Access Bookings accommodate travel and tourism professionals in the making

Travel and tourism students from Walsall College stepped into the world of accommodation and travel management for those in the media industry as part of a work experience placement with specialists, Access Bookings.  The Level 3 students spent five days (one day per week) at the Lichfield-based company developing insights into their online/digital systems and operations as well as their administration and accounts processes.

Members of the HR department talked through their recruitment processes, shared CV advice and took them through a mock interview based around their specific career interests, which included retail travel agent and hotels and oversees rep.

During ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, the students were also introduced to some of Access Bookings’ suppliers including Village Hotels and Roomzzz.  This helped them gain experience of networking and further increased their industry awareness.

Student, Tamzin Duggan said she fully benefitted from her placement.

“I genuinely felt like I was part of the team at Access Bookings,” she said.  “Week by week, I could see how much my skills had developed.  I’ve been pushed out from my comfort zone in terms of meeting new people, completing research tasks and doing desk-based tasks.  All this has given me confidence and has prepared me for what my first professional role will be like.”

Molly Poxon also appreciated the opportunity to gain industry experience.

“I found all of the placement helpful,” she said.  “We’ve covered different professional skills in the classroom and I felt ready to try some of these out in a workplace.  It felt good to represent a company and its brand when talking to people over the phone and through the other work we completed.

“My mock interview was based on a travel agent role and now I know more about the type of interview questions I can expect for this kind of career in future.”

Daniel Aston, Human Resources Coordinator at Access Bookings said: “The work experience placements allowed us to show the students our working practices, and in turn gave us insight into the future talent pool. The students were engaged throughout, and it was great to spend time with them on a one-to-one basis, to understand their career prospects.

“I hope that the time they spent with us has been beneficial, and we look forward to continuing to support Walsall College and their students, to facilitate a meaningful work experience placement.”

Will Read, Training Manager added: “It has been great having the students from Walsall College attend their work experience with us. They have shown a fantastic attitude, getting operationally involved with live client projects while gaining some insight to a variety of organisational practices. Hopefully their time with us has been valuable and they have furthered their knowledge into some new areas and concepts of the travel industry.”