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Struggling with Business Travel recruitment?

3 years ago the travel industry, and many careers within it were devastated by the impact of the spread of Covid-19.

There was an outpouring of support for those impacted and a real push to get many other industries to look at the wonderful talent that the industry had nurtured over the years.  As recruiters for the business travel sector, we had hundreds and hundreds of calls and messages from those people displaced, worrying about their futures and requesting help in getting them noticed by a different type of business.

We focused on educating people on their transferrable skill sets and how to bring those to life.

We encouraged everyone to not be disheartened when they were rejected due to lack of experience but to keep on fighting because they were hard working, dedicated and all round brilliant employee’s who had a lot to offer any employer.

And we saw many of those go on to secure themselves a new future as other industries starting sitting up and taking notice of the calibre of people that work in the travel industry and were actively making a beeline for them.

Many have stayed in those new industries, carving out career paths that they would never have thought of.

Some have returned to travel, welcomed back as the industry boomed again last year and is still set for further growth.

But we’re facing a tough time in business travel recruitment right now as there seems to be an overriding reluctance to refocus on those transferrable skills… (you know, the ones we were shouting from the rooftops to get other companies to look at 3 years ago..).

No TMC is so comfortable they can afford to take their eye off the ball recruitment wise, it’s important to stay constantly ahead of the recruitment needs of the business and anticipate increased head count before it’s truly needed.

The reasons for candidate rejections are sometimes bewildering with companies opting to continue looking for weeks, sometimes MONTHS on end “just in case there’s someone else”.  This results in them feeling the pressure mount as others in the business continue to pick up increased work load and then they themselves ultimately start to wonder if the grass is greener with another company…

The answer here is to not repeatedly judge a CV by the dates on the paper.

Don’t assume lack of capability because the relevant experience may look slightly different than what you were hoping for.

Don’t place the entire focus on someones’ past- yes, it’s imperative to see what they’ve done before but it doesn’t always indicate what they are capable of in the future.

There may be a shortage of the kind of talent that ticks every single box you’re looking for…. but there certainly isn’t a shortage of capable people who just want an opportunity to rebuild a career in business travel.

We’re here to help any TMC, Travel Tech or Corporate company look after their travel staffing needs and can provide an insight in to the market whenever required!

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch even for a chat, our advice is free : )

[email protected] or [email protected]