Abta LifeLine has struck up a new partnership to help travel professionals, whose careers have been hit by the coronavirus crisis, transition into other sectors.
The charity has teamed up with People 1st International to offer colleagues advice on how they can make best use of the transferrable skills they’ve gained working in travel.
According to LifeLine, many travel professionals have "attributes and behaviours" highly sought after by hiring managers across health, social care, logistics, retail and funeral care.
Those wishing to make use of the service will first complete a self-assessment phase to help them determine which industries and roles they would be best suited to.
It then allows them to build a profile they can use to promote their expertise to prospective employers.
As part of the scheme, applicants will have a dedicated one-to-one with a member of the People 1st International team, who will be able to advise them on the most appropriate courses and learning packages to enhance their existing skills and gain critical new sector-specific skills, while matching them to available roles.
The new redeployment service costs £50 to register, which may be reimbursed upon employment. Interested applicants can also apply to Abta LifeLine for help with the cost if they are struggling financially.
They can also still apply to LifeLine for additional support, including a crisis grant, debt and benefit advice, and mental health and wellbeing support.
Trudie Clements, Abta LifeLine director, said the scheme would allow travel professionals to apply their "highly-valued transferrable skills" to a different sector that is actively hiring.
"The travel industry is sadly going through a challenging time when it comes to employment right now because of the impacts of the pandemic. This scheme will help our people until a fuller recovery takes place and opportunities open up again."
People 1st International UK director Sandra Kelly said: “Travel sector employees have especially valuable skills in areas such as planning and logistics, complex problem solving and going above and beyond to meet customer expectations.
“We’re seeing a host of job opportunities opening up in industries where transferable skills are high in demand and we’re keen to help place motivated and passionate professionals with employers seeking complementary values.”
Anyone wishing to access the service should visit abtalifeline.org.uk/redundancy.