 Poster: A snowHead
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OK, I know the DIY fraternity will be choking on their muesli at the very thought of this, but some people go on holiday with a tour operator like Crystal, Neilson, Thomas Cook, etc and those companies employ reps.
So, we are doing interviews in a few weeks for 12 new holiday reps for the next season.
What personality traits should they have and, more importantly what questions or tests would you conceive to ascertain whether they have these traits.
What skills should they have and, again how would you find out.
What tests, situations, role play, exams, questions, etc, would you use use to find out if these people will enhance your holiday or turn out to be a pain in the ****.
etc,etc,etc
Oh and don't worry I will not use any of your ideas as they will mostly be deranged, perverted, or involve gaffer tape (or all three).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You could try asking them whether they speak the local language to any useful degree.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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What is the quickest hangover cure?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Role play......., You can be Pandoro 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Oh, we have asked groups to make a training video to give an alien (so they don't know what a kettle, cup, milk, etc is) instruction in how to make a cup of tea.
We have taken people out to a club and at midnight told them they are on transfers at 5am - when they really have a maths test.
We have asked people to interview each other for the position of rep on their last holiday
We have arranged a number of items (clothes peg, cup, dog lead, etc) on a table and they can choose one to talk about for 5 mins.
We have arranged for the hotel where the interview is taking place to get the interviewees rooms mixed and messed up
etc
etc
etc
We never get anyone to demonstrate welcome meeting as we don't do em, coz they are a waste of time. Nor do we ask that they can speak Italian – but they must be able to learn.
Oh, and there is a serious side to all of this. We spend a great deal of time on our “product”. A rep can bring a Pandora down on us very quickly. So selection is very important.
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Get them very, very drunk, first........................
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Ask the ladies for photos of themselves in bikinis?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Serious response: I love TO holidays and most value the rep's ability to get the skiing going. This means they will get lift passes and useful advice about how to get around delivered up front. I think the most impotant thing I want is a genuine enthusiasm for skiing. If you offer ski guiding, that is a really big plus. As the nerd who is expected to intantly memorise the piste map and guide everybody around, it is great to have someone to follow.
Hope this helps.
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Speaks local language well, as Lizzard suggested. I see you are not that bothered - but I expect it of a rep - and am not convinced that they are able to learn quickly.
Easy going but can think quickly in difficult situations.
Team player, but can act on own initiative, and take responsibility.
Good common sense - which may mean they don't want to be a rep on what you can afford to pay.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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1. Are they tall?
2. Do they look good?
3. Do they sound good?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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One thing I've noticed in the last few years (and yes I'm always a TO customer and usually with Crystal) is that the reps seem to be a bit older. Like my age or thereabouts. They're not gap year students, they're career holiday reps and usually work the lakes & mountains resorts in summer. Don't want to be accused to being ageist here but these people seem much more efficient, unflappable, confident and certainly have better knowledge to pass on to their customers.
I like to have everything done for me like getting my lift pass on the transfer bus, and having any questions answered before I reach the resort. Ski guiding is a bonus too, I like following a piste map myself, but it's nice to be shown where the best drink stops are.
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queen bodecia, Agreed. We had a husband and wife team in their 50s last year with Crystal in Courmayeur and they were excellent. Really made the holiday.
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You know it makes sense.
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I'd be looking for problem solving and lateral thinking skills so that they can resolve the inevitable 'issues' as quickly as possible.
But really you need to find people who will really care about your clients, from the start to the end of the season.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I'm watching this with interest as I will be booking a week with you (Wayne) very shortly for at least 7 of us.......
For me as a customer, the ability to speak the lingo isnt as important as knowledge of the local area, an easy going nature and someone who actually cares about the product/company they are representing, rather than someone who sees it as just another job, if that makes sense!? However, a 20 year old, slim, blonde female (and is preferably rather short sighted so at least I have a chance) who puts out after one glass of wine would also work for me.....
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Poster: A snowHead
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On reflection, I think it comes down to professionalism. What that means to me, is keeping a cheerful positive demeanour at all times and putting the clients first. There is a sort of feeling amongst young graduates that repping is not a "real" job and they feel a bit embarrassed about it. I have no doubt that very real graduate skills are needed and learning a professional approach is the main one.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Flexible, resourceful, independant and not a retard - they're gonna give the first proper impression so must be reasonable bright and presentable. Sounds like you've got a few good excersises already (the club one and mixing up the rooms), but do you really need to invent elaborate roleplays? Can't you jsut create actual situations to see how they fare? Ie after their five am maths test, give them a group of actors who'se flight has just landed without their skis etc.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| do you really need to invent elaborate roleplays? |
I'll let you into a little secret.
2 years ago we asked the interviewees to spend quite some time in small groups preparing a role play about something or other. To tell you the truth we didn’t really care if the role play was any good or not. We were watching the preparations, who hung back and let the rest of the team do all the work, who tried to take over and ignore everyone else, who (in one case) tried to bully the team into doing it “her” way, who genuinely had some good ideas but also listened to other people’s ideas then added value to the mix, who (in one group’s case) realised that the rest of the group weren’t up to the task and was able to bring the group up to standard. etc, etc, etc,
We have a very idiosyncratic method of dealing with client’s holidays – it’s dead simple really – leave people alone, unless there is a problem and if there is then sort it out or pass it upwards to management, this is one of the reasons that people who have worked for other companies find it difficult, as they are told that the reps is there to make people have a good holiday, We (I) think people just want to be left alone unless there is a problem or they have a question. In these cases they want someone to sort it out or give them a "correct" answer.
We don't employ ski guides.
But we do have some UIAGM (Fully Qualified) mountain guides who are also ski instructors - excellent if you want to ski off piste. But let’s not go there or the SCGB thread drift will be over whelming 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
We don't employ ski guides.
excellent if you want to ski off piste. But let’s not go there or the SCGB thread drift will be over whelming
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Oh well if did follow their example you only have to provide a tranny and simply reccomend that the punter has the rest of the kit 
The upcoming Swiss court case will be very interesting.
Wayne,
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We have a very idiosyncratic method of dealing with client’s holidays – it’s dead simple really – leave people alone, unless there is a problem
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My last few TO holidays were with Erna Low and that is their policy is well, their reps had the knack of not being in the way but there if you needed them
and the reps and managers all seemed to come back year after year.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Wayne wrote: |
| ...... leave people alone, unless there is a problem.... |
Spot on. Which is why I have almost no contact with reps when I am on a TO holiday. If I did have a problem though, it would very likely be because I did not have sufficient grip of the local language. Otherwise, in most cases, I would expect to sort the problem myself.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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You should see if savaloy joy is looking for a job after his first ski trip last year. I think he'd make a fantastic rep!!! 
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| Wayne wrote: |
We have a very idiosyncratic method of dealing with client’s holidays – it’s dead simple really – leave people alone, unless there is a problem and if there is then sort it out or pass it upwards to management, this is one of the reasons that people who have worked for other companies find it difficult, as they are told that the reps is there to make people have a good holiday, We (I) think people just want to be left alone unless there is a problem or they have a question. In these cases they want someone to sort it out or give them a "correct" answer.
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Bingo. This is the essence of a good TO in my book - sort everything out on the first day without delay or faff then leave well alone but be responsive if there is a problem e.g. lockouts, stolen kit, hospitalisations etc. No need for pub crawls, quizzes, torchlight descents, sleigh rides and other bollox. Under no circumstances should reps just make something up to fob off the punter unless its a "where do they put the moguls in summer?" type question.
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| fatbob wrote: |
| where do they put the moguls in summer? |
Doh, as everyone knows, they wake up around the end of April - as moguls are formed by flocks of hibernating sheep.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Boredsurfing wrote: |
| ...Oh well if did follow their example you only have to provide a tranny and simply reccomend that the punter has the rest of the kit... |
When I first read that I thought you were talking about transvestites and wondered what sort of TO trip you had been on in the past
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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'Nuff said
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Don't know if your reps need to be chefs/cooks as well, but for me food is critical on a holiday.
I'd just chuck them in a kitchen with half a dozen ingredients and a few of the basics, and tell them we'll be back with 10 mates in an hour. See what happens. If nothing else you might get some really good meals out of it 
Of course, if you don't do catered, this isn't such an issue, and you may as well go for the usual interview routine - one I particularly liked was a role play as part of an interview where the panel asked the half a dozen people at the assessment various questions about what they would/should do. Except everyone had a slightly different scenario in front of them. One group worked that out, another didn't. No wonder they did pretty badly, if in an hour you can't work out that the person on the other side of the table sees things differently because they've been given different info, you are likely to struggle seeing things from a clients POV on holiday when things go wrong 
As many above, I like reps to let a group get on with it and enjoy themselves, though it is important to me that once a day someone just asks "is there anything you need from me, or anything I can do to help?" - on a recent trip with Neilson my main gripe was that after arriving on Sunday we didn't see our rep until Thursday, by which time it was beyond a rescuable situation. We had endured problems with a hotel, indifferent hotel staff, ski binding failures, crap food, and a distinct lack of giving a toss when the complaints were raised.
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I'd get two groups of five bits of paper and a pile of skis and leave them in a big heap on the floor and leave a small group to sort them out. On each piece of paper is the vital statistics of two different family (5 members each) groups who are on the same ski holiday. The skis have been all mixed up and the plan is to get them to arrange the skis next to the appropriate piece of paper.
this will quickly show you who knows about skis, what kind of person would ski on a certain pair of skis, how the group work as a team sorting out a relatively simple task and most importantly, who can't be bothered doing any work at all!
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You know it makes sense.
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"...it’s dead simple really – leave people alone, unless there is a problem and if there is then sort it out or pass it upwards to management..."
That about sums up what I want from a rep'. I want someone who's well informed and can tell me whats going on. So if I ask "Is there a stop between the airport and resort?" I expect either "Yes" or "No" but not "I'm not sure I'll go and see...yes...hmm...no...erm...there's a pub crawl tomorow!?...", However if I do ask something unusual they should know that "I don't know, I'll find out." is an acceptable answer and far better than making it up.
adrian
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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for what it's worth, i value a reps enthusiasm (bit not necessarily local ski knowledge as I can find that out myself) and capacity to SORT THINGS OUT. Like help with a sick child/hungover friend/broken arm, or having sick bags on the coach. And capacity to get on with little children and grandparents, and still make the 10 hour flight delay feel better.
So I think looking at their people skills is most important. In fact reps that ski a lot might not be a good thing - they would be hard to track down when needed!
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Poster: A snowHead
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You would expect a rep to help out with sick child? You're kidding, right?
And help with a hungover friend? What would you like the rep to do, exactly?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| The Voice of Reason wrote: |
| And help with a hungover friend? What would you like the rep to do, exactly? |
Get them pissed again 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Wayne, Sounds very 80's approach. Reps are reps mate. They have a rep for being a rep. Nothing you can do about it. Pay them well, give them good amount of time off, develop them as people and let them make mistakes and be creative. I think in modern times we call it..the Human Touch.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
You would expect a rep to help out with sick child? You're kidding, right?
And help with a hungover friend? What would you like the rep to do, exactly?
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well i was trying to be a bit more encompassing than just 'help me and my family' if you know what i mean. the snowbizz reps were fantastic with our little vomiting darling (better than her father was). for a hungover friend i think i would hope for location of chemist (and perhaps someone else to take them out drinking that night...)
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| SMALLZOOKEEPER wrote: |
| Wayne, Sounds very 80's approach. Reps are reps mate. They have a rep for being a rep. Nothing you can do about it. Pay them well, give them good amount of time off, develop them as people and let them make mistakes and be creative. I think in modern times we call it..the Human Touch. |
Maybe cut and paste that into a few threads that I have seen here.
Few points about interviewing reps.
We sell a logistically complex product and the reps make up part of the logistics. If they are not suitable it will detract from the value of the rest of the operation. So we really do need to at least try and determine their suitability. Don't assume that we get the interview results right all the time, we don't. But we try and get it right as much as we can. They will be wearing our uniform and so, regardless of how long they have been with us, they will be seen as representing the company.
We don’t know these people when they turn up. We make a guess about their suitability from the application form but it really isn’t the full picture.
We only have a relatively short period to find out as much as we can about these people and from this make an assumption how they will react in a given situation – and I fully appreciate that this is an inexact art.
If we were just to ask questions such as “how well do you work in a team” the answer may be different from what we observe in a situation (however contrived) that actually requires teamwork. The same can be said of punctuality, public speaking, etc, etc (long list).
We really do need to come up with tasks that will, in our opinion, help us to determine if an interviewee will help us run high quality trips. If they will they may get a job, if they won’t they don’t get a job. It’s not the reps who will have a Pandora dropped on them: to put it bluntly it's me.
An “80's approach” would be to create a stressful atmosphere or situation to see how people react to it. We don’t – we create a relaxed atmosphere where people are assessed on how they respond to assessment criteria.
As for wages - AFAIK (may be wrong) we pay the best rates of any TO
£250 per week, plus free flights, transfers, lift pass, accommodation, meals, etc.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
If we were just to ask questions such as “how well do you work in a team” the answer may be different from what we observe in a situation (however contrived) that actually requires teamwork.
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Absolutely. There's no point asking people how well they work in a team - they're not going to tell you they're cr@p, are they? I found one useful question was to ask them for a (recent) example of a time when they had to work with other people on a joint task, giving me one example of something they felt they'd most usefully contributed, and something they'd really appreciated from someone else on the team. Got some good answers to that (and even if they were only demonstrating how fast they can make bricks without straw, that's a useful skill too).
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| Quote: |
As for wages - AFAIK (may be wrong) we pay the best rates of any TO
£250 per week, plus free flights, transfers, lift pass, accommodation, meals, etc.
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Wayne I hope you are around in 4 years time when I semi retire
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Boredsurfing,
Sorry we don't do gaffer tape 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Frosty the Snowman, Talltone, Charlatanefc, Nick C, Doctor Deepheat and myself could come over and make the role plays more interesting !
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| Smokin Joe wrote: |
| Frosty the Snowman, Talltone, Charlatanefc, Nick C, Doctor Deepheat and myself could come over and make the role plays more interesting ! |
| Wayne wrote: |
| Oh and don't worry I will not use any of your ideas as they will mostly be deranged, perverted, or involve gaffer tape (or all three). |
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FAQ
