Channa Madanyake, assistant product manager, Euro Break
Education: eight GCSEs; three A’ levels in Human Biology, Chemistry and English Language; and a City and Guilds in business application in IT.
Training: apart from the Galileo fares and ticketing course, training has is on the job.
First travel Job: Saturday job at Falcon Travel in flights administration department.
Career path: on finishing his A’ levels, Channa joined Falcon Travel full-time as a car hire supervisor. He left in 1991 to join independent agency Eleanor Travel as operations manager where was responsible for putting together tailor-made packages for clients. In 1993 he joined consolidator Hamilton Travel as a product executive. He spent three years at Hamilton Travel where he was responsible for negotiating contracts with airlines and fare and product development. This stood him in good stead for his current job at Euro Break, the short-breaks arm of Inghams. He had a short spell as reservations and administrator supervisor at Euro Break before moving to his current role as assistant product manager with responsibility for negotiating transport for the company.
Advice for people wishing to develop a career in travel: “There is nothing holding anyone back in this industry. You just have to go for it. Be friendly and network as much as possible. Learn as much as you can.If you have any good ideas on how to improve current tasks, tell your boss – companies these days are always on the lookout at ways to save costs and streamline. Volunteer for additional tasks as this will show you are committed.”