You can’t open a newspaper or switch on the news at the moment without hearing about the economic downturn that the whole of the western world is suffering from Hardly any sectors are immune, and many companies are making redundancies in order to stay afloat

What do employers want This is the maddening question that every job seeker is trying to answer – as a travel recruitment specialist, I see plenty of people scratching their heads when they are applying for travel jobs, trying to figure out what the potential employer really wants from them

Whether you are looking for a job in travel or teaching, PR or publishing, hunting for a new job can be a daunting experience There is no flawless formula for finding the perfect job, but by taking some basic steps and remembering a few important principles, you can greatly enhance your chances of success… Know thyself If you are about to start searching online for a job, ask yourself a few simple questions first

As the MD of a recruitment agency for all kinds of online marketing and online travel jobs, I know how stressful interviews can be for a candidate Whenever you travel to a job interview, it is only natural that on the way you’ll try and think about every possible question that you might be asked and try and devise an answer to them

What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) When search engines decide what pages to show in response to an inquiry, they consult their indexed database of millions of web pages and decide which are the most relevant results, and in what order they should show them

There’s a reason that inventing fake qualifications is advised against Aside from the obvious ethical issues, if you’re caught, you’re in real trouble and could face sacking and a reputation of lying that will never pass

The online travel sector is booming As more and more people are booking their holidays and business travel online, the shift from the high street is becoming increasingly apparent

Working with online travel jobs, I’ve seen interview shortlists narrowed down until the company gets their candidate of choice, but what if you were amongst the rejected It would be helpful to know just exactly what you’ve done wrong though, wouldn’t it

As part of my job, I give interview advice to candidates applying for travel jobs When I ask them how it went afterwards, most people don’t come out remembering what went right

Having worked in travel recruitment and headhunting for some time, I’ve learned a great deal about the way executive search agencies work Even if you’re not actively looking for work, an enquiring headhunter call can boost morale or prompt a wage boost by your current employer eager to keep you at the firm, and of course if you are looking for work, then letting headhunters do the legwork will save you an awful lot of time and effort

The focus for all my articles so far has been on preparing the nervous interviewee for their first steps towards that dream job, but what about if it’s the other way around, and it’s the interviewer who is nervous about the daunting challenge of trying to pick the right candidate from a series of half hour conversations

Working with candidates for jobs in travel quite closely, one question comes up time and time again: So, let’s say you’ve been waiting for months for the perfect job interview to come along, and suddenly you have one, with one small catch They’re exceptionally keen (or pressed for time) and can only give you a last minute job interview

We all know what the perfect job interview candidate is supposed to be like – well qualified, immaculately presented, and most importantly – confident Working in the travel recruitment sector, I’ve heard a fair share of interviewers fed up of dealing with brash, arrogant candidates – enough to know they’re seldom welcome

If you’re so down in the dumps about work that your commute feels like a trip to the gallows, you're not alone – in one recent study, 41% of workers were found to be dissatisfied in their job If a job really isn’t right for a person, I would advise them to leave

When reading travel industry job applications, I find the covering letter is often treated as an afterthought… a formality only included because convention dictates it should be so That’s actually the wrong way to think about things, and here’s why: The CV cover letter is the first thing your contact at the organisation will see, and you don’t want it to be the last

Anyone who is becoming disillusioned with their online job search and has found themselves looking enviously onto the effortless lives of celebrities can take comfort in the fact that they haven’t always had it this easy Even the most glamorous celebs have crumpled discarded CVs that they’d rather we never see