Travel Counsellors is set to welcome more than 30 former Thomas Cook employees to launch new leisure travel businesses from home or shared office spaces before the end of next month.
The independent travel company has also recruited two former Thomas Cook regional managers to facilitate a smooth transition for new business owners.
Darren Bien, previously Birmingham and Bristol regional sales manager, and Jayne Marlor, previously Manchester central regional sales manager from Thomas Cook, have both taken up roles as TC liaison officers at Travel Counsellors.
Having worked for Thomas Cook for a combined period of 61 years, Bien and Marlor?s new roles include helping ex-colleagues to consider all of the career options available to them across the industry.
The company has confirmed its running back-to-back induction courses over the next two months to meet the demand from experienced travel professionals who lost their jobs due to Thomas Cook's collapse.
Bien said: ?It?s been fantastic to be able to continue to support my fellow colleagues from Thomas Cook in my new role at Travel Counsellors. Our teams meant the world to us ? they were and always will be our family. I continue to feel a strong connection and responsibility to the brilliant people I worked with for many years, and both Jayne and I have been in touch with hundreds of our colleagues to not only help them to consider the opportunities available to them at Travel Counsellors, but encourage them to take the time to pause and reflect on their next career move, wherever this may take them.?
Marlor added: ?I have been absolutely blown away by the warm welcome we?ve received at Travel Counsellors, and the strong ethos of care that runs through the heart of the company community. It?s also opened my eyes to the idea that running a business from a home doesn?t mean that you are working alone. There is huge sense of team spirit fostered between the Manchester support team and Travel Counsellor business owners across the UK and beyond, as well as individual Travel Counsellors working together on local and regional levels. It?s truly been a great experience to witness first-hand.?
Steve Byrne, CEO of Travel Counsellors said: ?With 20% of Travel Counsellor business owners already hailing from the Thomas Cook community in the last five years, we?re keen to ensure new joiners feel at home.
?We feel a real synergy between the customer-first focus our new business owners from Thomas Cook hold dear, and the people-first approach we champion at Travel Counsellors, nurturing a community of like-minded, caring travel professionals who support and look out for each other, and our customers.
?For the new Travel Counsellors who have already joined from Thomas Cook, and for those set to attend our induction courses and launch their new businesses over the next few weeks, we are only too pleased, and very humbled by the fact that they can now feel safe, secure and positive about their future in travel again.?
