Hays Travel Northwest is to take on 44 apprentices across the northwest and Wales.
This equates to one apprentice per travel agency shop and is more than the company’s normal intake of young new recruits, according to managing director Don Bircham.
“We would normally just plug the gaps with apprentices, but this year we have decided to go with one per shop,” he said.
Despite the current recruitment crisis, Bircham said finding apprentices was proving easier than trying to attract experienced travel industry staff to return to the sector.
More:Agents look outside of the industry to recruit amid staffing crisis
He said: “We use local colleges and contact schools in the area. We tap into the expertise of our shareholder Hays Travel, which has considerable expertise in the area. We haven’t found it particularly difficult to recruit, I don’t think young people look too much into the problems the industry has been through.
“They are joining us with no preconceived ideas about working hours and don’t normally have weekend family commitments.”
Bircham added that apprentices did not struggle with technology and were also “quick to learn”. As part of the recruitment process, existing apprentices and managers who started as apprentices come and talk to potential candidates.
He admitted there would always be a percentage of apprentices that would drop out – normally around 10% to 15% – but said job prospects were good for those who stayed on.
“We are a young industry that promotes on ability as opposed to age, so it is quite feasible that a new recruit could be applying for assistant manager positions within three years,” he said.
Bircham added that already around 30% of staff who had left the group during the pandemic had returned to the firm.
Some former staff had re-evaluated their lifestyles during the pandemic and no longer wanted to work weekends, opting instead for office-based jobs, particularly in the NHS, he said, adding: “There was also a proportion who became disillusioned with the administration attached to entry requirements and vaccine requirements and that had taken the shine off a normally enjoyable business.”
He attributed the improvement in holiday sales and relaxation in Covid travel rules for encouraging some staff to return, as well as the realisation that travel was “still a great industry” to work in.
As well as former industry staff, the company is looking to other sectors where staff have similar skillsets.
He said: “We are also recruiting people from the leisure and hospitality sectors who have transferrable customer service skills as well as a few overseas reps who have been made redundant over then period of the pandemic.”