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Hays Travel announces 1,500 new jobs and apprenticeships
Hays Travel is now recruiting for a further 1,500 new jobs and apprenticeships in its shops and head office.
It is promising newcomers to the industry the chance to have a ‘new career for Christmas’.
The roles, which are available now, include 200 new posts at the company’s head office in Sunderland and 500 jobs handling foreign currency in each of the new Hays Travel stores around the UK.
The company, which has taken over all of Thomas Cook’s 555 shops in the UK, is also going to be taking on an apprentice at each of Hays Travel’s 737 branches over the coming months.
The positions come after Hays offered permanent contracts to 2,330 former Thomas Cook employees.
It is still recruiting staff for the former Thomas Cook stores, of which 450 have opened in six weeks.
There are now 737 Hays Travel shops in total with 4,200 permanent staff. These additional posts will potentially take that to a workforce of 5,700.
Managing director John Hays said: "These are fantastic permanent career opportunities for people who want to take a step into an exciting industry where every day is different. You don’t necessarily need travel experience – just an enthusiasm for travel, a good head for numbers for the foreign exchange posts and some customer service experience of any kind would be helpful."
He said The Hays Travel Academy will provide comprehensive training for those who have never worked in the travel industry before.
Apprentices will go through the recognised two-year apprenticeship programme.
"We have always recruited, supported and developed young people – they are the future of our industry. We are looking forward to expanding our apprenticeship programme and making sure there’s at least one travel apprentice on most of the UK’s high streets," he added.
"I’m also delighted that we will create 200 more permanent jobs in the heart of Sunderland’s city centre, joining 500 people already at our newly-opened head office building."
Hays Travel is currently in discussions with the landlords across the UK to where necessary extend and enhance the leases beyond their existing terms, many of these are for several years.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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