Travel students struggle to find jobs
Travel and tourism students are unable to get jobs after leaving college claiming the market is saturated.
They say they are too old for apprenticeships run by the larger tour operators while specialist tour operators and graduate schemes expect them to come with experience.
Nikki Broadway, 21, a travel and tourism student in Worcestershire said she had applied for more than 30 jobs.
She said: "The college students in my year are mostly working in hospitality, mainly as waitresses.
"I’ve generally found that the only employers that would take a college leaver are Thomas Cook or Thomson, but as they have their own apprenticeship schemes they don’t have much need for it.
"Based on the advertisements I’ve seen though, specialist travel agents and tour operators only ever want people with experience, which seems a shame as a college leaver like myself would expect minimum wage, can learn fast and be moulded to what they might want."
ABTA said that it is hoping to carry out research to see if the market is saturated but added that there was no evidence at the moment to say so.
Business development manager at ABTA, Vicky Wolf, said: "We don’t have the statistics. We’re looking at doing some research on whether it’s a saturated market or not. It’s difficult for young college students coming into the industry.
"Some don’t want to move geographically and sometimes the starting salaries aren’t good but if you have the determination, you move very fast. There are some great examples of how people have moved up. ABTA chairman John McEwan was an apprentice."
She added there were a number of ways students can try to differentiate themselves from completing free online training modules to working as holiday reps.
- Highlight your relevant experience on your CV – any customer service or sales experience
- Complete free online training using sites like Travel Uni or Online Travel Training and get certificates in destination knowledge
- If you are targeting a specialist company, learn about the products they specialise in
- Use ABTA’s online training to get an overview of financial protection or sustainable travel
- Manage expectations by using www.uksp.co.uk to search travel careers, apprenticeship schemes and case studies
Click here to read Nikki’s blog
Diane
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