A homeworking company has taken the unusual step of allowing job applicants access to its live holiday enquiries in a bid to attract the right kind of staff.
Holidaysplease.co.uk, which specialises in the luxury long-haul market, currently has 25 homeworkers but says it could “occupy 50 tomorrow” because of soaring demand.
Director Charles Duncombe said the company’s selective recruitment process means it usually only takes on one or two agents out of every 50 applicants.
The new approach aims to ensure only the right kind of agents – those who believe they could convert Holidayplease’s current enquiries into sales – apply for a job.
“We are opening our doors to job applicants because we are looking for a select band of experts and want to make sure they are on the money,” he said.
He admitted rivals as well as potential applicants would be able to scan live enquiries waiting to be picked up by the company’s homeworkers but claimed it was a risk worth taking.
This information is usually only seen by the company’s homeworkers who look at requests online and choose those that best suit their product knowledge. Most requests are made online by consumers.
Duncombe said: “For a long time we have been struggling to keep up with demand and we have been frantically trying to recruit. So to entice potential recruits on board we are showing the world our enquiries.”
To avoid data protection or confidentiality issues, the company is not revealing customer details, just the basic booking details, including destination, dates and budget.
“It will hopefully show potential recruits the quality of our enquiries and they can see whether they would be able to convert those enquiries into bookings,” he added.