Careers advice: Tips for applying for and landing travel jobs during the pandemic

How can you make a CV the best it can be?

With more travel jobs now coming back on the market, it’s more important than ever to make your CV look as good as possible, as more people will be competing for fewer jobs than before.

Your CV should be bullet pointed, with your most recent job listed first. Don’t include photos or your date of birth, and keep it in Word or PDF format so it’s easy to read – some big travel companies and recruitment agencies also use AI to register CVs, and if they’re in an odd format they’ll be disregarded.

If it’s a creative role and you want to include examples of past work, just include links. Keep the layout consistent, include your achievements and tailor your CV to the job you’re applying for. Be succinct, but don’t worry if it’s three pages long if all the experience you mention is relevant.

Your cover letter can include elements that you couldn’t fit into your CV.

How is the travel jobs market, and what roles are out there?
It’s picking up. Since September, we’ve seen a month-on-month increase in job vacancies coming in. When the vaccine news starts impacting consumer confidence, it will have a knock-on effect on travel companies, which in turn will have a positive effect on recruitment.

We’re seeing digital, trade and consumer marketing roles, finance roles, as well as sales positions in cruise, retail and reservations. Specialist tour operators, villa specialists and luxury operators have also been recruiting.

It’s the travel companies that are on top of cash flow and that have had the opportunity to look at hiring plans that are now getting the cream of the crop when it comes to candidates.

Any trends you’ve spotted since the pandemic?
Candidates are looking for more flexibility, with opportunities to work from home around 30% of the time. Companies that offer this will have a bigger pool of candidates to pick from.

Companies seem to be taking longer to interview and offer start dates at the moment, although we advise not to delay on decisions, as it’s important to treat prospective employees well.

Some employers are also asking candidates to take pay cuts, in line with the rest of their staff, with a view to pay going up when things improve.