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Jul.24,2010 So you want to be tour and travel guide and you want to be one fast?
It’s certainly a lot of fun and you’ll be able to meet tons of interesting people!
You must be aware of the responsibilities of working as a tour guide. The responsibilities will vary with the tour and the company but in general, here’s what to expect:
Organizing the group is one major responsibility. To go along with your organizational skills, you must also possess interpersonal and public speaking skills. You will need to meet with clients and explain the itinerary and schedule, making sure that everyone in the party is clear with the instructions and agenda.
Tour guides must also be able to handle emergency situations. Trips can have sudden changes and conflicts. It will sure test your management capabilities. And you should be able to process things with confidence and composure.
Making the trip enjoyable, entertaining, informative, and fun for clients is also your main mission. For this reason, tour and travel guides must have solid people skills.
Now that you have a general understanding of tour guides responsibilities, let me share to you the ways to improve your chances of landing that job.
The main objective is to showcase your qualifications and make your resume more appealing. The ways to do this is to educate your self and get some training relevant to the job. Attend some tour directing and management training and get certified. This will enhance your qualification immensely. Educate yourself and become an expert in history, geography, and in any field of study applicable to your chosen type of tour. Learning different languages is also a great way of improving your chances. Your resume should highlight your skills and training. This type of job is highly competitive.
Next is finding tour companies. It is better to find companies that have packaged tours in places very familiar to you. Explore opportunities close to home first; the job is relatively easy, especially if you have lived in the area for any significant length of time. But you will most probably favor other locations, which is fine; after all, most people want this job because of the travel opportunities.
Go online and research for tour companies outside of your hometown. There are a lot of them out there. Next, you should identify the tour companies you want to work with. Research each company and determine their corporate goals and see if you can find out any special skills they covet. Modify your resumes accordingly.
Submit cover letters and be persistent by following up on all of your applications. You can follow up with phone calls and even via snail mail. If you can physically go to the companiesí offices, please do so. Recruiters will probably like your determination.
Follow these steps and you will get that tour and travel guide job you greatly desire.
Tags : Become, Composure, Confidence, Conflicts, Emergency Situations, Geography, Guide, Itinerary, Job Management, Learning Different Languages, Learning Languages, Main Objective, Making Sure That Everyone, Management Capabilities, Management Training, Organizational Skills, Public Speaking Skills, Quickly, Resume, Showcase, Sudden Changes, Tour, Travel, Travel Guide, Travel Guides
