“Shall I? Or should I not? On the one hand, I am longing for a significant change in my life…. On the other, I would give up a lot. But I‘d certainly also gain a lot…” these were the thoughts of Noémie Frischknecht, who had worked for us as a Lawyer for four and a half years – before she took a leap of faith and is currently training to become a Flight Attendant.
After several years of law studies, then passing the bar exam and working in two previous legal jobs, she started at SWISS in January 2018.This was the time right before the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into effect. Noémie had been entrusted with the creation and implementation of a Data Protection Management System within SWISS, which included designing processes, training business units and giving legal advice to SWISS management.
Change & courage
As much as she enjoyed this role and the additional tasks she got over the years, she felt that her time to move out of the Legal Department and into a new adventure had come. Thinking about her professional future, Noémie came to realize that she was ready to try something completely different: becoming a Flight Attendant.
Not only will she be able to continue supporting our company operationally in a difficult time, she will also be able to build additional and very valuable bridges between flying and ground staff. She is very excited to get to know our very core business firsthand and better understand our operations, a field that had always interested her.
Finally, yet importantly, she says it will be a great personal challenge.
For Noémie, this huge professional change means giving up the comfort of an office, regular working hours, a Lawyer’s salary and the conviviality of a stable long-term team. It means getting up in the middle of the night to work shifts. It means interacting with sometimes not-so-happy guests and it means downsizing her expenses; none of which she had ever done before. This step takes a lot of courage.
However, she’s looking forward to constantly meeting new people, working in changing teams with different backgrounds, waking up in different countries, trying exotic food, having new adventures and experiencing foreign cultures from a new perspective. All points for which a life change can certainly be worthwhile.
A very varied training
After four weeks of training, Noémie looks back on a very interesting and varied training which she enjoys a lot. When people think of Flight Attendants, they often associate us with service, she says. However, as our priority is safety and security, this is also where a large part of the training focuses on. Ditching, firefighting and security topics are part of the first few weeks. Medical knowledge, including the ability of performing CPR, is expected from every Flight Attendant, too. And of course, she concludes, the training also has us give wine recommendations to guests and know about our local products on board.
The best way to know yourself
Many of the above-mentioned aspects of training are totally new grounds for Noémie. While it can be a little intimidating to build up all this knowledge in a short period of time, it’s the novelty she was looking for. She’s a firm believer that regularly expanding our comfort zones and taking risks is the best way to know ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, and to actively work on them. It leads to continuous personal growth, and this, in her opinion, is a prerequisite for leadership.
That is why she is confident that this experience will get her closer to becoming the person and leader she strives to be. As of October 2022 you will meet her on board as a fully qualified Flight Attendant. Don‘t hesitate to come forward and say hello! Until then, follow her journey on Instagram @flyswiss.
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