I wanted to write this week's article as part social commentary and part in attempt to make companies accountable for their actions during this time, to ensure that the travel industry remains a great place to work as we strive towards rebuilding post 2020. 

To start with I wanted to make it clear that I don't support cancel culture. Cancelling someone or something implies there is no room for change. It also restricts what you can learn from others, without having to agree with them. Understanding other people's points of view can often help strengthen your own. 

Now, I bet you're sat here reading this thinking...cool story bro, but I came here for travel recruitment tips and you're talking about being woke. BEAR WITH ME.

I've heard a lot from conversations I've been having with candidates that have found themselves in rubbish situations, about behaviour from hiring companies and other travel recruitment agencies during this time that on the surface, seems really far from great. To these candidates, it means they're cancelled with immediate effect. Yet this doesn't actually acheive anything, it often just becomes the stuff of idle industry gossip and when the dust settles these companies continue trading with no real consequences.

Well what if we as an industry began to question such behaviour? What if collectively we ensured that job-seekers were looked after, companies were doing things 100% by the books and no money was owed? What if we were able to see what employees really felt about working for a particular agency?

This isn't a new concept but it's one that many of us are too scared to utilise. There's Google Reviews, Glassdoor, TrustPilot to name a few that are websites built on experiences and reviews that are there to be utilised.

If you are a jobseeker and aren't already checking out a company's Glassdoor reviews, then start now. If you have left somewhere and had a positive experience then share it so others know how awesome the place is to work at, and likewise if you've had a negative one, leave feedback but give the company a chance to respond. Regardless of the world situation, you won't want to work somewhere where there are a multitude of bad reviews.

When it comes to travel recruitment and recruitment in general, there are no real governing bodies, so I wanted to leave Lightning's service open for feedback. We're currently 5* on Google Reviews, and if you want to read them, or even leave a review yourself click here. So my point is, make people accountable, give feedback, challenge things, it should not be seen as a negative to question something or leave feedback, especially when we need to be supporting the good eggs right now.