Travel Agent Resume Sample

If you’ve always wanted to pursue a career in the travel industry, now’s the right time to do it. As most countries drop pandemic restrictions, international travel has quickly been picking back up, and more travelers are ready to venture away from home.

But that doesn’t mean becoming a travel agent will be easy. You’ll need a strong application to compete with similarly qualified applicants.

Here are three writing tips to help you write a job-winning travel agent resume.

1. Create a strong travel agent resume objective

Think of your resume objective as your elevator pitch to employers. A good resume objective gives a general overview of who you are as an employee by highlighting your experience, skills, and professional goals.

With dozens if not hundreds of other applications to consider, a great resume objective helps catch the attention of employers and inspires them to keep reading your resume.

Summarize your years of experience, education, notable achievements, and the most relevant skills you can offer. Additionally, include a mix of hard and soft skills to demonstrate you have both the technical know-how as well as the people skills and qualifications required to excel in your future role.

To get an idea of what a travel agent resume objective should look like, check out the example below:

This is an effective resume objective because it provides employers with key information about the candidate’s skills and qualifications.

2. Craft a solid travel agent resume skills section

A resume skills section written by a travel agent candidate with several years of experience will look different from one written by a recent graduate.

Although travel agents can start their career with just a high school diploma or GED and certifications aren’t required initially, formal training does become essential later in your career. Read through the job description’s qualification requirements to determine which of your own qualities mirror their ideal candidate’s.

If you have little to no relevant experience, focus on transferable skills that you’ve developed in an academic setting, in internships, or jobs in other industries.

Here’s a list of key travel agent skills to draw attention to in the skills section of your resume:

• Sales expertise
• Interpersonal skills
• Customer service skills
• Conflict resolution
• Problem-solving
• Verbal and written communication skills
• Negotiation
• Functional knowledge of travel trends
• Destination research
• Organizational skills
• Ability to work under pressure
• Attention to detail
• Software (such as travel management systems and CRM)
• Language skills 

Use action verbs and numbers to show initiative

The most successful travel agents are able to convince customers to book through them and drive sales.

To show employers that you’re not just passionate about making sure people have great travel experiences, but can also increase revenue, you should start each bullet point in your resume’s experience section with an action verb.

Hiring managers want to see a proactive candidate with initiative, not a passive employee who is “responsible for” or “in charge of” certain tasks. Consider using active verbs like “organized”, “optimized”, “researched” or “achieved” instead.

Additionally, include as many examples of hard numbers in your resume bullet points as possible. For example, mention how many clients you’ve taken on or how many flights have been booked through you.

Here’s an example of how to write a work experience bullet point using action verbs and hard numbers:

This is an effective way to highlight your accomplishments because it shows you can actively achieve concrete results rather than simply “be responsible for” a task.

3. Use keywords from the job description

Using keywords from the job description helps to show how well you fit the company’s ideal candidate profile.

Additionally, many companies use applicant tracking system (ATS) software to automatically scan through resumes. ATS software looks through your resume for certain keywords, and eliminates your application if it doesn’t find enough of them.

In fact, ATS software eliminates over 70% of job applicants before their resume even reaches a hiring manager. That’s why it’s crucial to make your resume as ATS-friendly as possible by making sure you include keywords from the job description throughout your work experience bullet points.

Here’s an example of a leisure travel agent job description at AAA Auto Club Group’s Travel Services. The relevant keywords for your resume have been highlighted in yellow: