SEVERAL specialist tour operators will be on the lookout for UK-based and overseas staff at Travel ’99.
Simply Travel, Somak and Travelscene said they were all hoping to find suitable candidates for job vacancies within their businesses.
Short-haul specialist Simply Travel has identified a need for 120 overseas representatives for its summer 2000 programme. In addition, the operator needs to 105 overseas staff for its winter 1999/2000 ski programme.
Human resources manager Helen Awad said the London-based company, which is one of the few travel firms to gain a listing in a guide to Britain’s top employers, is also hoping to recruit a selection of UK-based staff.
“We will be looking for people who have a real interest in travel,” added Awad.
Short break and city specialist Travelscene has five vacancies – three for sales consultants and two for accounts staff.
Reservations manager David Moon said none of the positions required candidates to have previous travel experience.
“We tend to recruit the person rather than their skills because we believe if we find someone with the right personality we can train them to do the job.”
He added that Travelscene would also be on the hunt for candidates with impressive CVs which it intends to retain on file for a future uptake of candidates.
“We are attending the fair with both short-term and long-term aims,” he said. “If there are any people with good CVs which we can’t accommodate at the moment we will certainly bear them in mind for jobs later on.”
Middle East, Africa and Asia specialist Somak has vacancies in reservations, marketing and customer relations and will be searching for seven to eight suitable candidates to fill the positions.
Office manager Shashi Patel said ideally the operator hoped to recruit staff with previous travel experience, but added it was not a vital requirement for some of the vacancies.