Make a career out of camping
Whilst many will look at their season with Canvas as a “one off” season as, part of a gap year, a career break or as part of an early retirement plan, there are many others who look at Canvas as a platform on which to launch their career, be it in the travel industry or elsewhere. Within the overseas operation team, many of us started our careers as Canvas Holidays Couriers.
The Canvas Operations Director, Simon Allan tells us his story
“I joined canvas in May 1990 as a children’s courier working on a long gone site in the Dordogne. I was 24 years old and the plan was to take this as part of a gap year before returning to the UK to train to be a teacher. I was initially only planning to work for half the season May-July before “inter railing” around Europe and then taking up a place on a PGCE course at Sheffield University.
As you can see, I never did take up that place at Sheffield. I enjoyed the job so much I successfully applied to stay on for the rest of the season and to stay for the process of taking down the tents (demontage) at the end of the season. Following on from the end of my summer contract I was lucky enough to be employed by Canvas as a sales agent for the winter months before starting another season in France, this time as an Area Manager.
I completed two seasons as an Area Manager in the Vendee/Loire and the Dordogne and SW France before gaining permanent employment with the company in Dunfermline as a buyer and campsite contractor.
In 1995 I took over campsite operations running a very small team (there were 5 of us in total in the UK and 2 in France). It was at that time that the business started to grow rapidly and along the way we inherited the campsite contracting department and created the mobile home maintenance department.
2002 saw me voted onto the board of Canvas Holidays Ltd as an executive director responsible for all European Overseas Operations. The department has continued to grow and we have developed areas of expertise such as mobile home sales, recruitment and welfare, product development and regional managers. Today the overseas operations employ 33 full time staff in two countries and over 350 temporary seasonal staff throughout Europe. The majority of these permanent staff have worked their way through the ranks having started out as couriers, warehouse assistants or mobile maintenance assistants and all are now forging successful careers within the industry.
Its hard to believe sometimes that it is nearly 20 years since I arrived as a nervous young campsite courier in the Dordogne. The business has given me a chance to develop a successful professional career in a way I could never have envisaged before I started working for it. Along the way there have been good times and bad times. There have been hilarious moments and times of great sadness. I met my wife, the best man at my wedding and numerous other great friends who will remain friends for the rest of my life.
All that remains to say therefore is that whatever you start as in this business, we will always recognise hard work and achievement and, whilst forging a career in tourism may not be your chosen path, remember the temporary seasonal jobs with Canvas provide that sound platform to help you discover a lot about yourself and help you decide where next to take your life. However, be aware the “Camping Bug” may just bite like it has done many before and in 20 years time you might just be sitting in my seat!”