Meet Brigid. From feeling lost in a media career that didn’t feel right to thriving with Flight Centre Business Travel as a Travel Manager, Brigid’s journey is one filled with lasting customer relationships, continued support & opportunities for growth.
Once she completed her degree in Business & Journalism, Brigid worked a job in media and knew quickly that it wasn’t for her. Luckily a cousin of hers who was working at Flight Centre (and still does) gave her a much-needed tap on the shoulder to give working in the red & white stores a chance. From there she got her start at the Adelaide Street store in the Brisbane CBD with a team of other novice travel consultants all learning together.
“Working there was super fun & we had the best time. Adelaide Street is a really busy store, there were lots of laughs.”
Then a year and a half later, the pang to move overseas hit so she took off to backpack around Europe for nine months before landing in London. She had every intention of working for Flight Centre while in the UK, so she met with recruitment who posed an important question for Brigid; Did she want to work in retail or give working in corporate a go? Without knowing what working in corporate was like she responded with the latter and started her transition to Flight Centre Business Travel.
“There were the three of us in the team [at FCBT Angel, near Kings Cross], a business leader, a future business leader and myself. I worked there for about three and a half years and just loved corporate! Being able to transfer from Brisbane to London with Flight Centre was amazing.”
Since then, Brigid has returned home to Brisbane and continues to pursue the work she loves at FCBT as a Travel Manager. Whilst staying under the Flight Centre name there are some noticeable differences in the day-to-day when transitioning from a retail team to a specialist one. As Brigid mentions:
“In corporate, it’s all about the long game, not about one sale but an ongoing one-on-one relationship with your customers. You get to work with those same clients day in and day out, so it’s really important to have strong and positive relationships with them.”
With moving from Brisbane to London and back again, Brigid felt she received plenty of support from Flight Centre to make the opportunities happen for her. On top of that, she mentions that she has been surrounded by incredibly supportive leaders.
“You just don’t get that, everywhere. I feel like they want the best for me and they want me to succeed”
Her leaders have created an environment enabling Brigid to create goals, feel supported and be confident she is reaching her potential and continuing to grow professionally. Some of her goals led to her creating lasting memories, for example when Brigid made it to her first global conference in Berlin.
“Getting to that first Friday night party and getting to see all my old colleagues from the UK, being with my new team, seeing Kylie Minogue perform – it was like finally feeling like I’d really made it after all this work over the years, finally experiencing that big reward - that will forever be my best memory.”
For Brigid, making the transition to FCBT is one that has paved the way for career progression as well as finding a work-life balance that suits her best. As a travel manager, she comments that anyone is rarely working outside of work hours, she has the option to work from home and that overall, there is a huge range of flexible options within her team.
“Within our team, there is a lot of flexibility within the work hours as well, working from home, going to appointments, school pickup, drop off all that stuff. It just offers so much more flexibility.”
It comes as no surprise that Brigid is not shy in advising others who want to make a similar move in their travel careers. When asked what advice she would pass on to those wanting to take that first step and apply to work for a specialist team she says,
“Just go for it. It's a very different role, but if you're in it for the long haul, it's the best move you can make in terms of successfully growing your career as well as gaining a work-life balance. If you're wanting to take a step further in your career, it's a really good step up.”
Why wait? With a growing number of roles opening in our specialist team across the country, now is the time to make the move! If you consider yourself a cruise know-it-all, corporate travel legend or anything in between or are ready to take the next step in your career - don’t let this opportunity slip past you.