Our Overseas Representatives (Reps) are employed to take care of customers on our self-guided walking, cycling and canoeing holidays in France, Italy, Spain and Austria. Working as an overseas representative can be a greatly rewarding experience, and offers the opportunity to experience day-to-day life in some wonderfully varied locations. If you're considering applying for a position we hope these FAQ's will help you to understand what to expect.
Interviews are held in our offices in Northwich, Cheshire (England). We start interviewing in December. Successful short listed candidates will be informed of their interview date and time by post or telephone. Unfortunately because of the volume of applications we receive each year, we cannot reply to all unsuccessful candidates.
Yes - we will refund a 2nd class rail ticket or reasonable petrol expenses (for anyone travelling by car). Remember to keep receipts.
Yes. Our reps are required to work autonomously in remote locations so we need to make sure we’ve equipped you with the skills and knowledge you are going to need and that you have the confidence and ability to deliver the customer care that we will expect from you. We will therefore need you to attend a 4/5 day training course which will be held in in March or April depending on the holiday start dates for the region you are going to. The course includes a driving assessment, bike maintenance, customer care, Health and Safety and product knowledge. The training course will also be an opportunity to meet your UK based office colleagues who you will be liaising with by phone and email over the summer.
Travel to your country of work is paid for and arranged by Headwater Holidays. This may involve travelling out alone on public transport or you may be required to drive a company minibus or car from our office in Northwich to your area.
We will, wherever possible, honour any preference you might have for one of our areas and confirm this to you soon after your interview. Occasionally however the job or even the area may change before the beginning of the season. As previously stated we require our reps to be flexible and adaptable, often at short notice, and although we make every effort to avoid it, we may have to make changes during the course of any season.
You will need to have a good grasp of the language of the country you are working in. We choose our holiday areas as they are unspoilt and are places where tourism plays a minor role. You will therefore find that it is unlikely that the locals/hoteliers/taxi drivers will speak English.
Providing that you complete your contract to Headwater's satisfaction, we will pay your fare from your area to your home address. In the event of the company requiring you to drive one of our cars/minibuses back to England we will pay for your fare from the office back to your home address.
Yes, we have had several couples working for us over the past years. Some of our regions require two reps, so individuals will be employed on unique contracts, but in other regions where there is a requirement for only one rep, we are happy to discuss and support “job-share” arrangements.
The overseas representative's pay varies according to seniority and availability. The basic rate of pay (including accommodation) starts at £120 or £140 per week (depending on seniority) and is paid in sterling into a UK bank account of your choice on the 25th of each month.
As you would expect from a summer season job, workloads will fluctuate according to volumes of customers and there will be peaks and troughs throughout. Technically Reps are “on-call” 24 hours a day with no specified “day-off”, but the reality is very different and although there will be days when you will be quite busy, good planning and organisation will mean that you will have plenty of time to enjoy your region. You should be prepared to be flexible however. This is certainly no 9-5 job and even your best laid plans may get disrupted by a delayed flight, train or bicycle break-down!
This varies from region to region. Normally we find self-contained rooms or flats close to the hotels in the region, which might be quite basic but comfortable. They are probably comparable to student accommodation in the UK. Due to time commitments and availability, sometimes it is necessary, at the beginning of season, to stay in pre-booked hotel accommodation until we can find some suitable accommodation for the season.
Even though you are going to be working in a beautiful and interesting location, we recognise that a summer away from friends and family can be isolating and difficult, so we do allow this. However, it is generally only possible in low season and is at the discretion of your hotelier if you are lodging in one of our hotels. If you are staying in an apartment, we would ask that you obtain our permission before inviting anyone to stay. Obviously if you do have people to stay, their being there should not affect your work, as clients always come first. In any case we would not normally expect people to stay for more than a week.
If you are interested in working for us then see our Working as an Overseas Representative section find out more. To apply for an overseas position, please email your CV and a covering letter of application to zoe.raftery@exodus.co.uk
