-person apartment hunting.

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Now the fun part! Your first week of work will include co-op orientation, meeting the VP, directors, your assigned team, mentor, and fellow co-ops. You’ll spend the beginning of your term taking the necessary trainings to set you up for success. Once you get settled in, the program encourages you to make the most of your experience. You can participate in volunteer opportunities, take a business trip, join an Employee Business Resource Group (EBRG), and shadow other departments for a day. At the end of your term, you get to present to company executives what you accomplished during your time.

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One of the satisfying things about American’s program is that your projects can have a significant impact on the company. This isn’t seven months of busy work. Engineering students typically create and author Engineering Authorizations or Engineering Orders, documents that provide instructions to repair, modify, or alter aircraft. Aviation Management students generally provide oversight of the airlines maintenance operation through managing the configuration of our aircraft, evaluating systems, and publishing aircraft manuals, whereas Business Analytics students analyze the performance of the airline on delays, cancellations, and operation readiness. In the 787 Fleet Engineering group I was in, I worked on projects to improve the reliability of aircraft components to avoid unnecessary delays.

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I left American seven months later with valuable on-the-job training, professional skills, and 40,000 travel miles under my belt. I learned things that simply cannot be taught in the classroom. As a female in a male dominated field, I glimpsed what that looked like in the corporate world. Leaving American to go back to school was bittersweet. On one hand I was happy to be back around friends in the college atmosphere, but on the other hand, I enjoyed the adult freedom of the corporate world.

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Given the opportunity, many co-ops return for a second rotation or extend their term to work part-time during the school year. Fortunately, I got the option to return to American in 2021 - a semester before I graduated. For my second term I worked in a different group. This allows students to experience other facets of the Tech Ops Organization, similar to rotational programs other companies implement. In this group, my work shifted to dispositioning aircraft issues within an hour. I enjoyed the fast pace and wide variety of projects I worked on and knew I could see myself on this team long-term. Through the relationships I formed as a co-op, I secured an interview and full-time offer with this group, but I’m not the only one. Approximately 81 percent of current/previous co-ops receive and accept full-time positions (2023).

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The co-op program helped prepare me for my career at American by giving me the latitude to observe, practice, and improve on professional skills that set the tone for my corporate character. Not only that, but I was also able to familiarize myself with aviation lingo, detailed aircraft anatomy, federal regulations, office etiquette, effective communication skills, networking, and giving/receiving productive feedback. Fast forward to my graduation, I found myself packing up my apartment to make another trip to Fort Worth, this time to start my full-time position at American as an Airframe Engineer in the Engineering Support Center. The launch of my career in this field was no doubt elevated by my co-op experience and I’m honored to have been a part of the program!