Earning loyalty points

By MARK STORY

Eight years ago, Dina Heylen was a school leaver who landed a job as a travel consultant.

Now, at 28, she's a Flight Centre area manager responsible for 16 stores, proving, she says, that you don't need expensive tertiary training followed by successive job-hopping to achieve career success.

But considering how rare it is for school-leavers to successfully hitch their long-term fortunes to one employer, how did Heylen do it?

A self-confessed geek at high school, Heylen spoke no English when she migrated to New Zealand, at age 14, with her family from Belgium. She attributes her success to dumb luck.

Having concluded she wasn't smart enough for university, Heylen traded in seventh form halfway through to become a novice travel consultant with Flight Centre.

"Where I really lucked-out was hooking up with an organisation that's committed to developing its staff, within an industry that complements my people skills," says Heylen.

"There might be better qualified people around, but what makes me better suited for this role is the loyalty the company has earned."

Ironically, Heylen never planned a career in travel, it just happened. She claims her biggest break was stumbling across a company that let her pursue a career track, without prior training or experience.

"If you find a company that believes in promoting from within, your hard work and willingness to exceed expectations shouldn't go unrewarded," says Heylen.

"In addition to doing all the training on offer, it's important to show willing to company requests."

To school-leavers who plan to work rather than study, she advises that they don't take the first job that comes along.

To ensure they choose a company that offers a future, she urges them to do their homework by asking: If you claim to promote from within, can you prove it? What do you do for staff? If I give my all, what will you do for me in return? What sort of training do you provide? What are your philosophies and values?

With the university route unavailable to many, Jillian Paul, general manager of human resources with Progressive Enterprises, says it's important that school-leavers realise places such as Flight Centre exist where they can get paid to learn.

"Nothing's really changed, the opportunity to train and gain broad experience through one organisation still exists," says Paul.

"Years ago school-leavers targeted good training available within banks and insurance companies in the knowledge they'd either get poached or move on elsewhere.

"But today, universities are mistakenly saying you need this and that qualification to move on."

Paul believes the management trainee programmes Progressive Enterprises offers, together with the retail industry training organisation, and similar modern-day apprentice programmes, recognise that this approach appeals to the less academically gifted.

"It's a conscious attempt to identify, train and retain good people long-term."

Career consultant Lee Brodie doesn't discourage school-leavers from finding entry level roles if this is the pathway they choose. But, says the director of Career Dynamics, they'll have to do some extra work - especially if they want to avoid pre-set career ceilings later in life.

With progressively fewer companies promoting from within, Brodie says its important for school-leavers choosing to start on the bottom-rung not to rely on the organisation to provide all their training opportunities.

"Identify your own skills clearly.

"Find a mentor, and put your hand up for any opportunities promoting your development. Above all, there needs to be an alignment between what you want and what the company is offering."

But what happens when someone advances from the bottom-rung only to compete with better qualified people from outside the organisation for promotion?

In a market that reveres flexibility, tertiary qualifications and broad experiences, career consultant Anna de Valk suspects some prospective employers would interpret that the loyalty Heylen talks about as naivety and laziness.

"It's rare to start at the bottom [and work your way up], and I don't know of anyone under 35 who's done it," she says.

"Those who have made it without qualifications first have either relied on luck, come up through a trade or displayed strong entrepreneurial skills."

Interestingly enough, Heylen doubts if she'll work anywhere else but Flight Centre. But if she does, she'd like to think her CV would show she's been an exceptionally loyal employee.

Whether that loyalty counts for much in the wider world is something she's yet to discover.

Flight Centre

Progressive Enterprises Limited

Industry Training Federation of NZ