Agencies look outside profession to recruit talent

RECRUITMENT trends
are changing, with
retail travel agencies
changing tactics in order to
find and employ competent
travel consultants who
don’t necessarily have a
qualification in travel or
tourism or experience in the
field.
Megan Vorster, hr manager
of Flight Centre, says over
the past 10 years there
have been many changes in
the recruitment landscape –
generational, technological,
demographic and economic.
But the most important
change, she says, is that
there is a clear scarcity of
skills in the market. “We
are all fighting for the same
talent, so this has driven
us to change the strategies
we use to attract and retain
good-quality employees.”
One strategy is to
look outside the travel
industry, especially when
it comes to recruiting
leisure consultants, as this
broadens the talent pool,
Megan says. She says
skills that are critical for a
leisure consultant are the
ability to sell, to be service
orientated, passionate about
travel and the customer
experience, self-driven and
motivated. All these skills
can be found outside the
travel industry. She adds
that Flight Centre has a
comprehensive training
programme in place to train
potential consultants on
other travel-specific skills.
Fiona Liebenberg, head
of People Division at Big
Ambitions, agrees and
says there are a number of
successful business process
outsourcing companies
that operate customer
service and sales hotlines
for large businesses like
Vodacom or MTN. These call
centre agents have proven
crossover skills, as they
receive good training and are
used to working with targets.
She adds that recruitment
agents who appreciate the
importance of relationship
building have also been
known to transfer well into
travel agencies. Hairdressers
and beauticians, who rely
on referrals and who must
understand a customer’s
needs in full, also make
good travel consultants, she
says.
Today’s customer is more
demanding of a personal,
bespoke service and so
a number of agents are
looking for candidates
who are able to provide
this and simply need to
learn the product and
systems, Fiona says. “I
have definitely seen an
increase in agencies willing
to look outside the industry
for this type of talent and
I have had great success
myself in recruiting, training
and managing non-industry
people. It is important to
note that without a very
good induction training
programme, the non-travel
agent recruits will not fulfil
their potential.”
However, Kim Botti,
director at Lee Botti &
Associates, says although
there are incontestable
advantages, there are also
some pitfalls associated
with hiring people from
outside the industry.
“Recruiting consultants
from outside the industry
is a fresh approach to
attracting potential achievers
to the industry, but this
approach is also associated
with high training costs
and a lower success rate
for these individuals to
remain in the industry after
completing their training.”
She adds that someone
who has completed a travel
qualification often has a
more realistic view of what
the industry offers and the
job entails.
Claire Rushworth, hr
manager of Club Travel,
agrees: “The benefits are
that they bring new ideas
and ways of doing things to
the table but the challenges
are for them to grasp what
is an ever-changing and
complex industry.” She
says candidates need to be
passionate about travel and
dealing with people. As long
as candidates have the right
attitude, the technical side
can be trained, she says.
Geraldine Boshoff,
marketing manager of
Sure Travel, says although
there are a number of clear
advantages to bringing
people from outside, such
as a new and refreshing
mindset and different
set of skills, Sure Travel
generally prefers consultants
with prior travel agency
experience coupled with
qualifications in fares,
ticketing and GDS. “New
entrants to the travel
industry should at least
have a travel diploma.”
Tammy Hunt, eTravel’s
operations director, agrees
that a solid travel education
is invaluable. “Travel is a
specialised industry and,
to be an effective travel
manager, you require
extensive knowledge in
travel. There are some
positions that could be filled
by external parties, however
I believe it would be far
more beneficial to the travel
companies and the industry
in general if proper care was
taken in developing within
the company and growing
travel experts into expert
managers.”
The key to finding
consultants with the
right knowledge and the
right skills, says Kim, is
to find individuals who
have completed a travel
qualification and are
proficient in either Galileo
or Amadeus and who have
relevant practical work
experience.
Unfortunately, this is
exactly where the problem
lies in the travel industry.
“We have noticed a decline
in agencies taking on
trainees, with only a handful
of companies involved in
this approach, which is
essential for the future
of the industry. This has
resulted in a massive skills
shortage of intermediate
and senior consultants.
“While we acknowledge the
cost and time implications
of training staff from
scratch, it is essential that
we keep our employee pool
large to ensure we can
maintain our service. It is
concerning that the industry
could shrink due to the
inability to service accounts
due to a lack of competent
resources,” she says.