C.L.

Good afternoon!

I graduated back inFebruary from Sheffield and I have to say, I couldn’t be more happy with what has come of my life since then. After doing the first two weeks of Sheffield’s program online, the three weeks I spent in Fort Lauderdale were probably the three toughest weeks of my academic career, both physically, and mentally. However, it was all worth it.

In the proceeding few months I received a handful of interviews, many of which started something along the lines of, “So you graduated from Sheffield? I graduated from them myself and so did the person you are replacing.” The Sheffield name has really open many doors, you guys were not joking around.

Being 21, trying to land a job in a SOC turned into a bit of a challenge. Trying to explain that I passed all the required tests necessary to be a dispatcher, but the FAA requires me to wait until I’m 23 to receive my license was hard to express in a line or two on a resume. That being said, the phrase, “dispatcher letter of competency” turned out to be a good talking point once I made it to the interview.

Shortly after graduating, I applied to a job posted on your job assistance page. I couple of days later I heard from their HR department, the day after that I had an interview over the phone, and the following I had a job offer. Not being 23, they’ve hired me as a crew scheduler. Going into getting my dispatch license, I knew this was probably the way I’d move up through the ranks so I wasn’t surprised or disappointed I’m completely alright with it too and I’m gaining a solid understanding of our operations. I can’t be more thankful for the way things have worked out.

They hired a dispatcher from some other school who had the same start date as me. One day, he was doing some initial training while I was working and I couldn’t help but chuckle in my head when he was asked about alternate mins and he admitted his school had never touched the subject (they aren’t important anyways 🙂 . A few weeks later, I also felt a little pride when he was being checked out by his supervisor and I was able to answer just about every question on his oral exam.

I now have a great job, doing something I love. I’m in a position where I have a dispatching position waiting for me once I turn 23 (on the other side of the room). I’ve also networked through my job and made some friends at xxxxxxx aka (major airline). Whether anything comes of this networking, I can only hope but it is my dream job to work in (the major airline’s) SOC so we’ll see what happens. I do know that none of this would have been possible without the education I received from Sheffield. I can’t thank you enough.

I hope all is good with you and the rest of the Sheffield community. I wish you the best, and I can’t thank you enough for providing me with education and the opportunities you did.

Sincerely,
C.L.