Careers: What it's like to work for ... Virgin Atlantic

The airline's chairman is Sir Richard Branson; my boss in Hong Kong is Florian Preuss, general manager, while Virgin's head of Asia-Pacific is Mackenzie Grant.

How many staff in marketing?

Total of three, including myself. It is a small but very productive team.

Marketing responsibilities?

As we're a very small team, my job covers the full corporate/marketing communications mix, including brand management, PR, advertising (ATL and BTL), special events/sales promotions/loyalty programme, etc. Then there are the odd jobs, from printing name card and stationery items, to proofreading inflight menus. These are all done by our little department. It's a lot of variety and absolutely fun. Sometimes, we're just thrown into the deep end and have to learn a lot in a very short time.

Who's the competition?

I don't really think of other airlines as competition since it's like comparing apples to oranges. Virgin is a small, niche airline compared with the giants. However, we have successfully positioned our brand and services to meet the demands of a lot of air travellers. I think we always aspire towards quality and value and in doing so have hopefully set a higher standard each time.

How do you get a job at Virgin?

Through classified ads in the papers. I saw a Virgin Atlantic recruitment ad for a marketing manager, so I sent in my CV, went to the interview and got the job.

Are department or office transfers possible?

Yes, there are opportunities open in different markets, especially when we have new route launches.

Any training offered?

Yes, Virgin Atlantic constantly offers training - from team spirit motivation to IT technical training to meet the different needs of our staff. There was a training called 'Service First' last summer for every member of staff throughout the network.

Pay and perks?

We have 13 months' pay. Increments are determined according to the whole airline's performance. I think pay is important, but more important to me is job satisfaction - which Virgin obviously offers.

Long hours?

9am to 5:30pm - but when we have campaigns and/or special events, it can be much later.

Business travel?

Yes, I go to the UK between two to five times a year for meetings and training. I also travel to Tokyo and, more recently, Sydney.

Angelina Wong is PR and marketing manager of Virgin Atlantic Airways.