I need career advice About This Page:

[remark44]

Hi Travel Agents, I hope someone can help me. Because I want to become a travel agent and need some advice.

Let me give you my background. I am 38 years old and have had a career since college. I have experience in sales, customer service, hospitality. I've been a sales manager in a major attraction in a major city booking groups and working with tour operators and travel agents. After many years of this, I want to do something different and I really want to be on the booking and planning side. I love planning my own travel and researching different places to visit. I should also mention that I have travelled all over the USA but not internationally.

The problem is I don't have the travel agent experience. I've tried to apply for jobs but never seem to get interviews in this field. It's like a catch 22. They want the experience to hire you, but I need a job to get the experience. Even thought I have the sales and customer service experience. I know that it will be for an entry level job and a much lower salary than I currently make. But I am willing to pay my dues and work my way up.

My local community college offers a certificate program for travel agents. Is it worth me spending $500 to get a certificate? Would this help me get an interview? Is there a better school or program to look into? Is there even a demand for agents these days? I'm sure the economy has effected these jobs too.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Thanks
Melissa

[dmpyron]

Melissa, there have been a couple of other threads about this. I suggest doing some research into the field to decide if you really want to go this way. I think pretty much everyone here is a home-based agent. I've never worked a day in a store-front agency. But I have sales skills and I know about travel. I have chosen to focus on a few areas. Disney, cruises, Hawai'i and Caribbean all-inclusives.

Honestly, unless you really bust your bum, "the big bucks" just aren't there. Here's a specific example: RCI, Navigator of the Seas, 4/6/09 (next Monday). A PR room (promenade). Cruise fare (for 2) is $1380, NCFs (non-commissionable fees, you will learn to hate this term) $238.00 and taxes $174.54, total of $1792.54. Commissions are $207.00 (my agency gets 15% from RCI). To gross $20K a year, you'd have to sell two of these a week. Which doesn't seem like much, but then expenses pop up and suddenly you're looking at selling 150 cabins a year.

Look at the other threads for informaiton on "how to become an agent".