Job Description

STC Expeditions - Job description

The position: Travel Operations & Sales Support Assistant

Contract and hours:

Permanent - Full Time or Part Time (starting June 2025, or as soon after as possible). For full time roles - Monday to Friday initial 5 day week (38 hours), moving to 4 day week (80% hours, 100% pay) after 6 month probationary period. For part time role exact hours of work can be flexible for the right candidate. This role would suit someone looking to start a career in travel and tourism or a candidate looking to return to work after a period of absence or trying to fit work in around caring responsibilities. We are happy to be flexible for the right person but we do want someone who can work from the office.

Salary: Hourly or Salary depending on candidate

Reporting to:

Operations Manager/ Sales Manager

Location:

Central Exeter

Benefits:

For full time roles we are a certified

4 day week

employer. After an initial 5 day week probationary period, you will move to a 4 day week (80% hours) on full (100%) pay. For more information on our 4 day week, see https://www.thestc.co.uk/blog/4-is-the-magic-number. Pension

:

We contribute to staff pensions in line with our obligations under the workplace pension scheme. Holiday: 5 weeks holiday (plus bank holidays) (this equates to 20 days holiday once on 4 day week). Worldwide Travel Insurance (annual policy). Annual CPD Budget Outdoor Kit discounts Working in the wonderful city of Exeter
This is an exciting opportunity to join a small, dynamic and specialist adventure travel company. STC Expeditions specialise in school expeditions and educational adventures. We are a leader in the field of responsible tourism and ethical travel and take great pride in designing and delivering inspiring, challenging and carefully crafted travel experiences that push boundaries. Our aim is to open our clients' eyes to the amazing world around us, educating and inspiring them to be changemakers. We are looking for a superstar Operations and Sales support assistant to join our busy team. This role would suit someone looking to start a career in travel and tourism but may also suit a candidate looking to return to work after a period of absence or wanting to fit a role around caring responsibilities.

Working closely with the Operations Manager and Sales Manager, you will be responsible for preparing and producing detailed documentation relating to our trips, ensuring the company and our clients have the correct information and that all pre-travel checks have been completed in a timely manner. In addition there will be other duties supporting the sales function.

This is a critical administrative role and the successful candidate will need excellent organisational skills, an ability to work methodically on operational critical data and to have a hawk-like eye for spotting errors. if you can spot an incorrect phone number from 50 metres, or have an in-built radar to detect flight schedule changes on an email, then we want to speak to you. So too is an empathetic and tactful telephone manner as the role involves talking to teachers, school senior management, parents and occasionally young people.

An interest and passion for travel and adventure is desirable. Some of our trips take two years to plan, so the role will particularly appeal to those who enjoy working on long term projects. We are a small team, but work in a lively, open plan office, with lots going on.

Main Tasks and skill requirements

Operations/Sales Customer support and administration

Provide on-going support and assistance to clients and the operations team throughout the build up to trip departures. This involves providing high levels of customer service, always going the extra mile and working in a busy team environment.

Produce correspondence, emails, letters and trip information to a high standard of accuracy, sometimes under significant time pressure.

Proof reading of itineraries and other documents.

Liaise with medical consultant, schools and parents with regard to confidential medical conditions and individual management plans.

Support the Operations Manager in planning for specific medical conditions.

Checking of passport details and other personal information and ensuring all tasks and issues are followed up diligently.

Managing confidential information within GDPR guidelines.

Preparing final travel packs, medical kits, emergency response plans and flight tickets.

Create tailored trip documentation from existing templates using our bespoke database.

Collaborate with the sales team to develop professional presentations for existing and prospective schools.

Support the creation of bespoke expedition and educational trip itineraries, ensuring alignment with educational objectives and logistical feasibility.

Create engaging social media content to showcase destinations, highlight past trips, and promote opportunities to schools and students.

Produce promotional materials to assist teachers in generating interest and support for trips within their schools.

Communicate with travel suppliers and ground operators to obtain competitive quotations and confirm availability .

Provide excellent customer service to teachers, parents and guardians over the phone, addressing questions related to trip bookings .

Manage day-to-day administrative tasks related to school travel, including booking confirmations, data entry, document preparation, and tracking of trip paperwork.

Maintain accurate records of trip proposals, supplier communications, and customer interactions using internal CRM systems and databases.

Stay informed on educational travel trends and school requirements to ensure all materials and itineraries remain relevant and appealing to educational institutions.

Support the broader marketing and sales team during seasonal peaks or promotional campaigns as needed.

To act as brand ambassador for STC Expeditions, positively promoting our core USPs and company ethos.

Undertake all other tasks as may reasonably be required in order to meet the varying demands of the Company.

Additional roles:

In addition to your main role, and for the right candidate, there is the possibility to get involved in other aspects of the business, including:

Health & Safety, risk assessments and crisis management

Marketing, blog writing and website management

Operations duty rota, when clients are abroad. We employee the services of Pharos Response to manage the front line of our crisis handling, but a duty rota of operations staff is still required to manage minor incidents and operational issues. Whilst unlikely to be called upon, this will involve being on call 24 hours a day, so will involve unsociable hours, evenings and weekends. Appropriate training in crisis response will be given. Depending on the candidate possible overseas visits to operations teams around the world, itinerary development, risk assessments, leader training, volunteer project development and management.

What skills are we looking for from you?

Advanced knowledge of MS Office (primarily Word, Excel and Outlook and to a lesser degree, PowerPoint, MS Access and Publisher)

A high degree of accuracy, attention to detail and a methodical approach to work.

Confident and friendly telephone manner

High level of tact and discretion

Team player

Ability to build effective working relationships with our partners all over the world.

Persistence and drive to reach objectives, as well as resilience and the ability to work autonomously are key skills for this job.

Excellent written and spoken English is essential.

Effective time management and ability to work accurately under pressure.

A patient and empathetic attitude, with the ability to build long term relationships with clients and external organisations.

Comfortable in dealing with people at all levels.

Problem solving skills and the ability to think 'outside of the box'.

The confidence to question systems, consistently look for ways to improve procedures and products and to make the most of opportunities.

Commitment to the job and to the ethos and goals of the company.

Training and CPD

:

Training on in-house procedures, systems, software packages, and job specific tasks will be given. Occasional external training courses may also be required, for which the company would pay. All staff receive an annual CPD budget which can be used on a wide range of work related and personal development skills.

The job will involve telephone and email contact with:

Schools, Teachers, Parents, Students, our independent Medical Advisor and overseas tour operators.

Equal opportunities for all

The Specialist Travel Consultancy (trading as STC Expeditions) is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at STC Expeditions are based on business needs, job requirements and individual merit, without regard to disability, age, ethnic or national origin, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, family or parental status. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics and encourage applicants of all ages.

How to apply - Please use your own words and do not use AI

.

Please submit a CV to the following address: info@thestc.co.uk with a covering letter explaining why we should employ you for the role, where you think you strengths lie and where you believe you could improve. We will endeavour to respond to ALL applicants, however, we expect a high volume of responses, and a response may not be in a timescale that we would normally hope for.

Job Types: Part-time, Permanent, Temporary, Temp to perm
Contract length: 6 months

Pay: 24,000.00-26,000.00 per year

Expected hours: 24 - 37.5 per week

Benefits:

Additional leave Bereavement leave Casual dress Company events Company pension Employee discount Sick pay
Schedule:

Flexitime Monday to Friday No weekends
Work Location: In person

Reference ID: Ops and Sales
Expected start date: 01/09/2025