Mentoring offered for women who've lost travel jobs

Those who have been made redundant as a result of the pandemic and live in London can apply for free training and access to entry-level hospitality and tourism jobs throughout the capital.

Provided as part of Women in Travel’s Female Employability Action, supported by the Travel and Tourism (Feast) initiative, the employment training sessions will be hosted both online and in-person, throughout October.

• 7 October, 10am-11am: Effective Communication Skills – The online session will focus on effective communication skills and will help participants explore how to develop better listening and questioning skills.
• 9 October, 10am-11am: CV Clinic – Covering questions such as ‘What does a good CV look like?’ and ‘How do you help recruiters see what is good about you?’, this workshop will help women create an effective CV that represents them at their best.
• 13 October, 10am-11am: Job Search – To help participants focus on what matters, in this session Women in Travel will break down the daunting nature of the job search to help women best go about finding work.
• 16 October, 10am-11am: Job Applications & Cover Letters - So you have found the job of your dream…now what? This workshop will set women in the right direction when approaching job applications.
• 16 October, 11am-12pm: Social Media & You – Women in Travel’s session will focus on the importance of social media when job searching, to help women understand why social media matters and how to use it to their advantage.
• In addition to the sessions, women will be paired with a volunteer mentor to provide further help and support.

Individuals and companies interested in learning more about the Feast training programme are encouraged to contact Women In Travel (CIC) at: info@womenintravelcic.com.

More than 50 women have already attended Women in Travel’s training, with many of them now back in work.

When speaking of the support offered by Women in Travel, a previous attendee said: “I came away [from the training] with a list of items to implement but also the knowledge that I am on the right track to finding my next role, however long that journey may be. These are such uncertain times and it really is good to know we are all in this together.”

Throughout the coming months Women in Travel will also host online mentoring for unemployed women.

Since launching its voluntary mentoring programme at the end of September, 45 women have already signed up to be a Women in Travel Mentor and help unemployed women seeking support in identifying their next steps.

Women in Travel is welcoming more registrations from potential mentors, particularly from men and members of the bame community.

For more information and to register, visit this page.

Since the start of the pandemic, Women in Travel has set up a crowdfunding page where it is raising money to provide 25 unemployed women with six months’ worth of training and mentoring to enable their return to work.

Those interested in donating can visit Women in Travel’s crowdfunding page here to help women access skills and identify opportunities to gain economic and personal empowerment.

Alessandra Alonso, founder of Women in Travel, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has made unemployed women’s return to work harder than ever before, especially in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries which have been exceptionally hard hit.

“Here at Women in Travel, we are so pleased to be able to offer support to women in our community, with training and mentoring initiatives that not only boost their skill set but also their confidence and success rate in getting back into work.”