Significantly, some of the large agency groups, like Thomas Cook/Crimson (which operates the Travel Education Center, Cambridge, MA) and Carlson Travel Network (Carlson Travel Academies), plus scores of smaller agencies, have established their own schools, primarily to meet their own recruitment needs.
Probably the most well respected educational institution in the industry is the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA), which bestows on working professionals a coveted Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) title upon completion of a rigorous program. ICTA has introduced a beginners' program that is geared to agents who have just entered the industry but that can be taken by people who want to get in.
Before you enroll in any program, review the curriculum closely. Hiring agencies are looking for geography, reservations computer training, courses in agency operations and the travel industry in general, and some sales training. Also check that the school is licensed with the state and accredited by appropriate agencies, that instructors have worked or currently work in the industry, and that there is placement assistance (check the track record). Talk with graduates of the program. You may also want to check the school's reputation with local agencies (particularly with an agency that you feel you want to work at), as well as with the Better Business Bureau. ASTA publishes a brochure entitled "Choosing the Right Travel School."
It is not absolutely necessary to go to a school. Indeed, many managers are firm about taking on new talent and training them their own way. The task is to find these people. The best way to start is to network contact everyone, starting with the agency you or your company uses, your friends, relatives, neighbors. Walk into a local agency and ask whether some entry level job is available. If you already have work experience, you may be surprised at how applicable it may be, particularly if it is secretarial, sales, or telemarketing. Think about what you can bring to the agency. While a desire to travel and even vast experience traveling are helpful, what an agency really wants is contacts for new business. If you are coming from another industry, you may be in a position to bring in new commercial business to the agency.
ASTA also offers a home study course on becoming a travel agent.
Working on Straight Commission
The easiest (and the most prevalent) way to get in without prior travel agency experience is as an outside salesperson, working on straight commission. This minimizes the risk for the agency, but be aware: You are unlikely to earn more than a few thousand dollars in the first year and perhaps only $5,000 in the second.
Outside sales agents do not necessarily always work outside the agency, but their function is to bring in business from outside. "You're your own boss," said Bonnie Kogos, a commissioned sales agent for more than a decade with Zenith Travel in New York City. You have your own clientele. When you change agencies, you generally keep your own clients.
"It is not glamorous at all. You have to slog through each individual booking. You are only as good as your last ticket. You might handle 30 clients at once, do a conference, a vacation, handle commercial clients. I have 40 people going to Bermuda."
The newer agents, she commented, are "computer whizzes but have never been anywhere. The older ones, over 35 years old with ten years in business, are more Renaissance people. I've been to 82 countries and love to look at hotel rooms. You've got many different breeds of cat in the business," said Kogos, who also publishes her own newsletter for agency clients.
A commissioned agent, like any agent, gets better and better with experience; with more knowledge of destinations, facilities, and airfares; and with more contacts at travel companies. The hardest part is getting in, "like acting," she says. At age 32, she worked for $3 an hour in an agency. After two years, she went off on her own as a commissioned salesperson.
"You have to love the business. If I have a conference, I may work 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night, remembering some detail I had overlooked. There are lots of little details. It pervades life. I don't go on vacation: I go on inspection tours. You are always learning."
A commissioned sales agent should negotiate with the boss first. Items to negotiate include the amount of the commission split (half of the 10 percent commission for a fairly experienced agent who does his or her own ticketing, but the amount can go higher; 25 percent for an inexperienced agent who does not do the paperwork); when it will be paid (at the time of booking, when the client pays, or after the trip); and what the agent pays for (use of computer, telephone, supplies, or nothing). You should get promises of a higher pay rate or a future salaried position in writing. Read the contract presented to you carefully, and see what it says about whose clients your clients are (whether you can take them with you if you leave the agency).
Once inside, it is easy to move up or to move over to a better position at another agency.
If you are in a position to choose among agencies to work for, there are several matters to consider. Agencies manifest the styles and character of the owner or manager. The clientele and sales volume of an agency (and therefore your own revenue) are further determined by the location, size, facilities such as computers, advertising and promotion budget, and even numbers of counselors or outside salespeople. You can tell a great deal about an agency, for example, by whether it is a storefront on Main Street or in a mall or is an upper floor in an office building; by how many computer terminals there are; by the brochures that are displayed and how they are displayed; and by the general appearance of the office.
