Periodically the news is riddled with stories about how the airlines are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Lately the focus of doom and gloom commentary has shifted to finance and insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean that the airlines are doing any better. There’s one company that is seemingly never in the conversation about struggling airlines – Southwest Airlines. If you’ve ever flown Southwest, you probably know why. They do things differently, and it makes flyers happy. Even though it seems like almost no one can succeed flying commercial routes, Southwest continues to impress. Air travel isn’t going anywhere – it’s too important to us, so forget about all the bad things that you hear about the airline industry, and start thinking about an internship at Southwest Airlines.
Honestly, I’ve never heard of a company cited in more case studies than Southwest is. When I was studying Human Resources in college, I swear that I heard about Southwest’s corporate culture every week. It must make the CEOs of other airlines sick to their stomachs. Just look at the honors Southwest has received recently:
And in case you aren’t already dreaming about working for Southwest, they also offer “FREE UNLIMITED space-available travel anywhere Southwest Airlines flies,” casual dress, and social events for and including interns. Oh yeah, and the internships are paid. You can find out more on their Internships page, which is part of a really informative, but simple and easy to navigate Careers site.
Southwest is already “booking” for Spring internships, and the deadlines are coming up fast. It’s not surprising that they have demand this far in advance. Some of the internships have application deadlines of 9/19/08, which is Friday, while others have deadlines of 10/1/08. They currently have 33 internships listed, and 30 of them are located at their headquarters in Dallas, TX (the others are in Chicago, IL; Nashville, TN; and Houston, TX).
We’re not going to link to every single internship at Southwest Airlines – you can find them all here, but here’s a list of areas that you can intern in: Occupational Safety, Marketing, People & Leadership Development, Internal Customer Care, Public Relations, Meteorology, Operational Safety, Purchasing, Maintenance Engineering, Materials Purchasing, Material Services, Product Development, Corporate Sales, Online Marketing, Promotions, Advertising, Flight Operations, Publications, Internal Audit, Legislative Communications, Charitable Giving, Community Relations, Dispatch, Culture Services, Standards an Regulatory Compliance, Ground Operations, and Emergency Programs. Wow.
Applying online for these internships is easy, so get to them before the deadlines pass. Thanks to Rob, a former Southwest intern, for tipping us off on these internships. He said that he’ll be willing to answer any questions about internships at Southwest Airlines in the comments, so fire away.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Have you flown Southwest? Did you LUV it?
Do I Know Anyone at Southwest Airlines? - Check LinkedIn | Check Facebook
Tags: advertising, auditing, communications, community development, customer service, engineering, flight, human resources, Illinois, Internships, leadership development, marketing, meteorology, operations, paid, product development, public relations, publishing, purchasing, safety, sales, Tennessee, Texas, transportation
Well written. I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Hi,
Do you know the contact information for the Human Resource? I am searching for it online, but have been unsuccessful. Who should I address the cover letter to?
Thank you!
Hi Jeannie,
I can’t seem to find any HR contact information from Southwest. I do know that a lot of people from Southwest have been visiting this post, so hopefully one of them will jump in.
I would recommend that you go with a general introduction like Dear Sir or Madam. Although maybe something a bit less formal would work well for Southwest’s culture.
Hi Rob,
How did you land the internship? I’m afraid there will too many apps and I might not get called? What should I do just wait or call the HR dept.? How is the interview process as well? Someone told me to contact the HR dept. but others say that would annoy them, which do you think?
SK, please visit my web page for my contact info if you still have questions.
I just got a note from Greg Muccio, who is in charge of Southwest’s Internship program, that Southwest has now posted their Summer positions.
Willy,
Where Did you see that they posted the summer positions? I cant find them anywhere. Thanks!
I heard through e-mail from the head of their Internship program. I didn’t actually see the internships posted. Are you having trouble finding them?
I can’t find any intern postings either..
Willy, I also went looking for the internships posted on the southwest site and couldn’t find them anywhere.
I think that this probably means that the internships have been filled and are no longer posted.
Rob,
I am very interested in an Accounting/Finance related summer internship. The summer internships with Southwest all looked like great opportunities and I applied for several of them back in November. Would you happen to know the best individual to follow up with? I really appreciate any help you can provide.
Jim Norton
From Greg Muccio at Southwest (he is having trouble posting comments):
Our summer postings actually closed on November 23rd and we are in the process of reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. Please be patient as we received over 3,000 resumes and we just want to be thorough.
We actually have a few late addition positions that are posted and will stay up until next week.
Our Fall postings should go up towards the end of February. Here is the link to the internship page:
http://www.southwest.com/careers/internships.html
Thanks and if you have any questions, please contact me at nolimits@wnco.com
Greg
Hi,
I am pretty sure there are no summer internship positions available, but are there any spots open for fall of 2009?
Thanks much,
Sarah
Hello!
Are internships available for January 2010?
Thank you!
Brittani
Are there summer 2010 internships this year? How far in advance should I apply, and is housing provided? Would love to know!
Erica
Just got another note from Greg Muccio at Southwest.
Here’s what he had to say:
Hey all–this is Greg from Southwest Airlines. Thanks so much for your interest in Southwest Airlines and thanks to Willy for putting together this great website to help students out there.
Our next opportunity for internships will be for summer 2010. We plan on posting them on our website the last week of October and they will remain open for the entire month of November. I don’t know how many spots yet as the requests are still coming in. Last summer we had 72 Interns in approximately 55 Departments. You will need to apply directly at http://www.southwest.com/careers/internships.html.
You can also keep up with us by becoming a fan at http://www.facebook.com/nolimitsinternship.
Lastly, feel free to contact me at nolimits@wnco.com.
Greg
So are the positions for summer 2010 filled? Is it too late to apply? and if so then when should I begin to apply for the fall 2010?
Hey, we are doing a project for a Human Resources class and found Southwest Airlines a good subject to study. Their successes, and what failures they may have. Anyone have any imput?
Hi,
I am very interested in interning with Southwest. However, I am from Alabama and my main concern is housing. Does Southwest provide interns with housing or is it up to the interns to find it themselves? If so, where do interns normally live and what is the general cost? Thank you!