Hiring the right team for a travel agency brings numerous benefits, including enhanced customer satisfaction, increased efficiency, and improved team dynamics. A well-suited candidate can understand customer needs, streamline operations, and contribute innovative ideas, driving the agency's growth. Additionally, careful hiring reduces turnover, saving time and resources, and leading to better service delivery and a stronger bottom line.

Finding a suitable candidate is a process that requires time, dedication, and effort on part of the recruiter. Once you realise the need for a new team member, you must define the role they need to perform and the responsibilities they will take over. Finalising the job description will help to define the qualifications and experience required for the candidate to excel at this role.

Defining the profile is the beginning of the hiring process. Let us see what we need do to get the right candidates for our profile.

Using the right channels

There are informal and formal channels that you could use in your search for suitable candidates. The most popular informal method is asking for references from friends and industry contacts. This involves sharing the brief requirements with your network and expecting them to refer suitable candidates. Through this method, if you are lucky, you will get someone with the expected profile. While many employers assume this is a no-cost technique for getting their right hire, be aware this channel has some drawbacks.

Firstly, the contacts you use will most often refer anyone from their network who is seeking a job opportunity, irrespective of their eligibility. Secondly, you need to reach out to maximum contacts to get sufficient volume of applications since there is no commitment from these contacts. Moreover, this is time consuming and getting positive results depends on your luck and timing.

The formal channels include engaging a recruitment consultant or advertising the requirement on job portals. Recruitment consultants are by far the most effective channel when it comes to hiring a candidate, since the services of the consultants include understanding your hiring requirements, sourcing, and recommending suitable candidates based on the profile and desired qualifications. Due to the customised and quality focused approach of hiring consultants, they charge substantial fees per candidate.

On the other hand, online job portals are low in costs and save time by using technology to connect with jobseekers . On these portals, you can either get applications from interested jobseekers or get access to the job seeker database based on their subscription plans. Generic portals have huge database, so you may end up with applications of jobseekers from diverse industries, whereas industry specific portals provide access to relevant job seekers from the industry.

Online job portals are very cost effective for all kinds of businesses whether big or small. Besides, they offer better reach than offline methods and are convenient to use.

Preparing the job post advertisement

A job post advertisement must carry all necessary and correct information that is required for the prospective candidate to identify and apply. It has been observed that most suitable candidates apply only when there are sufficient details in the job advertisement such as the job profile, salary, designation, and company information.

But how do you get your vacancy advertisement to stand above the rest and get maximum visibility from jobseekers and thereby help you recruit faster?

We have compiled how to incorporate some of the most important details in your job post advertisement that can substantially increase your chances of getting the right candidate faster.

1.      Subject and title

A job title refers to the exact role or position that will be assigned to the selected candidate. This gives more clarity to the jobseekers in terms of what functional skills are required and the designation to expect if selected for the role.

Some job search platforms allow the recruiter to include a more descriptive subject for the  vacancy. A descriptive subject attracts more views from jobseekers in comparison to a simple job title.

For example:

"Senior sales executive urgently needed for West India"

"Luxury boutique agency is seeking dynamic customer service executive"

"Fast growing travel company needs junior executives or freshers"

"Urgent hiring for experienced airline ticketing staff"

A note of caution - Avoid using confusing titles like growth hacker, ninja, rockstar, etc!

2.      The compensation - salary, incentive, and other benefits

One of the concerns expressed by some of our registered recruiters is about mentioning the salary on the job advertisement. The concern is if you mention a salary on the higher side, then you might end up with many applications of aspiring candidates who don’t meet other criteria. On the other hand, mentioning a lower salary can deter eligible candidates from applying!

The solution is to indicate a salary range that will indicate the minimum you will offer and the maximum you are willing to offer, provided the candidate meets all the eligible criteria. In any case, it is important to be aware of what is the market rate for the role that you are offering. Once you offer the best compensation, in return you will get quality applications from the best candidates and save time during your hiring. Besides, when you hire from the best, you are assured of a satisfied new team member who will contribute their best efforts to bring quicker growth to your business.

Sharing incentives are an attractive proposition for sales and business development roles, though you don't need to mention the figures in your job advertisement. Additionally, within the job description you can include other regular benefits that you offer on the job such as casual and annual leaves, bonuses, overtime, medical insurance, etc. These perks share a lot about the work culture at the company and help in getting applicants who seek long term employment.

3.      Eligibility - Minimum qualifications and required experience

The eligibility criteria are the minimum standards in skills and educational or qualifications that the candidate must have to perform the role suitably. While entry or junior level roles may require some basic level of education like a diploma, graduation, or certification; middle and senior level roles will need candidates with not just advanced educational achievements but also enough experience in similar roles or function areas.

It is recommended to provide some flexibility when you are hiring for middle and senior level requirements, for example, if the candidate has specialised in tourism at both graduation and post graduate level, the experience requirement can be relaxed from 8 to 7 years. It will be good to indicate these relaxations in the eligibility criteria so that you get more choice among applicants meeting the eligibility.

For junior level roles, if you expect applicants to have some basic skills - such as spoken languages, using Microsoft excel or PowerPoint, etc. then you must specify this as desirable skills or qualifications.The eligibility section is important information for the suitable candidates so that they take interest in understanding the role and respond promptly to your advertisement though you might get applications from candidates who may not meet the eligibility criteria.

What can you do about the non-eligible ones? We suggest storing their details so you can consider them in future for any relevant roles that they may qualify for.

4.      Company profile / information - background of your company and logo

Let's face it. You equally need to get the right candidate as much as the candidate needs to get their dream job! Hence the reason for you as a recruiter to put your best foot forward and showcase the good things about your company during the recruitment drive.

In your advertisement, do not miss to include a brief description about the organisation. You can mention how old or new the company is, what are the focus areas of the business, the size of the organisation - number of employees, the number of offices, etc. New companies and start-ups reach out to enthusiastic job seekers by sharing their vision and their culture and inviting candidates to be part of their growth journey.

Including the company information establishes high level of credibility in the eyes of the jobseekers, especially when they are comparing with your competition while finalising the next move of their career. Many job portals provide the facility to display your logo along with the job advertisement. Use this feature to improve your branding in the industry as well as attract attention of more jobseekers.

5.      Detailed job description - role, responsibilities, and other details

The most important part of the job post is where you need to be very specific. Most recruiters have a good idea about the role they want the candidate to perform and the responsibilities that need to be taken up. However, instead of detailing this information in the job description, some advertisers provide a very summary in a couple of sentences which is not enough to convey the role to the jobseeker. As a result, the job post advertisement will appear less serious and attract less interest.

To avoid this, ensure the description is split into separate sections for role and responsibilities:

Role: Describe the tasks involved in the job.

Responsibilities: Specify the performance and goal areas (limit to 4 or 5)

For example:

- Role:

  - Handling customer inquiries and bookings.

  - Managing travel itineraries and reservations.

- Responsibilities:

  - Achieving monthly sales targets.

  - Maintaining high customer satisfaction levels.

Based on the data available from Travizz.com/Jobs portal, job posts with description of between 200 to 300 words receive 70% higher number of views compared to those with description less than 100 words. We highly recommend a job description to include around 300 words for better impressions and up to 600 words or above for management level roles.

In conclusion, creating an effective online job posting for travel agents involves a strategic approach that leverages the right channels, crafts a compelling job advertisement, and provides a detailed job description. By using the tips provided in this article, you can attract the most qualified candidates and ensure a smooth and efficient hiring process. Remember, a well-prepared job post not only reflects the professionalism of your travel agency but also significantly increases your chances of finding the perfect fit for your team.

Investing time and effort into this initial step can lead to long-term benefits, including higher employee satisfaction and better business growth. Happy hiring!