Inspiring the next generation of travel professionals
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Published 21 Nov 2024 in Colleagues
Doing good together with her local college, remarkable colleague Sarah Cunningham from Halesowen Travel spent a day sharing her travel industry experience with local young people. The result? An inspired group of future travel professionals.
Q: Sarah, can you let us know how the connection with Halesowen college came about?
A: As part of my community activity, I reached out to local organisations to offer support and the Head of Division for Travel and Catering at Halesowen College, Emma Allen, contacted me saying they would be really interested in working with me.
Emma invited me to come in and speak to their learners about Your Co-op Travel and what my branch colleagues and I do. In turn, they agreed to display our community posters.
Q: How did it work when you went into the college?
A: I attended two classes which were about an hour each. The first class was Level 3 Travel and Tourism for Year 2 learners and the second talk was with their Level 1 learners.
In the sessions, I introduced myself, explained my current role and told them about Your Co-op. I also shared my own travel career journey with them, which began with studying Travel and Tourism at college, so I already had a common ground with the learners.
I spoke about my 16 years working overseas and how I went from there to working in Travel Retail, as well as sharing tips about the travel industry.
Supporting the community to find their dream adventures
Q: What did you enjoy most about giving the talks?
A: I invited questions at the end of my talks and it was great to see the engagement and interaction from the learners.
Following the sessions, the college sent me an email thanking me for the talks and said that the learners had been inspired by what I had said, which was really nice to hear.
Q: What was the biggest tip or piece of advice you gave the students about the travel industry?
A: Gain as much customer service experience as you can and hone your people skills. Plus, remember to believe in yourself.
Q: What was the most difficult question to answer?
A: The students said they were struggling to find work experience currently. In the past, pre-Covid, I used to offer work experience in my branch, but this is something we don't do at the moment, and it seems many travel retailers are in the same boat.
Q: Do you have any advice for other colleagues considering doing something similar?
A: Reach out to businesses and organisations in your community and offer your services.
For more on volunteering and ways you can do good together locally, take a look at the Colleagues Connect Volunteering page.