Finding the Best People

Cathy Burke and Bernie Whelan look after Recruitment for Travel Counsellors Ireland.

Our mission is to attract the very best people into our company – brilliant professionals with a genuine passion for customer care, a real love for travel and the ambition to run a highly successful business. Our role is to guide you through the decision-making process; to give you as much information as possible to help you make the right decision.

Leaving the security of a salaried role to become a self-employed business owner is a huge leap to make, and although collectively we’ve helped many great people to do exactly that, the importance of that decision is something that we never, ever underestimate. We treat everyone as an individual, and we’ll talk to people at a variety of different stages on the road to becoming business owners; from whether they should do it at all, to whether Travel Counsellors is the right company for them. And it really is that way round – we have a unique operating model and a clearly defined ethos - and we have to be right for the individual, just as much as they need to be right for us. Becoming a Travel Counsellor is a decision that affects the whole family, not just the person who is thinking of joining, so we invite partners, husbands and wives to also come and chat to us and find out about how it all works.

There’s absolutely no pressure from us and we’ll never rush a decision. We simply guide people to make the right choice for them in their own time.

For some of our most successful Travel Counsellors, that has famously been a matter of years, although we do often hear, 'My only regret is I didn’t do it sooner!' Once the decision to join Travel Counsellors is made, then support and aftercare form a vital part of what we do - it’s not just about getting the right people through the door; our involvement continues throughout their whole journey. There is one new starter whose story particularly illustrates this point. This person had done the hard part - she had left full-time salaried employment and attended our training at our Support Team Office, but then, post-induction and back at home, she froze and found herself saying ‘I can’t do it’. Self-doubt in the early stages is something we’ve seen before, and it’s something we certainly know how to help with. Our team helps people to raise their self-esteem; it's our job to get them feeling better about themselves. The whole team really believed in this individual's potential as a Travel Counsellor, and within days of chatting with members of our wider team, she was back on track and ready to go. Three years on, and this same person is now heading towards achieving more than €1.8 million worth of travel business.

We always emphasize to new starters that this is a slow burn. It’s a transformational decision. It’s a complete lifestyle change… and for so many, it has absolutely been worthwhile.

If you would like to speak to Cathy or Bernie, you can reach them at cathy.burke@travelcounsellors.com or bernie.whelan@travelcounsellors.com