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Imagine having a career that would take you to the skies, travelling the globe and immersing yourself in tourism cultures across the world. For former Worcester College of Technology student Tom Bray, he planned on making that dream into reality, embarking on a travel and tourism course with the College, but little did Tom know that whilst his career would take flight, he’d end up gaining so much more.

Tom joined the College in 2012 and dove headfirst into the travel and tourism industry developing skills and knowledge in administration, foreign exchange customer service, communication, teamwork, presentation, time keeping and problem-solving.

When discussing why he chose to study at college, Tom said:

“I wanted to study at college to further my education, improve skills that I already had, learn new ones and educate myself more about the industry I was planning on working in. It gave me a real insight to what the industry was really like, from the uniform standards that were set for our course, the facilities that we had (mockup aircraft) the chance to work within Spires Travel and learn about retail and the trips/visits we got to attend really helped us learn more about the industry. It was also great, to have Lecturers like Bridget Robinson, Jane Oakes and Lee Kloos - who had all worked within the Travel Industry in all areas of our course.”

Post-college, Tom decided to venture into the hospitality industry utilising his transferrable skills for the following two to three years before embarking on an exciting career in sales in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham. During this role he became a Rolex Retail Representative and Specialist Diamond Sales Executive, selling diamonds, diamond jewellery, precious metals, and designer watches; gaining a wealth of customer service skills over 18 months that then saw Tom journey back to the travel and tourism industry.

Tom’s career then truly took off when he became Cabin Crew for Jet2. For the next two years Tom flew as Cabin Crew, progressing to a Senior Cabin Crew Member and Communications Representative for the Crew Workforce at Birmingham Airport. In his Communications Representative role Tom was trained for legal elements like disciplinary procedures, HR policy reviews, fact find meetings, annual reviews, performance related issues, health & safety matters and if the Cabin Crew workforce had suggestions, he took this to meetings at their head office in Leeds raising concerns to those who could make a change.

Within his career at Jet2 Tom also took on the role as Sales Champion, working closely with Inflight Retail Directors who were the buyers for the airline's duty-free range. In this role, Tom would discuss things with HMRC and how they as a team could improve customs and declarations forms for Cabin Crew. They also looked at new range items, like perfumes, watches, duty free alcohol and other duty-free items.

So, where is Tom now?

Tom is still very much putting his transferrable skills into practice now working in Commercial Sales with Industrial Equipment, selling obsolete items, parts, and old machinery to huge companies across the globe.

Tom’s journey is an excellent example of how vital the transferable skills learnt on a college course are. His ability to carry forward and further develop skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, presentation, and customer service has been instrumental in his success across many professional roles.