INTERNATIONAL. Travel retail recruitment expert Jilly Brocklebank, Director of UK company One Red Kite, reached out to the people of the travel retail industry today with a highly-engaging talk at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo.
In a heart-warming presentation, Brocklebank addressed the subject of how the pandemic has changed the thinking of people in the industry. In particular, their attitudes towards, and preferences for, employment, not least those who now find themselves out of travel retail work through no fault of their own.
Brocklebank also spoke of her passion for the industry and her empathy for what everyone involved with it has been through since COVID-19 struck, and how they now feel as things start to move back towards normality.
She said: “I started my career in travel retail over 20 years ago, when I began working at Heathrow Airport for World Duty Free. It was the most amazing experience – fascinating, challenging, hard work, but ultimately it was the most rewarding job I think I’ve ever had. That’s when I fell in love with travel retail.
“I’ve been completely passionate about it ever since; there’s nothing like the buzz of being in airports or cruise ships, and experiencing what passengers are seeing. It’s just a whole fascinating experience – I absolutely love it. And I’m very lucky to work in it still.”
Brocklebank, who has been focusing on her travel retail recruitment service for the past four years, went on to explore what the pandemic means for the future in terms of recruiting for employers and candidates.
Finishing on an upbeat note, she said: “The future of recruitment in the travel retail industry is going to be cautious and steady as the cruise ships get back out there and the aeroplanes fly again.
“I’m always positive and I am sure our industry will get back to where we were. I think it’s going to take some time but our people have the resilience, adaptability and agility to achieve it.”
As well as providing recruitment services to the travel retail industry, One Red Kite offers other travel retail-focused services including data management, bespoke mystery shopping and category management.
Watch Jilly Brocklebank’s presentation in full by clicking the video below.
