Case studies: Marketing director: Danny

Danny is the marketing director of Perfect Weddings & Honeymoons - a niche online travel agency. He studied travel and tourism management with Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University.

I became involved with my company thanks to my university work placement. I’d always wanted to work in the travel industry, and during my degree, I got a job with a specialist tour operator for my 12 month sandwich placement. Whilst working there, I developed a good working relationship with a travel agent. I eventually joined the business and become a marketing director.

I was lucky in that I didn’t have to search for work after completing my degree. The day I left university, I moved to work in our head office. That said, when leaving my work placement and coming back to university for my final year, I worked unpaid for the business from home. That experience ended up being a bit of an apprenticeship.

In my job, I do a bit of everything - from making tea to recruiting staff! The majority of my time is split between sales, maintaining current customers and ‘managing’ the business. As the majority of our bookings are weddings abroad, our couples usually book 12 to 18 months in advance. There is a lot of work from the time of enquiry to the time of booking. The work continues maintaining that service from the time of booking until travel. On the management side, I run promotions and marketing campaigns and oversee employees working from home. We’re always on the lookout for suitable recruits.

There are various ways my university experience and course have helped me. Studying travel and tourism helped me learn how the industry works. I gained confidence through doing presentations in front of groups and being forced to meet people in a strange environment. And of course, if I hadn’t done the work placement, I would never have found my position in the first place.

My work experience also helped me get into this field. I worked before attending university and spent a summer working at a US holiday resort which stood me in good stead. During university, I worked part-time in customer service positions (crucial for anyone who wants to work in a service-facing industry like travel and tourism).

I would advise students to work as hard as possible academically - particularly now with the job market being so competitive. Ensuring you have the best possible degree classification will ensure employers look at you more favourably. But without doubt, to stand out from the crowd, you’ve got to go beyond academics. Get work experience - ideally travel-related. If that’s not possible, look at working in customer service roles where skills are transferrable. Offer to do voluntary work, and I don’t necessarily mean on an island in the middle of the ocean! Go to a local independent travel agency and ask for some work experience - even a week or two. Ensure you take interest in industry events, attend conferences and seminars and keep up to date with industry magazines.

AGCAS

Sourced by Colin Dewar, University of Paisley

Date: 

October 2009

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