Ellen Polacsek, Property, Facilities and Commercial Analyst at Jetstar Airways

What is your Job?

My job is to manage buildings and facilities that our people work at all across Australia, New Zealand and our offshore bases – from our engineering hangars, line offices, crew rooms, airports offices, to our corporate head office here in Melbourne. This covers everything from making sure spaces are cleaned adequately to ensuring they feel like our Jetstar brand. As part of my role, we ensure facilities provide our frontline and back of house teams an environment that supports them in performing their roles, this involves working closely with numerous stakeholders across our business.

What does a normal day look like for you?

A normal day consists of attending meetings regarding current projects that we are running, ensuring our suppliers and builders are on track, we also need to keep local stakeholders including our Jetstar team, Airports and landlords up to date with our activities, this will usually include weekly/fortnightly site visits. I also track our property and facilities portfolio budget, expense and forecast, this includes processing invoices for suppliers. As a low-cost airline, I conduct analyses around gaining efficiencies and reducing property operational spend, these assist leadership teams in making strategic decisions.

What is your favourite part of the job?

I love that I get out into the action around our operation and can improve the workplace experience that our employees walk into every day.

How did you get to where you are today?

I started my aviation as a journey at the airport as a check-in and customer service agent, this gave me great operational foundations which allowed me to grow into more strategic roles. I joined Jetstar as part of their graduate program and quickly found my feet in Workforce Planning where I lead crew system implementation and improvements. A unique opportunity arose for me to expand into leading projects in the aviation property area, which I am thoroughly enjoying today.

What qualifications do you need to apply for your job?

Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Management, Business or Property related discipline.

 What character qualities do you think suit this position?

Strong stakeholder management, good communication skills and ability to work under pressure to deadlines.

What is involved in the training for your job or for the qualification you gained to get your job?

For this role there is a mix of on the job training, that you learn and pick up as you go, a formal education piece through university study of a bachelor’s degree, as well as strong analytical skills in programs like Excel and PowerBI.

If you could go back and give your younger self some advice, what would it be?

Follow your passion and things that genuinely interest you, the rest will fall into place.

What advice would you give younger girls wanting to start a career in Aviation?

Go for it, there is nothing you can’t do! It’s been the best choice I’ve made.