Of all the issues the travel industry faces, recruitment is regularly cited as one of the most difficult to crack.
Whether it’s finding a good stream of young sales people to staff your agency front desks or phones, or recruits with specific technical skills, travel firms face an enormous challenge.
While this is partly down to the industry’s low-wage culture, at least for entry-level roles, it also has to be about how travel is presented to young people as an exciting sector in which to develop a career.
It is the main reason we launched our Take Off in Travel publication three years ago, and it’s great to see one of Take Off’s founding supporters, Hays Travel, setting up an academy with Sunderland College aimed specifically at attracting young students to consider a career in travel.
The latest C&M Recruitment salaries barometer identified a widening gap between pay for new executive roles and those lower down the pecking order. Realistically, this is unlikely to change.
But there are plenty of examples of successful – and well-remunerated – senior executives who have risen up the ranks from lowly positions.
As well as engaging with schools and colleges, we have written about numerous firms that are making a great success of developing apprenticeship schemes.
But in an economy approaching record employment levels, the competition for the best people is only going to intensify.
As many firms are realising, it is more vital than ever that the travel industry is out there fighting for the cream of the crop.