I want to break into the tourism industry…
But it’s so hard to find a travel-related job these days! Plus, I’m not experienced in this industry, which might explain why I haven’t been hearing back from employers. What should I do to improve my odds of hearing back despite my lack of experience?
You could try working at a local tourist attraction to build up some experience before you make a leap farther away. Also, what attracts you to the industry--working with travelers and/or seeing the sights?
If you like travel, there are a variety of ways to get to do it that might not require you to work in the travel industry. I taught English abroad and traveled around on weekends and school breaks.
See if you can find people who are doing the sort of work you are interested in and get suggestions from them. Smaller businesses that might be more open to hiring a newbie could be easier to break into via word of mouth.
Also, if you don't have experience, you might want to try a skills- based resume which could focus on skills you have, versus the work history and experience you don't.
Good luck!
Hello Veronica If you work in the IT SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION industry, there are a lot of opportunity to grab an opportunity with travel involved. I love sys/admin. Ken
If I were you, I would apply on a cruise ship! You would have plenty of opportunities to travel and have fun! I always said if I had no kids, I would apply for a cruise job
Hi Veronica: Happy to help here! It might be the way you're approaching the job search. Sure, you may be inexperienced with a traditional 9-to-5 travel job, but what kind of traveling have you done? Sometimes knowledge and real-world experience is more valuable, especially if you can speak from experience about traveling to certain areas of the world.
Hi Veronica- You may want to check out Liberty Travel. A friend of mine made a career switch from social work. They have really good training program, where you make almost no money for six months, but then you start earning commissions and travel perks. and if you're good you can do quite well. She recently worked with a family of four putting together an African Safari package. they were so impressed by her going the extra mile for them to get the best package that they invited her along! I'm not kidding!