DO YOU like to influence and dominate people? Or would a more accurate description of your personality be ‘steady and compliant’?
If you want to know, call on the services of Philip Swinard.
A travel industry veteran who most recently worked as group training and development manager at Unijet, he has now gone out on his own as a freelance trainer.
A bold step for a 51-year old man you might say. In fact, Swinard is open about the fact that his leap into the unpredictable world of the self-employed was prompted by pragmatism more than entrepreneurial zeal.
His post at Unijet was made redundant following the operator’s acquisition by First Choice.
With 35 years in the industry behind him – including 17 years with the family business Swinards Travel – going it alone was something he had long contemplated. But he admits he may never have done it were it not for the fact his job had been axed.
A few months on, he is very happy with his decision and he is confident that there are plenty of work opportunities out there, particularly among small to medium-sized travel companies which do not have the budget for a full-time trainer.
But his skills are also in demand from some of the larger companies in the industry.
One of his most recent projects was to conduct a ‘psychometric analysis’ of the sales team at Cathay Pacific.
In layman’s terms, that means assessing the strengths and weaknesses of individuals in the team, and advising them on improvements.
“It might mean looking at the way a field-sales person does their job and seeing how well prepared they are for an appointment with a customer.
“It could be they are terrific at presenting to the customer, but they may need administrative support,” he said.
Future projects include conducting training programmes for call-centre staff.
Given that Swinard’s long industry career included 18 months managing a call centre, this is an area where he has particular expertise.
He also runs a series of courses to teach people how to get the best out of their telephone skills, which he calls Phonetastic Telephone Skills Workshops. One course focuses particularly on call-centre skills.
According to Swinard, an important aspect of managing a call centre is ensuring that recruits are suitable for what is a very pressured job.
“You have to be a certain type of personality. You need to be a ‘people’ person who enjoys interacting with others and helping them if they have a problem.
“You can’t just push people to one side because you want to get on with making sales.
“Also it is the kind of job which suits someone who is happy to work in a team environment, and who is prepared to sit at one station all day and work quite methodically,” he said.
Other programmes on offer include a sales course which have workshops on negotiating profitable sales. This aspect, according to Swinard, is not the contradiction it may sound, as he frequently comes across sales people who are reluctant to push the customer too hard for fear of offending them.
Individuals who want career guidance can also call on Swinard.
He is licensed to conduct and evaluate psychometric profiling and testing using the Thomas International Management system which is used worldwide.
The system is particularly useful for school and college-leavers who may be unsure about what they want to do with their lives.
While the psychometric profile won’t come up with a list of jobs the candidate should go for, it will highlight the kind of environment which is likely to suit them best in a future career.
Swinard gives the example of a person who scores a high rating in the ‘compliance’ category.
“Generally, technicians and computer people score highly as they enjoy working with rules and regulations.”
Swinard’s own personality profile shows him to be someone who likes to influence people and who seeks variety and a challenge.
He sounds like he has just the right characteristics to be a freelance trainer.