Travel industry staff who have lost their jobs in the Covid-19 crisis have the opportunity to switch to another sector through a new redeployment initiative.
Abta’s charitable trust is linking with People 1st International to give people a chance to use their transferable skills in another sector.
The aim is to help them capitalise on their transferable skills and transition into a new role with the industry-specific skills they need.
Hiring managers across health, social care, logistics, retail and funeral care are seeking the attributes and behaviours travel colleagues hold, according to Abta Lifeline.
Those joining the service will undergo a self-assessment to help align them to potential industries and roles and build a profile which will be used to promote their expertise to recruiting employers.
They will have a dedicated one to one session with People 1st International to gain advice on the most appropriate learning package to undertake to further enhance and gain critical sector specific skills, and begin matching them to available roles.
The redeployment service costs £50 to register which may be reimbursed upon employment. Alternatively, people can apply to Abta LifeLine for help with this cost if they are financially struggling.
Colleagues can still apply to LifeLine for additional support including a crisis grant, debt and benefit advice and mental health and wellbeing support.
Abta LifeLine director Trudie Clements said: “We are delighted to be working with People 1st International, providing travel colleagues with an opportunity to use their highly valued transferable skills and be matched to a different sector which is actively hiring at the moment.
“The travel industry is sadly going through a challenging time when it comes to employment right now because of the impacts of the pandemic and this scheme will help our people until a fuller recovery takes place and opportunities open up again.”
People 1st International UK director Sandra Kelly added: “We’re proud to be working in partnership with Abta LifeLine to support people across the sector and help redeploy them into industries looking for staff as efficiently as possible, for as long as the disruption impacts vacancies.
“Travel sector employees have especially valuable skills in areas such as planning and logistics, complex problem solving and going above and beyond to meet customer expectations.
“We’re seeing a host of job opportunities opening up in industries where transferable skills are high in demand and we’re keen to help place motivated and passionate professionals with employers seeking complementary values.”
To access the service visit https://www.abtalifeline.org.uk/redundancy