Going global to fill job vacancies

Going global to fill job vacancies

Travel companies are searching on the other side of the world in their huntfor the right staff. Lisa James reports

WE’VE all heard travel agencies lamenting the fact they are finding it increasingly difficult to fill job vacancies with the right sort of candidate for the post.

Despite the fact there is a college or university offering a travel and tourism course in almost every town these days, bosses still complain that job applicants don’t have the right kind or enough experience.

This is particularly true in the business travel industry, although the leisure side is also affected by the shortage.

Recently, travel companies have been looking further afield than the UK to fill these job vacancies, and Australia is the first port of call. It’s estimated that more than 250,000 young Aussies come to the UK on working visas each year. Other key markets being targeted are New Zealand, South Africa and the US.

Several UK recruitment agencies have linked up with their counterparts Down Under to make the search easier.

Henry Bath Appointments, for example, has formed a partnership with Travel Manager, Australia’s largest recruitment company.

Director Andy Cole said: “We have found jobs for a lot of people coming over from Australia on two or three-year working permits. Usually they work as temps, but sometimes they are put on a long-term temporary contract.”

He added: “They are generally good fun, hard workers and usually experienced.”

Cole added: “It’s still only a small part of our total business but it is definitely growing.”

Henry Bath has formed another partnership in the USwith firm Travel Management Personnel, and is in the process of setting up a global recruitment website called traveljobs.com available for people in UK, US and Australasia looking for jobs outside their native countries.

C&M Recruitment director Angus Chisholm said: “A lot of temps on our books are Australasians or South Africans who are here on either two-year working visas or four-year ancestral visas. The reservations systems and ticketing processes are global, so it’s easy for them to come in and grasp the job.

Currently, only one recruitment company, AA Appointments, has its own dedicated offices over in Australia.

The company, the UK’s biggest travel recruitment agency, has offices in Sydney and Melbourne and is due to open a third in Brisbane within the next few weeks.

AA Appointments managing director Theresa Dempsey said: “Yes, there is a shortage of suitable candidates in the UK for some positions and we do look overseas to fill these vacancies. Some of the other recruitment companies have partnerships over there, but we are the only one that has our own offices.”

AA Appointments opened its first Australian office, in Sydney, in February 1999. The second opened in Melbourne two years later. “It means we have better control and a greater say in the candidates we put forward for jobs,” Dempsey said.

As a temporary member of staff working in the UK, overseas employees are entitled to the same benefits as native workers. These include three weeks’ holiday each year after 13 weeks’ continual work with the same agency. From November 23, temporary staff will be entitled to four weeks’ holiday a year.

Hunting ground: recruitment agencies have linked up with their counterparts in Australia to fill vacancies in the UK