Careers

Careers at Canadian Affair

Canadian Affair is the leading tour operator selling tailor made packages to Canada. Want to be the best in the travel industry? We are!

So if you are looking to join one of the most dynamic and hard working teams, then read on.

We have a passion for Canada, selling, being the very best as well as enjoying our jobs. Canadian Affair knows how to look after its staff, so you'll enjoy a great salary and benefits package that includes staff travel, contributory pension scheme and private health care and progression is always possible.

As highlighted in the Plimsoll Portfolio Analysis of the top 1500 travel companies Canadian Affair are ranked as follows:

• • Sales/employee 4th place
• • Remuneration/employee 8th place
• • Sales growth 29th place
• • Pre tax profits 30th place
• • Overall Canadian Affair are among the top 50 companies listed as best trading partner.

So think you fit the bill? Want a new challenge? Are prepared to work hard and reap the benefits? Then send us your CV to (careersUK@transat.com) and perhaps you could be joining our dedicated team soon!

Please note that due to the anticipated high level of demand it may not be possible to respond to all applications.

Sales Consultant

Our offer to you:

Realistic earnings potential of £37.5K+ (uncapped commission), in addition to excellent pension scheme, private health insurance, a superb staff travel programme (starting with up-to 2 confirmed flight tickets after 1 year of service; unlimited stand-by flight tickets after 6 months service; heavy discounting on hotels, tours, cruises, all-inclusive packages etc) and much more. Homeworking an option.

The Role:

• • We are looking for experienced full-time passionate sellers with excellent knowledge of Canada.
• • The successful candidate will have a flair for selling and inspiring a dream in their customers.
• • They must be willing to work hard, be a proven team player and very self-motivated with the experience of delivering their targets in a challenging travel industry.
• • They will be experienced in handling customer requirements whilst still able to stay motivated to sell.
• • You need to be organised and able to manage your own diary day to day, always putting your customer first.
• • Able to learn quickly, use initiative and respond well to feedback.

Key responsibilities:

• • To be inspired by the customer’s ideas for what they want from their holiday and to be able to translate that into an actual recommendation for a holiday;
• • To be passionate on every call about the brand and the product we sell;
• • To be able to build rapport on every call and see every call as an opportunity for you and your customer;
• • An understanding of selling principles and to be able to close the deal;
• • To be focused and driven to achieve targets;
• • To maintain a positive mind-set to overcome challenges and barriers to selling;
• • To fulfil admin duties aligned to the sales role.

Skills ⁄ Experience ⁄ Requirements:

• • Strong selling skills
• • High achiever
• • Strong customer service
• • Strong influencing skills with the ability to persuade the customer to buy
• • Pro-active and able to manage own workload effectively
• • Able to communicate confidently and enthusiastically (both verbally and in writing)
• • Agile and open to change at short notice
• • Able to work well under pressure
• • Attention to detail
• • Strong numeracy
• • Strong IT ⁄ Systems skills and experience, and experience of travel and GDS booking systems (preferably Galileo)
• • Able to multitask
• • Experienced seller of holidays
• • Passionate about Canada
• • Experience in the contact centre environment required
• • Excellent organisational skills
• • An ability to cope with potentially conflicting demands

Shift pattern, 37.5 hr working week. Mon – Fri, shift patterns 09:00 - 17:30hrs or 10:00 – 18:30hrs; Sat – 10:00-16:00hrs (every 3rd Saturday).

To apply: Please email your CV to: careers@canadianaffair.com

Assistant Product Manager

Job Description

We are looking for an accomplished Assistant Product Manager to join our expanding US Brand, American Affair. American Affair is a fast-expanding sister brand of the highly regarded and major Canadian market Tour Operator, Canadian Affair. The successful candidate will work in collaboration with the Product Manager and the rest of the team to develop the USA brand, American Affair. Broadly speaking the role is a balance of product and commercial responsibilities. The successful candidate will join our team at an exciting phase as we rapidly expand the growth of our brand.

Applying for this position will mean you are able to balance teamwork with working independently in a fast paced & forward-thinking environment. The position requires the ability to verify the products competitivity in the marketplace, hands-on copy writing responsibilities and introduce new opportunities to the market.

Scope of work

In more detail, the role requires expert product knowledge of the US for FIT tailor-made touring holidays Tour Operating market for airline and ground products, analysis of product & price to establish position in the UK Tour Operating market. Product infrastructure management including product loading and auditing tasks, ad-hoc product pricing & web content management and content writing. Also, you will be part of a team maintaining supplier relationships and attending events and conferences on behalf of American Affair.

Key Requirements/Responsibilities

• An excellent product understanding of the US Tour Operating market for a FIT, tailor-made touring product covering both land and air suppliers. Providing pricing and knowledge guidance.

• Thorough understanding of the US supply chain for the UK Tour Operating market.

• Experienced in product related copy writing for marketing and product promotion, e.g. itineraries for website, PR, training communications. Updating all product information on our in-house system ensuring prices and inventory are loaded in a timely fashion.

• Display Commercial acumen in identifying trends and opportunities through reporting & supplier contact. Analyse competitor’s products & pricing to ensure we offer the best product & price proposition. Provide product content and pricing for marketing campaigns.

• Responsibility for producing commercial reporting.

• Ensure all products are correctly displayed and bookable on-line. Updating product information for the website on our inhouse content management system. Develop new products and review/change/update existing products.

• Experience in conducting a commercial review to verify product & price integrity.

• Build contacts in the industry and be able to attend events out of usual office hours.

• Experienced in working with other inter-company departments and external contacts to communicate initiatives to customers and keep sales team.

• Communicate product changes and any product issues during the season to the rest of the business.

• Develop sales tactics with the marketing team.

• Co-ordinate product training for sales staff including familiarisation trips.

• Work closely with the Finance team to ensure proper set up of all payment terms for suppliers.

• Assist the Customer Service team on any land product customer issues, liaising with suppliers.

Key Skills

• Excellent written, including copy writing, and oral communications skills with strong inter-personal skills.

• Have a discussive personality able to understand company goals, assist the Product Manager with product initiatives and provide own ideas for debate in a commercially constructive manner.

• Strong team player.

• Superb decision maker.

• Ability to develop & maintain strong relationships and work with all internal departments and external suppliers.

• Strong problem solving and analytical thinking skills.

• Ability to work effectively under pressure, react quickly and meet tight deadlines.

• Advance level of Microsoft Excel & Word

Your normal hours of work are 09:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday.

To apply: Please email your CV to: careers@canadianaffair.com

Product Executive

Job Description

We are looking for an accomplished Product Executive to join our expanding US Brand. We are looking to recruit a Product Executive to join our team at an exciting time as we develop our USA brand, American Affair. If you have experience in a product role in the US, join our team as we fast-track the growth of our brand.

You must be willing to work independently in a fast paced & forward-thinking environment. The position requires work to be completed to deadlines & awareness of the part, the Product department plays in getting our flight & holiday products to market.

Scope of work

The role requires US expertise for airline and ground product providing product & price analysis, ad-hoc product pricing, supplier contract loading & auditing, selling system & web content management & maintaining relationships with internal departments & suppliers.

Responsibilities

• Providing scheduled and leisure airline pricing, product & ticketing information for booking requests.

• Updating all product information on our in-house system ensuring prices and inventory are loaded in a timely fashion.

• Analyse competitor’s products & pricing to ensure we offer the best product & price proposition.

• Help develop new products and review/change/update existing products.

• Ensure all products are correctly displayed and bookable on line. Updating product information for the website on our inhouse content management system.

• Manage day to day queries and general communication with suppliers & internal customers.

• Help plan & execute strategies to maximise sales and margin across the product range.

• Provide the product content and pricing for marketing material and tactical marketing campaigns.

• Communicate all product offers to the marketing and sales team.

• Communicate product changes and any product issues during the season to the rest of the business.

• Develop sales tactics with the marketing team.

• Co-ordinate product training for sales staff including familiarisation trips.

• Work closely with the Finance team to ensure proper set up of all payment terms for suppliers.

• Assist the Customer Service team on any land product customer issues, liaising with suppliers.

Key Skills

• Excellent written and oral communications skills.

• Strong team player.

• Superb decision maker.

• Ability to develop & maintain strong relationships and work with all internal departments and external suppliers.

• Strong problem solving and analytical thinking skills.

• Ability to work effectively under pressure, react quickly and meet tight deadlines.

• Advance level of Microsoft Excel & Word.

Your normal hours of work are 09:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday.

To apply: Please email your CV to: careers@canadianaffair.com

Team Leader – American Affair

We are currently seeking an experienced Team Leader with a travel industry background to join our American Affair contact centre team, on a full-time basis.

Role & Responsibilities:

• Lead, monitor and motivate a team of North America specialist sales consultants

• Conduct monthly 121s and team meetings

• Conduct bi-annual performance reviews

• Delegate and assist in the management of individual and team workload

• Identify strength and opportunity areas to then coach, mentor and develop individuals to consistently perform to the best of their ability (2 coaching sessions per person, per month)

• Monitor/review calls and emails, ensuring timely feedback is provided

• Drive team engagement and organise team incentives and initiatives

• Provide day to day support via online communication channels

• Confidently manage absence and performance concerns, and participate in investigation and/or disciplinary processes when required

• Manage team leader inbox and effectively handle customer complaints

• Communicate company and team goals, and ensure individuals are aligned with our mission & values

• Work with CCM to understand wider call centre operation & expectations

Experience Required:

• Previous experience managing travel sales teams, preferably within a contact centre environment

• North America destination knowledge would be a strong advantage

• Proficient GDS experience – GAL would be preferable

• Strong background in performance management, coaching and mentoring

• A firm understanding of core contact centre metrics and data visualization

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build trusting relationships with colleagues

• Ability to motivate teams and lead by example

• Confident in providing feedback, delegating, and holding vital or difficult discussions

• Flexible and able to manage and communicate change

To apply: Please email your CV to: careers@canadianaffair.com

Team Leader – Canadian Affair

We are currently seeking an experienced Team Leader with a travel industry background to join our Canadian Affair contact centre team, on a full-time basis.

Role & Responsibilities:

• Lead, monitor and motivate a team of Canada specialist sales consultants

• Conduct monthly 121s and team meetings

• Conduct bi-annual performance reviews

• Delegate and assist in the management of individual and team workload

• Identify strength and opportunity areas to then coach, mentor and develop individuals to consistently perform to the best of their ability (2 coaching sessions per person, per month)

• Monitor/review calls and emails, ensuring timely feedback is provided

• Drive team engagement and organise team incentives and initiatives

• Provide day to day support via online communication channels

• Confidently manage absence and performance concerns, and participate in investigation and/or disciplinary processes when required

• Manage team leader inbox and effectively handle customer complaints

• Communicate company and team goals, and ensure individuals are aligned with our mission & values

• Work with CCM to understand wider call centre operation & expectations

Experience Required:

• Previous experience managing travel sales teams, preferably within a contact centre environment

• Canada destination knowledge would be a strong advantage

• Proficient GDS experience – GAL would be preferable

• Strong background in performance management, coaching and mentoring

• A firm understanding of core contact centre metrics and data visualization

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build trusting relationships with colleagues

• Ability to motivate teams and lead by example

• Confident in providing feedback, delegating, and holding vital or difficult discussions

• Flexible and able to manage and communicate change

To apply: Please email your CV to: careers@canadianaffair.com

QA Specialist

We are currently seeking an experienced QA and support specialist to join our contact centre on a full-time basis.

Role & Responsibilities:

• Develop & maintain sales call centre quality standards

• Review sales consultant contacts (both phone and email) to identify opportunity areas and training/coaching needs

• Accompany evaluations with constructive feedback and actionable insights

• Meet regularly with the call centre manager and team coaches to discuss and explain feedback

• Create and present reports that reflect both individual and team QA performance

• Hold and participate in calibration sessions to drive consistency in evaluations and performance

• Participate in the delivery of coaching where required/when related to QA findings

• Contribute to the overall team culture in a positive manner

Experience Required:

• Contact centre experience – sales and/or customer service

• Hands-on experience in quality assurance including creating/defining framework

• Great people skills and the ability to communicate feedback both positive and negative

• Strong organisational skills and ability to create meaningful strategies to improve policies and processes

• Understanding of core call centre metrics and data visualization

• Confidence in leading meetings and calibrations

• Detail-orientated with high levels of accuracy

• Competent use of full Microsoft suite

• Background in travel would be an advantage

To apply: Please email your CV to: careers@canadianaffair.com