hi, I have always been interested in Travel and all my friends come to me for advice when choosing a holiday. I have been a staff nurse since 1990 but my heart is not really in it now as we are so short staffed and it has become very stressful. Anyway, I decided to do something about it and started doing a home study course - Certificate in Travel (ABTAC). After the course is completed you go on and sit a 3 hour exam(primary level). If you pass this, you can go on and do the Advanced course then go on and sit the Advanced Exam. I passed both papers in the primary course exam (with Merit) which meant I got a mark of between 80 and 89%. I was really surprised to get this mark, but obviously very pleased. I have now finished the Advanced course and am due to sit the Advanced exam on March 8th. What I was wondering was, can anyone can give me advice on how I go about actually getting a job in the Travel Industry. Obviously I don't have any experience of working in a travel Agents yet but feel I do have a lot to offer. I got good marks in my exams so obviously there is not a problem with my geography and the Travel industry in general, but ofcourse I have not had any hands on experience. I have seen courses advertised for 17-24 year olds but nothing for the more mature person wanting to start working in the Travel business. as I said, I feel I do have a lot to offer as I have travelled extensively and am used with working with the general public with my nursing, and before that I always worked in shops. But, I don't really know what to do now? Can anyone advise me on what is the best thing to do. I am 46 years old so the sooner the better I get my foot in the door. Does anyone know of any travel Agents who have taken on people who have done this course. Also, do you think my age would be a problem? Would most agencies prefer to take on younger people and train them from scratch? If anyone can help me and give me some advice then I would really appreciate hearing from you. Thanks in advance, Maryjo

Hi my wife went to technical collage and did a coarse on travel and tourism.
She was there 2 or 3 years she also worked at the same time as collage.
After that it was a case of applying for jobs at travel agents.She now works from home.If i were you i would go round the TA and see what they said.I think you learn more doing the actual job.
Best of luck.

kmba

How about working from home but with the backing of Co-op Travel.Not sure of the full details but theres no harm in giving them a call to see whats what.

http://www.futuretravelrecruitment.co.uk/

Hi MaryJo

I moved into Travel at the tender age of 40 following redundancy from a Building Society. Like you I was always the one that people came to for travel advise and loved arranging holidays for family and friends.

My way in was a course at my local college - NVQ II Travel Services. They had all the contacts and would arrange open days to meet local travel agency managers. It was a full time one year course arranged around the school day for people with childcare committments (such as me)

I actually left before the course ended as I'd been offered a job as a Travel Sales Consultant with Thomas Cook.

It was the best move I'd made and only wish I'd done it sooner. It is very target focused and sales driven, but the main quality in sales is the ability to interact with people from all walks of life, and with your experience, you've certainly got that - also a passion for travel is another must - something else you've got!

Go for it - have a look at http://www.ttglive.com Apply to Thomas Cook, they know the benefits of a more mature person, they acknowledged my previous experience and I didn't even start at the bottom either!

Good luck!

MaryJo

Like totp I also moved into travel in my 40s. Like you I thoroughly enjoyed researching holidays, and thought if i could get paid for doing this welll that would be wonderful. I was ecstatic when I was offered the job, it was a dream for me.

I LOVE the job, however despite my asking at the interview, whether there is pressure to sell (I had been in a hard sell job before and it is just not for me) I was assured that it wasn't. Sadly things have changed since then as times are very quiet in the travel industry, as more and more people are booking on line or on line direct with Tour Operator websites. Things are not as good as they should be and I am sorry to say the pressure to sell is now really on, and I do NOT enjoy that at all. We are now being told we have to be aggressive in our sales. I am just not comfortable with this. I never have been and never will be, an aggressive sales person. This is very sad as I now think I will have to look for another job.

The message we are getting is nobody should be leaving the shop without booking a holiday. This is very difficult nowadays as most people are switched on to shopping around. People come into the shop asking for a price, when you give them the price they then turn round and tell you it is £300 cheaper on the internet, In alot of the cases we cannot even match that as the shop would actually make a loss if we sold it at that price.
The other downside is you can spend hours on a single case, fine tuning everything for the customer, only to be told when you do your chase up calls (yes there are plenty of those as well) that they have booked on line or at a different travel agent. I think nowadays people use the travel agent as a reference library, to get their supply of brochures, or a reference centre, to get as much info from you as possible so they can then go and book it themselves. Who can blame then though. I do the same myself. I do all my big purchases on line.

I hope I have not put you off but just wanted to let you know what it is like just now. I have not got any travel related qualifications. I do pride myself though on excellent customer service skills, and my promise that if I say I will do something, I will do it to the very best of my ability.

I also found it hard to find out what salaries were like before I joined. Not surprising that it is a very lowly paid job as well. I (naively) thought you made money on all the holidays you sell but that is not the case. For example this week I sold a holiday that made over £1000 profit for my shop and I have not earned one penny for that.

I too thought about homeworking, but have read a few negatives re that in the weekly Travel Trade Gazette and Travel Weekly publications.
The travel market is very unsettled just now.

Oh dear I have just read this back and it sounds all doom and gloom. It really is a very interesting job, but alot will depend on how comfortable you are with the hard push on the selling.

Hope this helps

I would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who has answered my query. I am going now to look at the websites you have given me and see what info or advice I get there. I realise that the travel business, especially on the high street is not as safe as it was with more people booking online etc. but I have to give it my best shot. I will not give up nursing completely so I may do the odd agency shift, just to keep my skills up, but it is definately the travel business I want to concentrate on. The thought of working from home sounds very appealing too but ofcourse I would need to get some experience behind me before I went down that road. Once again Thanks for all your advice. It is very much appreciated. Cheers,

Maryjo

Here is a link for "homeworkers" http://www.futuretravelrecruitment.co.uk/Default.asp

I got this web address from the weekly Travel Trade Gazette which features job advertisements weekly.

PS Edited post to say.......
Too early in the morning!!!!! I realise somebody else posted this link above!!!!! Sorry

Hiya Iam a 22yr old university student studying for a degree in business managment. I will graduate in july next year. I am very interested in the Thomas Cook graduate scheme but obviously cant apply until next year. In the meantime I would love to gain some hands on experience and have from june to september off uni. Any ideas if any of the travel agents/tour ops do any sort of work experience or paid student placements for people like me? I have 6yrs experience in customer service and have completed a lot of customer service training. I feel the experience would greatly benefit me and my CV!

Hi Stace

I got my 'hands on' experience during an unpaid placement during the summer whilst I was at College. Although it was unpaid, it was extremeley beneficial to me and in fact I had a choice of jobs so it clearly enhanced my prospects.

hiya, cheers for the reply. How did you go about getting the placement? Shall I just write to the travel agents in my area and beg for a position! or is it better to go straight to the head offices? Obviously paid work would be ideal but I need the experience so would have to keep my other job part time. thanks again.

Hi Stace

I got my placement through College.

I would suggest you ask your Uni for assistance in arranging an industry placement.

Good Luck

Hi I too wouild love to get some "hands on" experience too working in a travel agency. As I have said in my previous posts about having passed the courses, does anyone know if any travel agents would let me get some experience from them by allowing me to maybe get some training from them by doing some voluntary work in their shop, maybe a couple of hours a couple of times a week? As I did my courses through home-study I would not be able to get a placement through a college or uni like you said. If anyone knows of any agents who would be willing to give me some training(e.g. using the booking systems etc.) then I would be grateful for any info. Also wondered if anyone knew of any e-mail contact addresses of any companies I could contact about finding work with them. I just want to get in contact with them to see if they think I would have a future with them and see if they would be willing to take someone like me on. I live in West Lothian in Scotland so any around that area would be perfect (or head office contact addresses would be good too). Thanks again, Maryjo

Thanks 'totp' I will definately ask at uni anyway but all our placements are arranged online through a company called 'graduate advantage' who have no placments in the tourism industry at the moment. My university unfortuantely doesnt offer a travel and tourism course so are not too well equipped in this particular industry. However I am definately going to perservere and will probably end up approaching the companies myself or applying for any part time vacancies that are available. Thanks again and good luck with your search 'maryjo'

Hello Puddleduck,
I wanted to know if you did get a job within the travel industry and if so was it hard to get there? as i am thinking about doing the same thing.I sent off for an information pack from Dove Travel Brokerage who wants me to send them £400 which is a registration fee im not to sure as i've never heard of them.What would you do? Meggy

Hi there, I hadn't worked in Travel at all but my partner had, a couple of years ago we set up http://www.inscapetravel.com as an online travel agent. I have a technical background and so to bring me up to speed studied in my own time a course provided by http://www.ttctraining.co.uk it was only a couple of hundred pounds and they provided a great deal of written material covering every aspect of the industry. I haven't sat any exams as yet, but the material was certainly a great investment.

- i was an agent on my 16th birthday and spend 4 years in the uk, followed by two overseas.

Have been some amazing places in my time too but it is no way like it used to be, incentives are a lot less to the agent now, higher to the company as profit.

Good luck to everyone applying though!