|
ALAMO RENT A CAR Inc.
|
"You cannot buy a solution for most of our business; therefore, much of our work is new development in new environments."
— Thomas Loane, VP, Computer and Communication Services
• IBM ES9000 • IDMS, COBOL, C++, PowerBuilder •
• Car rental • Large shop •
|
|
| |
|
Alamo Rent A Car is the largest independently-owned and operated car rental company in the United States. The company has the third largest fleet of vehicles. Alamo has 123 North American and 70 international locations. The company began with 1,000 cars at four locations in Florida in 1974.
The company is privately held, has revenues of $1.4 billion, employs 7,000 people, and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where its facility has won several design awards.
|
|
Technology
Alamo has an IBM ES9000, model 832, a parallel processor, as well as a wide variety of PCs, and dozens of Local Area Networks (LANs). Its Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transactions to travel agencies, airlines, hotels, and its own car rental locations are in computer reservation system (CRS) format. Software used includes the CA-IDMS database management system, COBOL, and CICS on the mainframe; with C, C++, and PowerBuilder on the PCs.
Job titles for Alamo's 150 computer professionals include Programmer/Analyst I, II, III; Team Leader; Manager; and Director. One of Alamo's chief projects is maintaining a seamless availability to Sabre, the travel industry's reservation system, which is an extremely high-volume transaction application in COBOL and CICS on the IBM mainframe, responding to an average of 100,000 queries a day. On a second project, staff members are developing and modifying a tool to project the profitability of a new account before it is sold and prepare a price quote. This system is being developed in COBOL and CICS on the IBM mainframe. On a third project, staff members are developing a fleet project plan in C++ and PowerBuilder on PCs.
|
|
|
Culture
Computer professionals work in cubicles in a nonsmoking environment. Office hours are 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, with a 45-hour workweek common. There is no overtime pay. Travel is limited to occasional trips to support corporate affiliates in Germany. Alamo offers its computer professionals the opportunity to work in a varied technical environment with the responsibility for developing new solutions to complex business applications.
Alamo observes nine holidays. Employees earn two weeks of vacation to start (prorated the first year), three weeks after 5 years and four weeks after 10 years. Sick leave can be converted to one week of vacation after the first year. The company pays for disability insurance and contributes to the cost of medical, dental, and life insurance plans. The company offers a 401(k) plan and provides incentive compensation tied to company profitability. Employees are entitled to discounts on car rentals.
For employees affected by layoffs, the company offered a defined number of weeks of pay determined by number of years with the company as well as outplacement assistance.
|
|
|
Candidates
Alamo looks for intelligent, creative problem-solvers with experience in high-volume, real-time transaction processing with the ability to work independently. Current staff members have an average of eight years of experience and Bachelor's degrees. Alamo does hire entry-level computer professionals and looks for candidates with degrees in Computer Science or Business and project-oriented courses in programming and database concepts.
Alamo is not currently hiring computer professionals. When hiring in the past, it typically added 24 staff members a year, finding candidates through college recruiting, advertisements, open houses, and employment agencies.
|
|
|
Contact
Letters are preferred.
Recruiting
Alamo Rent A Car, Inc.
P.O. Box 22776
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33335
www.goalamo.com
Copyright 1998. Carol L. Covin. Covin’s Southeast Computer Job Guide
|
| |
|
|
|
|