15 December 2023

Life as a Graduate – Sophia Akbari

We continue to explore the experiences of TUI's airline graduates: This time, we speak with Sophia Akbari, who's currently immersing herself in her initial role as part of the Innovation and Digitalisation – Ground Ops team. Before joining TUI, Sophia pursued a four-year bachelor's degree in Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham. During her academic journey, she seized the opportunity to spend a year abroad, where she lived and worked in both Paris, France, and Munich, Germany. This immersive experience served as the initial spark for her interest in the travel and tourism industry.

Read on to find out what Sophia has been up to in her first two months…

Sophia's adventure commenced in Hanover with an enlightening induction week alongside her fellow graduates. Her schedule was filled with eye-opening tours of Hanover Airport and the impressive new TUI Campus. Sophia fondly recalls this first week as “incredible week, filled with excitement and a strong sense of privilege to be part of such an intriguing business with warm and welcoming colleagues. Meeting my fellow graduates most definitely helped me calm my initial nerves, and I loved how diverse yet similar we all were.”

In the following week, Sophia deep-dived into her first assignment with the Innovation & Digitalisation team in Ground Operations. Here, she's focusing on exploring the latest trends in innovation and digitalisation to identify opportunities that align with Ground Operations' strategic objectives. Given her keen interest in technology, she's very much enjoying her work, researching new technology prospects for the team and contributing to their strategic goals.

Week three brought her to Brussels, where she had the opportunity to shadow the ground operations team, specifically Station Operations Coordinators. During the week, she oversaw operations and ensured TUI planes at Brussels met their punctuality targets. She also assisted in addressing operational issues within the airline. Sophia found this experience fascinating and noted that it provided her with a behind-the-scenes view of airline operations.

What was particularly exciting for her was a trip in early November, where she and her fellow graduates attended the Senior Leadership Team Conference in Rhodes. During this event, she had the special opportunity to participate in her very first panel discussion. Sophia describes the experience at the SLT conference as “nothing short of amazing, filled with engaging conversations and valuable insights.”

When asked to sum up her journey so far, Sophia expressed, “Joining TUI has proven to be the best decision I've made. Despite only being at TUI for two months, I've been presented with incredible opportunities for both professional and personal growth. I'm thrilled about what the remainder of the International Graduate Program has in store. To anyone contemplating applying, I wholeheartedly recommend considering the International Graduate scheme at TUI.”