Member Article

Apprentices turn hard work into full-time employment

As one of the regions’ leading providers of corporate travel solutions, Good Travel Management has always been keen to recruit local talent. Recruiting new blood into the corporate travel world can be difficult due to a tendency to source talent from within the industry and due to the lack of formal training courses on offer. In partnership with Hull College, Good Travel Management has just completed a successful bespoke apprenticeship scheme tailored specifically for corporate travel students, combining classroom teaching delivered at the College’s KC Stadium Campus, with office based assessments and training delivered by Good Travel Management.

Having seen four apprentices take on the new course back in March 2014, the successful pioneering business travel apprenticeship scheme was designed to give students both an NVQ Level 2 in Leisure and Business Travel as well as technical qualifications called the ‘Certificate of Travel Services’. The course enabled students to study a range of subjects aimed at corporate travel including arranging air travel and ground requirements, to personal skills such as customer service, creating a good impression to corporate clients and effectiveness in the workplace.

The company is very proud to announce that all four apprentices have completed their studies and have been appointed as full time business travel consultants. With offices not only in the Yorkshire area, but also in the West Midlands and Cheshire, the apprentices will now take on full-time roles in their respective locations.

Julie Ornsby, Senior Operations Manager and Sara Jenkinson, Senior Travel Consultant of Good Travel, and Claire Davison of Hull College have been instrumental in setting up the new course and directing the content.

Julie said: “It is so important that the people who work for us have a solid grounding in corporate travel because the industry is very different in the leisure travel business.

“We have provided work experience to several Hull College students in the past and have always been impressed with them, so much so that a number are employed at the company now. But as our requirements for staff continues to grow, we decided we needed to be more involved with their training and that is why we have decided to partner with Hull College.

“We believe the course that we’ve created will give the students the thorough grounding necessary for them to succeed in the corporate travel industry.”

Course assessor Claire Davison added: “The College’s main aim is to ensure all students leave with the greatest chance of employment we can possibly give them and this course really plays into that.

“There is a growing demand for qualified business travel consultants so we are delighted to able to offer this as part of our growing prospectus.”

Good Travel Management provide travel solutions to a wide range of the UK’s SME’s, offering air and rail travel and hotel bookings.

Picture from left to right: Clare Davison (Hull College), Chloe Hanlon, Molly Glazebrook, Jack Lloyd, Chelsea Gill, Julie Ornsby (All Good Travel Management)

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Adam Ward .