Case studies: Holiday representative: Kate Wells

Kate has worked as a holiday representative in Europe for four consecutive summer seasons. She studied psychology at university and then trained as a beauty therapist before deciding to embark on a career abroad.

I left university without really knowing what I wanted to do next. I took a couple of temporary roles through an agency and started some part-time beauty courses at college but I knew I hadn't found my perfect job so far. I went on holiday with a group of friends and got chatting to the representative in our hotel. He told me a bit about what he did on a day to day basis and I thought it seemed really interesting. When I returned to the UK I went online and did a little bit of research into the different tour operators and decided to apply even though it was already half way through the summer season. Luckily, I was successful at the assessment centre and got sent out to Croatia for my first summer.

Since working as a representative I have always worked in family hotels and apartments where you have large numbers of arrivals every week. I enjoy the fact that every day when I go to work I will speak to and see new faces, face different problems and hopefully make sure everyone has a great holiday. I have been offered the opportunity to work looking after villas or doing the young clubbing holidays but for the time being I prefer to stick with families. I am thinking of applying for a team leader position for the next summer season because I think I am ready for the extra responsibility and have enough knowledge to help train and develop new reps coming out for their first season.

I studied psychology at university and certain aspects of my studies have certainly helped me to relate better to different holiday makers who all have their own ideas about what makes a good holiday. I used to be very nervous when I was giving welcome talks to new arrivals but with practice (which you get plenty of) I now feel confident when I talk in front of large groups of people.

I think the qualities you need to build on when you are in this job are confidence, patience, the ability to listen, team work but also the ability to work on your own initiative as the job involves a lot of 'thinking on your feet'. I enjoy the fact every day is different and that you never know what to expect when your new arrivals step off the plane. However, the long hours can mean I sometimes get quite tired and there are occasions when I'm homesick but when I do get down I am lucky that the team I work with are like a second family and very supportive.