It upsets me to write that I have been made redundant - luckily I have managed to get a part time job as a recpetionist for a solictors firm, however it has really made me realise that I miss the travel industry. If anyone has any jobs going in the york/wetherby/tadcaster area I would love to hear from you.
My job has predominantly been in the travel agency side. Thanks
Sorry to hear that - horrible news, and an all-too-familiar story at the moment. Good that you've found work in the meantime though. Have you thought about working independently? Future Travel, Travel Counsellors etc?
Nathan Midgley Web editor, Travel Weekly
I am really sorry to hear that. I'll let you know if I hear of anything - also worth trying the recruitment agencies as they are always on the look out. Keep in touch and let me know how you are getting on. x
Sorry to hear that mate wil keep my ears open - Hays, Travel Counsellors etc are always looking for homeworkers or PTCS.
Good luck
Chris
Hi Guys - thankyou so much for all your kind words.
I would be very interested in finding out about home working, the concept intriuges me? If anyone know anything just drop me a message or something, would be most grateful.
It's such a shame - Ive just read the thread about Holiday Options, it is so sad as they were a fab company, such a shame!
There are probably as many points of view about homeworking as there are homeworkers. It is a question of finding someone to work under (or with) with whom you are comfortable. Personally, I home work for an independent. The thought of working for one of the big homeworker groups with someone phoning me up ever few moments would drive me insane.
You also need to able to work from home - which is not as easy as it sounds. You are at the beck and call of any client any time and that you must have the self discipline to plan your own day and ruddy well get on with it. You miss having colleagues to bounce things off and having a second head about the place (useful if things get ricky!). You will miss the corporate cotton wool. If you make a mistake, you sort it, worse - you pay for it. You need to have some clients and to be merciless about poaching a few off others.
You must not be a team player. I am not a team player. If I wanted to be a team player I would go and be a footballer and model underpants or whatever it is they do. The only way to get a job done properly is to do it yourself. Team players are wimps that rely on others either a) to take the blame or b) do their job for them. When the chips are down, despite the fluff, a homeworker stands or falls on their own,
Right, if you have that mindset, by all means talk to the homeworking groups and see what they offer. Just remember that they need you probably more than you need them!
Thankyou so much Murray for that insight. it has given me food for thought - but im not really in the financial position to take on such a drastic role (as you seem to put it!)
Thankyou :)
I agree that the first thing you have to get your head around is actually being able to work alone from home at all. It can be lonely. It works far better, in our experience, if two of you can join together and that way you have cover for annual leave as well.
You also have to decide whether you want to earn far better money (double at least) by having your own database and doing your own marketing or to be speoonfed TeleText style leads, which are generally at the lower end of the travel market and there you will be lucky to receive 30% of the nett commissions earned. Our average payout is 69% of the nett commissions. You only get out what you put in, so if you only work a few hours a week, you are not going to make any money.
Our company, Spear Travels, pioneered homeworking in the UK, before Travel Counsellors and in fact had a High Court case with ABTA in 1993 in order to prove the principle of it being allowed.
All our homeworkers have their own databases and work at the top end of the market such as cruises, long-haul tailormade, homeymoons etc. The successful ones are those that specialise and have come 'home' from their own travel agency, i.e. they have a significant database of clients. And, most importantly of all, they can sell. We are totally flexible, we do not, and cannot, monitor when you work - as above, that is up to you. Equally, you can do leisure travel or business travel or a mixture of both.
Without this core base of clients it will take you a minimum of a year, possibly, two, in order to start earning anything like you were paid in a travel agency. And that's the reality!
We are a small company, we still only have 35 homeworkers (and 5 branches) and one of our directors works fulltime with them helping them with their marketing, sorting problems etc. We are 'on-call' 24/7!
It helps that all three directors have a homeworking background, so we know what the pitfalls are. You can look on our website www.speartravels.net and click on Careers and then Homeworking to see how we operate.
Peter Cookson
Managing Director
Spear Travels (Jetclub Ltd)
This is interesting thread and I hope you find another job in travel.
I have created many websites, including for cheap cruises, cruise deals and a new one attacking cruise holidays.
I have been contacted by a homeworking agency, however I explained my reasons for not wanting to partake, due to the financial aspects of it, the lovely lady said it was not an issue, but it doesnt effect hardly any of the homeworkers at all.
She is sending me a pack, so hopefully I can have a read & maybe I might be swayed!
Any others on here who are homeworkers. I really wish I hadnt been made redundant, missing the travel industry. The hardest thing is I booked my holiday this week WITH NO DISCOUNT ON IT :O hahaha! SHOCK SHOCK HORROR!!!! Sometimes if I wish I'd stayed on being an MA at Thomsons........... if only we knew what we do now.
ps. any jobs going in the North/West yorkshire region hmmm......
We have a job vacancy in Boroughbridge and another one in Northallerton at present. Email CV to peter.cookson@speartravels.net
Regards.
Spear Travels
www.speartravels.net
Hi
That sounds fab! Only thing is I dont drive, that is my main problem, I am from Wetherby, W.Yorkshire way so it needs to be Leeds/Harrogate/Wetherby/York way.
Should anything else come available in the future I would love to hear from you though!
Regards
Rebecca
Sorry to hear about this but I really respect your feelings. Keep in touch with travel Counsellors and travel agencies.
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