More candidates were placed in travel jobs last month than at any point in the pandemic as firms try to recruit to cope with increased demand, according to C&M Travel Recruitment’s latest figures.
The recruitment specialist firm reported a 49% rise in placements in February against the previous month. The number of placements was 15% higher than the previous best month in November 2021.
However, last month still represented a 15% dip against February 2019 and a 20% drop versus February 2020.
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The number of people searching for travel jobs fell slightly by 2% month-on-month, but it was up 26% from February 2020.
There was a 26% fall in the number of vacancies in February compared with January. But vacancies were up nearly 600% versus the same month in in 2021 and up by 14% from February 2020, but down 12% from the same month in 2019.
Barbara Kolosinska, C&M Travel Recruitment managing director, said March had already been “extremely busy”.
She said: “As a recruitment company, our main aim is to find great talent for our clients, so we’re delighted that more candidates were placed in travel roles last month than at any point in the past two years.
“March has also got off to an extremely busy start with a particularly big increase in recruitment activity from TMCs since the end of February.”
She added: “With many companies looking to take on new recruits to help them cope with demand, the shortage of experienced travel candidates is continuing to create issues for our industry.”
Kolosinska stressed recruitment issues would remain until “higher salaries, better packages, increased flexibility, career progression opportunities and an all-round more enticing offering to potential job seekers” were more evident.
“Some companies are beginning to make their job opportunities more attractive, but it is likely to remain a candidate driven market for a considerable amount of time,” she added.
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