Role: Country Manager
Company: Emirates
Track Record: If you network well, you might end up landing the ultimate job
Life experience has been as important as education in getting Enda Corneille to this point in his career
Give a brief outline of your career to date.
Thirty years ago, in 1986, I responded to an ad in a newspaper and found myself joining Aer Lingus as a revenue accounts clerk. I was quite ambitious and worked my way up through the commercial organisation of the airline, holding a number of senior roles including that of commercial director. During this time I spent 10 years abroad gaining invaluable international experience in sales management positions in Zurich, Amsterdam and London. In 2012 I took up a new role as a global instructor at the International Air Transport Association in Geneva, completing teaching assignments with a number of airlines in Europe, the Middle East and China, before I was appointed Country Manager Ireland for Emirates in 2014.
What was your favourite subject at school?
I loved English and Latin equally.
Did you go on to further/ higher education, if so what did you study and where?
I did an MBA in Aviation Management in 2010 in the University of Limerick, some 26 years after I left school! A good education is vital, but I believe there is a lot to be said for gaining both work and life experience.
Is this what you always wanted to do?
When I started out, a career in sales probably wasn’t what I really wanted as I seemed to spend my first year counting tickets and often wondered if I was working in a tax office instead of an airline. However, when I actually moved into sales I knew I had found my vocation. In later years, while I really enjoyed teaching, nothing could substitute for the thrill of the sale; being a part of something dynamic and exciting; a make or break moment I guess you could call it. That’s the kind of exhilaration I get from my work and you just can’t beat it.
Were there any particular essential qualifications or experience needed?
I joined Emirates at a unique stage in the airline’s development in Ireland. The second daily operation would shortly commence within a few weeks and the challenge was to ensure that the success of the business heretofore was not only maintained, but that potential and substantial new opportunities could be realised. In this I was very fortunate to have a highly skilled and energised team and the continued success of Emirates in Ireland is down to the work of the team as a whole. Understanding that you can’t do everything yourself and that you need to surround yourself with good people is a much understated skill, but I think that it only comes with confidence and experience. For the role I am in as Country Manager for Emirates in Ireland, I think that whilst qualifications helped, my industry and management experience were essential and were what really mattered.
Are there alternative routes into the job?
I think there are many routes into both sales and senior management positions in the travel industry. Many people start off in telesales or counter reservations and work their way through the ranks to sales executive, sales manager and perhaps onto county manager. From my perspective, in the past I have appointed a former soldier, a shoe salesman, cabin crew attendant and even a former undertaker. It’s really about a positive, can-do attitude and I hark back to the one thing you just can’t buy — experience.
What are the main personal skills your job requires?
Good organisation, communication and problem-solving skills are really important as the role is so varied. In a large organisation such as Emirates, the ability to build relationships laterally and cross departmentally is also especially important. However, I believe an ability to get on with people and understanding their point of view, allied to a passion for good customer service will take you a long way in this industry.
What does a typical day entail?
At the end of the day I am measured on the profitability of the Irish route out of Dublin, so all my actions need to be geared around this objective. This could mean time spent reviewing performance with the sales team and our travel trade partners, as well as planning future sales or corporate events. With Emirates f lying to so many destinations, a lot of time is spent focusing on individual route performance and advance bookings and this largely informs much of what we do on the promotional side. With a First Class and Business Class product, I also spend considerable time working with our corporate customers and their nominated travel agents in driving this key segment. Of course I do spend some time in Dubai, which is Emirates’ hub and I often have to speak at industry events or indeed to students who might be interested in a career in travel, aviation or hospitality.
What are the best and most challenging aspects of the job?
Seeing our team succeed is the best part of the job for me. Emirates was recently voted ‘Best Airline’ and ‘Best Business Class’ in Ireland and this is a huge validation from our travel partners for the efforts of the entire Irish team — Sales, Cargo and Airport Operations. The main challenge of the job is ensuring we remain as hungry as ever for new business and that we never grow complacent in this market.
Why is what you do important?
We fill almost all 22,000 available seats on the Dublin route every month and our customers come to us from all walks of life and from North and South, with a wide variety of reasons for their trip. Connecting people is what we do and that’s not just important, it’s essential.
What advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
My advice would be to dive in. It is a remarkable industry to be involved in and highly rewarding. I’m not sure I could have predicted where I would have ended up when I first started out, but the aviation industry has provided me with tremendous opportunities to work in interesting roles, with great people, in different places and to have great fun along the way.
If you could go back, what is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself on your first day?
Take your time, ask more questions and listen harder to the answers. Enjoy the freedom of being a junior member of the team. When you are promoted and have the responsibility of staff, everything changes.
And finally, the key to any successful job search?
The key to any successful job search is understanding that finding a job is a full-time job in itself. Some believe that all you have to do is to write the best CV ever, send it to all the recruitment companies in the world, and let the job offers f lood in as prospective employers are dazzled by your experience. I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. Don’t get me wrong, you still need the best CV, but you should also invest significant time in developing and cultivating your network — people you know or who know you; people you may have done business with in the past or maybe people who you have worked with. LinkedIn and similar sites can help, but nothing is as effective as an old fashioned chat over a cup of coffee. Letting people know you are looking for the next big thing (without sounding desperate) could yield unexpected results. If you network and network well, you never know who you might meet or how that encounter might land you the ultimate job.