If, like me, you dream of travelling around the globe but without the grim prospect of feeling out of pocket all the time, then travel jobs will be the answer for you. It is all good to spend more or less a year saving up for a long trip around the globe and unless you are super-efficient at budgeting on a daily basis, and have no problem with keeping track of your pennies when you are out abroad then perhaps this option is a safe bet for you.
However, if like me again, you want to be able to travel around without having to worry about how much you going to spend on a daily basis but would like to earn some money for the experience, then perhaps looking into travel jobs will be ideal and suited to you. Employment in travel can vary greatly. Some are geared towards going to holiday destinations and acting as a rep for the company. Others can be within a chosen career path as an intern and in a country as far away as India!
Most people decide to travel after graduating or during a gap year at university, within that time period they may have decided to take on a small bar work for a bit of extra cash or more specifically have had to apply for a work visa to work for a small company and extend their stay. Other travel jobs can come in the form of acting as a camping counsellor and working with youths abroad. These jobs require more information and experience from applicants; though they are well paid, it requires some skill in communication, arts, crafts, cooking and hands-on manual work.
Working in travel may require some language skills, particularly when applying in France, Germany, Morrocco, Italy and Russia. A basic understanding maybe enough for small businesses, but other internship roles will specify a strong understanding of the native language with proven evidence e.g. A-Level or degree in a specific language. These jobs can be offered through a special programme via British Council who is very selective of candidates applying.
Another popular form of travelling and working is enrolling onto a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course, which requires applicants to follow a structured course in teaching English abroad (popular destinations include Italy, China and Korea), gaining an accredited certificate in teaching then being assigned to a designated country for a period of time. Some of the placements offer substantial lodging as part of your salary.
One thing that is vital before embarking on a decision like this, always do your research about the organisation you going to sign up for regarding travel jobs and the country of your placement. Having some knowledge about working abroad, your rights, your pay structure and boarding facilities will enable you to be prepared for the worst should anything go wrong. Very often, these programmes rarely face issues but it is always better to be prepared nonetheless. Therefore, if you are thinking about travelling one day, then perhaps a little researching may help. Travelling these days is not as expensive as they used to be, making it easier for people to just go and experience an opportunity that may not rise in the future.
When we travel abroad we are often putting our lives into the hands of people we do not know. Not having a clear understanding of the level of competency those in these types of jobs possess is a worrying prospect. In today’s rather unsavoury climate the problem is exasperated and those in travel jobs hold even more responsibility than in the past.
We are bombarded with news stories of reporters who have been able to gain jobs in airports and flout security protocols. What is scary is that if they were not reporters in these jobs, terrorist attacks may well be more common.
That is not to say that there are queues of terrorists waiting to gain airport jobs in order to carry out atrocities. Add to this the dubious reliability of some of these rather over reactive pieces of reporting and the level of the problem becomes hard to quantify. Many in travel jobs have unrestricted access to such important pieces of equipment as planes and landing gear, subsequently the responsibility of interviewers is of paramount importance to ensure the safety of those who travel.
Those who do the hiring for travel jobs however are well aware of their responsibilities. Screening processes for jobs are thorough and becoming evermore thorough as time goes on. Background checks form a large constituent of this screening process but sadly only so much can be found out by looking at applicants previous jobs and known activities. If someone wants to hide certain activities from selectors the task would not be that hard.
It does however depend on how much the travel industry liaises with authorities when recruiting for jobs. Seemingly the resources of the authorities have enabled them to prevent some quite evil people from carrying out attacks. If the travel industry had access to this information the screening process could be far more thorough. Sadly data protection and human rights laws prevent such a system from coming into operation.
It is not however just those who are in the purely travel focussed jobs in airports that need to be vetted. With so many accompanying shops and eateries servicing the travel industry, vetting all who work in airports thoroughly is challenging to say the least. That is why at the moment the most laborious and time consuming screening processes are reserved for those who have wider access than those in simple shop jobs.
Those in airport jobs already have to carry photo identification with them at all times. With evermore sophisticated systems of fraud and forgery however these systems are rapidly becoming obsolete. Increasing airport security forces are recording the irises and fingerprints of those in full access jobs to ensure there is no chance that impostors will gain access to planes and other safety equipment.
The airport and more widely the travel industry has been at high alert for some time. Although almost seven years ago, the horrors of 9/11 are still fresh in people’s minds and new plots are regularly being uncovered. It is a worrying trend that the travel industry would like us to forget about, unfortunately the majority of the public cannot and safety issues will be a concern for years to come.
We can only hope that those in these jobs that ensure our safety are aware of their responsibilities and painstaking in their duties. In the climate of fear we now live in, travel is one way in which we all try and escape.
Holidaymakers have the right to be relaxed on their vacations and it is those in travel industry jobs that must facilitate this relaxation. Whether this means serving a drink or ensuring a plane is safe to fly, all are important. If we wish to avoid the disasters that have happened in recent years, diligence at every turn is essential.
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