The Appointment Group's first graduates secure roles

The Appointment Group has announced the graduation of their first class of academy trainees. The Training Academy was founded with a multi-dimensional approach in mind, with the main mission being to educate and offer professional training to young individuals aiming to become expert travel executives. The Appointment Group worked with 12 of its trusted suppliers, including Travelport, to design a varied programme including product experiential days, classroom and online training. The trainees have all successfully completed the 52 week course, all trainees managed to secure positions within the Corporate and Touring departments at TAG. A celebratory graduation ceremony to mark this auspicious occasion, organised in partnership with Travelport, took place on 9 September 2016 at their office in Slough. John Gianquitto, joint CEO of The Appointment Group and Jason Clarke, global managing director, agency commerce at Travelport hosted the ceremony, attended by the graduates their parents and TAG company trainer Lesley Adams among others. Adams congratulated the recent graduates before adding: “It is such a pleasure to have witnessed the change in these young individuals over the last 12 months. “With little or no previous travel experience they have overcome a great amount of challenges and taken in an incredible amount of knowledge. With all trainees placed and integrated in their respective teams, I feel a real sense of accomplishment. They have certainly set the bar very high for this years’ academy trainees.” Gianquitto said that he was “extremely pleased” with the positive outcome of the ambitious project, adding: “To have succeeded in training young individuals to fully capable Travel Executives in 12 months is a fantastic result and encouraging for the future. Clarke concluded: “Learning and development is something that we at Travelport take seriously and we’re therefore thrilled to be able to show our support to today’s group of young graduates as they start out in this exciting industry.”