ITC Students get ‘real’ work experience

Here is a great blog, written by one of our students who has been working at Nomads as part of his course.

“Wassup guys my names Mitch I’m currently studying Travel & Tourism at The International Travel College of NZ. At the moment I’m doing work experience at Nomads Fat Camel Backpackers Hostel and enjoying every second. I was also lucky enough to go on a free Auckland Day Trip with Stray Bus and I had the best time of my life, like OMG!
 
To begin our journey, we headed over to the Sky Tower where we played a game called Heads & Tails, lucky for me I won the game, yeaaahhhh buuddy! Winning the game meant that I had to do the Sky Jump off the Sky Tower and I thought, you know, this is nothing… but already the elevator up to the last floor was nerve racking and I couldn’t believe that I was actually jumping off the Sky Tower. Next minute I’m standing on the edge of the Sky Tower and looking down, going from “this is nothing” to “nah stuff this man, I can’t do it”!
 
But being from the North Shore, we ain’t scared of anything… just saying! After that not so scary jump we headed down to the Auckland Domain where Chucky, our Stray Bus guide, told us a story of how the land of NZ came up from the ground, I’m sure he was talking smack (kidding Chucky).
 
After that long story we cruised over to the Sir George Memorial Drive in our comfortable Stray Bus, where we all hung out, had a bit of fun and took heaps of mean photos. From there we made our way to the lovely Gables Speight’s Ale House, did some beer tasting, had a mean feed, and just chilled out having a laugh. Now that our stomachs were full, we departed the Gables Speight’s Ale House and moved to our last stop – the Harbour Bridge, where a few of the buddies (Stray Bus Passengers) got to do the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump. The walk under the bridge was awesome and the view of Auckland was just AMAZING.
 
Anyways after an awesome Auckland Day Trip, a long day of travelling and seeing mountains and seas we finally called it a day and headed back to our homes (Hostels). I want to give a big shout out to Stray Bus for the free Auckland day trip, I had an awesome time and another big shout out to The Nomads Fat Camel Backpackers Hostel Crew for giving me the opportunity. Well that’s the end of my blog I guess. Hehe!
 
Goodbye Your Mitchyboy

http://nomadshostels.com/backpackers-blog/stray-bus-auckland-day-trip-sky-tower-jump/

Distance Online Learning Career Successes

Three ITC online learning students share their stories

Sharon is working as the receptionist for Auckland Transport. The company wanted the person who took the position to have a qualification in travel and Sharon hopes to expand into other areas now the Rugby World Cup rush is over.

“I’m enjoying this position,” she says. “I’m working with a great bunch of people and my boss is just lovely. I really enjoy all the face-to-face customer interaction, so this suits me better than a call centre.”

Part of ITC’s distance online learning course is in career preparation. Sharon says: “Your help with CV writing and interviewing was invaluable. I have shared my CV with others who have been looking for jobs unsuccessfully for quite some time and were not getting interviews. As soon as they followed your fantastic pointers for a good CV they have had interviews straight away, and got the jobs as well! So thank you on behalf of my friends and myself!”

Laura in Nelson has found a job in the tourism industry.  She has some excellent advice for other students. “I applied for a job at a motel down the road from my house. They had an ad in the paper for a cleaner. When I had my interview they told me that they wanted to hire someone they could train up to do reception as well.

“I have been there since the middle of October and they have been great and taught me so much. I am now confident in answering the phone, taking bookings and checking guests in and out. My certificate from ITC has really paid off.

“I love my new job and am getting heaps of experience – and I thought I was just going to be a cleaner! My advice to other students is to take any job they are offered and let the employers know how keen they are to learn and take on more responsibilities.”

Laura from Christchurch recently found a job with House of Travel as an online consultant. “My new job is going really well. I love it! I sort out all the bookings from the website, ticketing them, informing passengers of schedule changes, assisting with flight date changes etc. It is good fun and very varied!

“I work with a great team of people, which really helps and my manager is lovely and very flexible with the roster. I work 4 days a week, 10 hours a day on shifts, which works well for me.”
ITC staff members were so pleased when Laura found this job. Laura did well in her studies, despite the fact that she lost her home in the September 2010 earthquake. After the February quake in 2011 Laura stayed with her mum in Auckland for a while. Even though this was a tough year, Laura did extremely well in her studies and received an ITC Award with Distinction.

Student Profile – Jessy Glasgow-Gavin

Recent ITC student Jessy Glasgow-Gavin certainly has the enthusiasm and passion needed for a career in the travel and tourism industry. Jessy describes herself as “a bubbly, outgoing person who loves meeting new people and researching different cultures. I also love singing and being with friends and family.”

Jessy undertook one of ITC’s distance learning courses at the suggestion of her careers advisor at Stratford High School in Taranaki. She enjoyed the course so much that, on a visit to Auckland, she jumped at the chance to visit the campus.

Jessy says that seeing the campus and the Airport Training Centre “helped me decide that this was the place for me”. The centre, which simulates a real-world airport, includes check-in desks, a customs and gate lounge, and a plane to assist with training students in in-flight service.

But what really made the decision for her was the people: “Everyone at ITC is friendly, welcoming, and gives you lots of encouragement, which for someone like me coming from a small town to a huge city was amazing – I needed that.”

Jessy is currently studying for the Certificate in Travel and Tourism Level 3 and will continue on with the Certificate in Travel and Tourism Level 4.

“The course I’m doing at ITC is so much fun,” she says; “ and I love to see all the ITC staff smiling at me as I walk through the lift doors each morning.”

Jessy has big plans for her future: “I would love to be a flight attendant or become a travel agent and explore the amazing world we live in.”

“I encourage everyone who is interested in a career in travel and tourism to go for it,” she says. “Keep up the hard work to get there, because I believe everyone can achieve what they want.”

ITC Students Graduate in Style

The International Travel College of New Zealand (ITC) celebrated its 2011 graduation in style at the Langham Hotel, Auckland.

Graduates, their family and friends, ITC staff and representatives from the travel and tourism industry enjoyed an evening with drinks and nibbles in the Langham’s luxurious Grand Ballroom. 

ITC Managing Director Kerry Priestly opened the evening, welcoming the guests to the special occasion, and Campus Managers Carla Sutton, Kirsten Leith and Michelle Chatfield also spoke throughout the evening.

The keynote speaker for the evening was Kate McCardle, the Membership Travel Services Manager for American Express. Kate began by asking the audience to close their eyes and imagine themselves packing to go on a trip, arriving at the airport and feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation. Kate said this is how she feels about the travel industry, highlighting the freedom and opportunity to meet with new people and experience new cultures.

Kate, who originally enrolled in a Bachelor of Science at university in Australia, was bitten by the travel bug when she spent several months travelling in East Africa.  On her return she left university and studied travel and tourism in Sydney. She is now in charge of over 40 staff at the American Express call centre in Auckland. Kate has just returned from a visit to American Express in Sweden to perform a benchmarking exercise on their systems and processes. American Express customers recently voted Sweden first for customer service; New Zealand was second and Kate wanted to find out where they could improve.

“That level of commitment to being the best, and being excited about being the best was so inspirational for our graduates. The fact that Kate got to travel to Sweden and back via a conference in Monte Carlo and a trip to the UK also helped!” says ITC Marketing Director Claire Huxley.

As well as the graduation certificates, the following awards were given for special achievements:
Outstanding Academic Achievement: Harpreet Kaur (Distance Learning)
Outstanding All Round Achievement: Samantha Hunt (Botany) and Jayne Whitford (City)
Personal Achievement: Barbara Davis (Distance Learning) and Brooke Chapman (Botany)
Academic Excellence: Juanita Matila (Botany) and Ashleigh Beaufoy (City)
College Life: Sera Naitoko (Botany) and Robert Koto (City)
Student of the Year: Ruth Barlett from (Botany) and Cristina Traczinski (City)

ITC provided two professional photographers for the evening who busily snapped the graduates with their families and receiving their certificates. Graduates will all receive a free DVD containing photos from the evening.

Congratulations to all this year’s graduates, and a very big thank you to ITC’s Student Services Advisor Toni Waterhouse, who organised this wonderful event.

A special thank you to the Langham Hotel, the major sponsor for the evening, and to all our other sponsors: Thrifty , Intercity, Nomads , Rainbows End, Fullers , Citylife/Heritage , YHA , AJ Hackett ,  Explore NZ  and Stray .

The International Travel College of New Zealand has campuses in Botany and central Auckland, as well as offering courses by distance and online learning. They have been the premium supplier of full-time and part-time training programmes for the airline, travel and tourism industries since 1996.

Cristina a Top Performer at ITC

On Friday 22 July, International Travel College of New Zealand student Cristina Traczinski received some wonderful news. She had just been named as the student with the best performance in the country for the IATA Foundation and EBT Course.

The course is administered by the IATA Training and Development Institute (ITDI), the training arm of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – an international trade body that represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic.

The International Travel College of New Zealand is an IATA Authorized Training Center (ATC), which allows it to teach the IATA Travel and Tourism and Aviation training programmes. Cristina completed the ITDI course as part of International Diploma in Tourism Management.

“We’re so proud of Cristina,” says ITC’s Managing Director Kerry Priestley. “This is an exceptional achievement and will stand her in good stead in her career.”

The letter telling Cristina of her achievement came from Ismail Albaidhani, Head of Distance Learning at IATA in Canada. It congratulates her on her performance and tells her that she may use the letter as a reference for any future job application.

Not that she needs it just yet; Cristina has just also found out that she is to start her first role in the travel and tourism industry on 1 August at travel consultancy BTI.

“What a success story!” says Kerry. “Cristina is a stand-out example of the kind of momentum that builds once people really set their sights on a dream. We work hard to give our students the training, the experience and the industry contacts to realise their dream, but in the end they have to give it their best shot – and that is exactly what Cristina has done.”

Congratulations to Cristina from all her classmates and the staff at ITC.

ITC has been a premium supplier of full-time and part-time training programmes for the airline, travel and tourism industries since 1996, and has campuses in Botany and central Auckland.