This is the third part of our series of articles titled “Don’t miss the best job opportunities” contributed by Rajesh Nambiar

In a normal scenario, product and trade information is communicated to you by your organisation and you actively seek relevant knowledge during work. If you are in a phase of unemployment, you need to find ways to be relevant in the trade to increase your chances of being employed. 

I find the below methods have helped job seekers to be in touch with the latest news and development in the industry. Moreover, it has worked for them to get access to new opportunities sometimes directly from the recruiter.

Be in touch with your network

Inform your immediate network of your employment status, especially those whom you often interact with when at work. It will be your sub-agents or clients, suppliers, hoteliers, and close contacts in the industry. Offer to stay in touch, state your desire to pursue opportunities in the industry, and ask them to send you product updates.

Attend & interact during online trainings/webinars

Travel product training, seminars, and discussions are being held online since the last few months. While this is an opportunity to learn about new products and update your knowledge on the existing ones, you must try to participate as well. Research and prepare on some possible questions in advance. Send follow up emails to the organisers, let them know how the session was informative, and share any feedback that you may have.

Tip: Before you ask the question, introduce yourself including your skill or specialisation area. This way your name sounds familiar and you will be known for your specialisation.

Sign up on trade news websites

Register on travel news websites and portals that send you regular updates on what is happening in the industry and what trends to watch out for. I recommend the following travel news websites: Travtalk, Travel Trends Today, and ET Travelworld. Portals like Indiatraveljobs have a blog with useful articles, especially for travel professionals. 

Following relevant preferences on your mobile news / LinkedIn tags

In your endeavour to find ways to be relevant in the trade, the Google news app on Android phones allows you to add topics to follow, eg: Travel. Thus, saving time searching for news related to travel. On LinkedIn, you can search for hashtags and follow them to get relevant articles and posts in your feed.

Staying active on LinkedIn

There are 3 things that you can make you active on LinkedIn – write or share a post, like a post and add a comment on a post. Posting regularly on LinkedIn will help you to increase the size of your network. I suggest to post when you want to share something important that is related to the professional space. However, whenever you see a post on the topic that you follow, you must respond by liking the post and adding a comment to it. This engagement draws more attention to your profile. Comments that demonstrate your interest and expertise on the topic discussed will result in more views of your profile from possible recruiters. There is some great product content on https://e-learning.indiatraveljobs.com/ as well

Upgrading your skills & knowledge

Professionals who are committed to a career in the travel industry understand the importance of being knowledgeable about travel products. You must look for ways and means to acquire information on products especially in your area of expertise. Furthermore, find out the skills that you can additionally build up during the transition period of finding a new opportunity. Prospective recruiters will be pleased when they learn that you have utilised the downtime to upskill yourself.

Since social distancing has limited the opportunity of meeting and interacting with people face to face, you must use all possible methods to stay within the network and be visible. As a result, you will build up your personal image and will be recognised as a committed professional in the travel industry.

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