Commercial School Leaver Review

I joined TUI on the School Leaver Scheme, my role was to spend the 1st year of the scheme as a Product Assistant within the Product department, followed by the 2nd year as a purchasing assistant within the Purchasing department. As a product assistant I spent a lot of my time supporting the Pricing team in order to get our holidays on sale when we launched our new summer & winter programmes. I also spent some time with the product team supporting the product side of things which included anything from reviewing destinations for the programme & reviewing our hotel content online to following processes to get our holidays priced and ready to go on sale. During my time within the product team I liaised with departments all around the business, from Trading departments to Purchasing departments to PR departments. After I spent a year in product I moved to the Purchasing department for the 2nd year of the programme. As a purchasing assistant I supported the purchasing managers and other senior management in making agreements & contracts for the hotels we send our customers too. I spent a lot of time working on legal contracts & liaising with hoteliers, I also spent a lot of time liaising with the product departments from across TUI Group to ensure the product they wanted to sell to their customers was what we were purchasing. In this role you get to liaise with departments from all over the business based in all locations of the world! There is also the opportunity liaise with hoteliers and staff based in our resorts.

I have certainly developed a lot of skills since joining TUI. Working for such a large fast paced business means you speak to people from all areas of the business daily, this has certainly helped me improve my communications skills whether this is face to face or over the phone. I feel my confidence has grown loads and I have the confidence to put forward my opinions or views in a professional manner. I have taken part in various internal training courses stretching from Excel to courses to learn about how other departments work and what goes on within them. There is always support for us to learn more & develop!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time on The School Leaver Scheme, I would recommend it to anyone! I really enjoyed the work and the opportunities given in my day to day role. There is also lots of enjoyment to be had outside of the day job, there is always something going on in the office if you are interested, team nights out, quiz events, you name it!

I have always felt very valued as an employee for TUI. There are all sorts of Internal Recognition programmes depending on what department you are in and all sorts of reward schemes to recognise employees.

The programme is very well structured. The particular programme I was on was set up so I spent 1 year each with 2 different departments which really worked. I got to see how the two departments worked together and experience the work they did from each side and how each department input into the process.

There is lots of support given to those in the programme. All School Leavers are assigned a buddy, which is one of the previous School Leavers from previous years. Your buddy is there to guide you and act as support for any questions you may have. It’s really good because they are of a similar age and have been through the scheme themselves, any questions you may have they’ve been there and done it! Your line manager is also a great support throughout the scheme, I had regular catch ups with mine to discuss work, how things were going as well as things like where you would like to develop and how they could help you do this.

There is lots of support given to those in the programme. All School Leavers are assigned a buddy, which is one of the previous School Leavers from previous years. Your buddy is there to guide you and act as support for any questions you may have. It’s really good because they are of a similar age and have been through the scheme themselves, any questions you may have they’ve been there and done it! Your line manager is also a great support throughout the scheme, I had regular catch ups with mine to discuss work, how things were going as well as things like where you would like to develop and how they could help you do this.

The salary is really competitive and is great for a School Leaver Programme. There is a base salary for the programme and as you progress through the 2 year scheme there is set points for your progress to be reviewed and opportunities for pay increases. Working for a travel company means there is also some perks for you to spend on holidays too! The company run a scheme which as part of your package you get money to spend on our holidays, the amount is dependent on you length of service but something as a School Leaver you are eligible for!

There are loads of opportunities outside of work! The one that stands out to me is Project Discovery, this is a charity project the company run yearly for employees to carry out some charity work in one of our destinations. I applied for the project and went to Kenya for 2 weeks to help support a project working with The Travel Foundation & the local beach operators. It was the best 2 weeks ever and it was really great to give something back. The 2 week programmes are company supported so you don’t need to take annual leave either!

Yes

I would recommend TUI because it’s a really fun place to work. There is always something going on in the office and there are always opportunities for you to get involved in a new project should you wish too. Making holidays is a really fun concept and something I am proud to be a part of!

My advice would be to do it, apply! The application process is straight forward and if you have been applying for other roles the questions on online applications get easier to answer each time and in the end the answers will just come to you! After an online application and a telephone interview TUI run an assessment day which sounds big and scary but don’t be afraid! It’s a really great opportunity to get a feel for the office and meet some of the amazing people who work here.