What's life like at the Frankfurt Office as a working student?

Freshly graduated from high school, my life was about to change as I had just been accepted to Worms University of Applied Sciences in the bachelor's course of Aviation Management. As the name suggests, I was just about to be introduced to the extraordinary world of aviation and what this peculiar industry includes.

My first year was…eventful, to say the least. After all, not only had I just moved out of my sweet home country Bulgaria to the wonderous Bundesrepublik Deutschland; not only had I just said goodbye to all my closest friends, family and most importantly my pet kitty, but I was also now starting the new phase of my life called “university”. I had to learn how to live in a whole new country, how to comfortably speak in another language, how to make new friends, and overall…how to handle everything myself. Nevertheless, many, many lectures and general life lessons later, I was officially a second-year student. And that’s when adventure truly started.

For a bit of a backstory, I had made a deal with my parents to officially start working at the 2-year mark in uni and get a sense of financial responsibility. I had already had several internships within the new-to-me aviation industry; however, nothing prepared me for the challenge that was the German job market…I’m going to spare you all the unnecessary details, and I’ll jump directly to the key point. The light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be the dear Deniz Sazak, the team lead of SunExpress’s business psychologists. During my first year, Mrs. Sazak had an incredible guest lecture on Aviation Psychology at our university, which introduced me to SunExpress Airlines. What Mrs. Sazak probably doesn’t know is that this very guest lecture was the push I needed and is truly what kept me motivated throughout the rest of my studies. Therefore, that was the moment I decided SunExpress was on my employment bucket list.

Spoiler alert, I eventually did get in SunExpress, but funnily enough, it wasn’t after the first time that I applied. Two months later is when my actual career story starts. I was invited to an interview by none other than Mrs. Mirjana Colic-Yavuz, who was in search of an HR working student to assist her in her daily tasks. From that moment on, Jana became my mentor – my first “boss”, while also my first friend in SunExpress. Nonetheless, I was terrified – first job, new responsibilities, new people… That changed very quickly, however. The main thing I love about SunExpress is the people. Everybody was so welcoming, so positive, and I immediately felt in the right place. Regardless of department, position, work experience, or even age, every new colleague I met was happy to talk to me and treated me as if we had already been friends beforehand. Here is the moment I also give the most important of shout-outs to the rest of the FRASUN interns and working students. They are the ones that truly made me feel like a part of a small family – always together as if we were the children of a family gathering, seated at the kids’ table. Thank you all <3

Anyway, back to the present!

Two years, three different departments, liters of Turkish tea, a Bachelor degree and countless Antalya trips later, I am now a Junior analyst Revenue management in (you guessed it) SunExpress. Quite the career change, I know, but what can I say – I like trying out different things. I had studied Revenue Management back in university, but never did I ever think I’d end up actually working it.

I switched to the department a bit more than a year ago as an intern and managed to later apply as a full-time employee. As I said, it was a harsh jump from HR, but thanks to my team, especially Eva Herbert, Lea Marie Burghardt, Matijs Michelmann, and Matthias Al-Ishaki (special shout-out also to Jule Hein and Patrick Rujak), I managed to get used to the differences and start thinking like a revenue analyst. More importantly, the whole team is the main reason I decided to apply as a candidate. I love the team spirit, I love the everyday conversations, I always feel comfortable asking for help, and all in all, I enjoy the people – they are what makes me want to work harder and improve as much as possible.

I can go on and on about my life for quite a while, so let’s sum it up. If there’s one thing SunExpress has continued to teach me, it's that everything is possible. It doesn’t matter who you are, how old you are, where you come from, what you like to do for fun, how much experience you have, or if you still don’t know exactly where you’re headed. You can do anything and everything. Even and especially if you’re scared! Feeling scared means you care about it – it means you want it. So if it makes you scared, go for it!

Try this, switch to that, move to there…it doesn’t matter as long as you believe in yourself and you have the right people by your side. (Fun fact, the moment I switched to the RM department, there was one question everybody asked me: “So what do you like more – HR or Revenue?”, to which I always answered: “It’s as if you want to compare apples and oranges”. I liked the work in both departments, but what made them both special were the people. :) ) 

So hi! I’m Ilina :) I’m 23 years old, and I’m from Bulgaria. I like to dance, listen to music, and rewatch my favorite movies. I moved out to Germany when I was 19, not knowing how my life was going to develop. But here I am, living in Frankfurt, working in my bucket-list company, having the time of my life :)