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Confidence returning in travel recruitment

Returning confidence in the travel industry after a good start to 2013 trading is being reflected in the jobs sector, according to C&M Recruitment.

The travel specialist claims it is seeing signs that people are feeling confident enough to start looking for new roles although they remain cautious.

Barbara Kolosinska, C&M Recruitment sales director, said: “We are beginning to see more candidates registering. People are getting a little bit more confident in the economy.”

C&M said vacancies were up 15% year on year with many firms looking for good candidates in sales, marketing and business development roles.

Online travel agents are a significant source of roles, with in-house search engine optimisation specialists particularly in demand.

Kolosinska said travel is showing the same trend as in the general economy which, despite the recession, is seeing record levels of employment.

And she said the roles were not all just temporary.  “These are permanent roles, it’s the temporary market that’s a challenge.

“There are more senior candidates looking but conversions are taking longer because candidates are cautious and clients are busy so they are taking longer to make a decision.”

C&M’s executive search arm, Chisholm and Moore, has opened new offices in Birmingham and Liverpool, adding to its existing presence in London, Reigate, Manchester and Sydney, Australia.

It has also branched out into the hospitality and food and beverage sectors.

In business travel Kolosinska said the jobs market was on the cusp of turning from candidate-driven to vacancy-driven as TMCs look to recruit again.

“A lot of business travel companies lost accounts last year and got rid of temporary labour and were not replacing people.

“Now the pressure’s on service delivery levels and that’s when the TMC has to decide whether to re-employ their old staff or take on new staff.”

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