A SHORTAGE of experienced travel personnel has become a major problem for the industry, according to travel recruitment specialist AA Appointments.
Managing director Theresa Dempsey said the lack of well qualified and experienced staff was a hangover from the recession when businesses stopped spending on training. “There has been a greater shortage of staff over the last four or five years because companies would not take on graduate trainees during the recession,” she said.
According to Dempsey, the most difficult jobs to fill are in business travel where there are often more vacancies than applicants. She added: “We can never seem to attract enough qualified and experienced staff for our clients.”
AA Appointments is sponsoring Travel ’99 in the hope the fair will provide a pool of potential job candidates.
“We did very well there last year,” added Dempsey. “The London event attracted a lot more experienced personnel than we had previously expected, and we are hoping this year’s event will be bigger and better.”
Business travel specialist Carlson Wagonlit wants to fill several vacancies after winning five new business accounts over the past six months.
Human resources director Sue Kavanagh said: “We will be looking for experienced people with a business travel background, but we are also about to start a retraining scheme for people with either a retail or customer services background.”
For jobs in the travel industry see our travel jobs section or visit our partner, totaljobs.com for travel and tourism industry vacancies with some of the UK’s largest companies