Making the right moves

GETTING to know another way of life gives us a greater understanding about ourselves," he says Pablo Gonzalez Lisciani earnestly. He is passionate about travel. Being a travel consultant, he says, has to do with giving people the opportunity to get to know other worlds, other peoples, other ways of thinking. You can give a chance to people to open their minds by travelling, beyond going to Santa Ponsa or just on a package holiday, although they can be good as well."

Gonzalez's interest in travel started years ago in another hemisphere. He recalls growing up in his native Buenos Aires. "When I was three or four we used to cross a big bridge at La Boca and I used to think every time we crossed it, some day I'm going to travel."

After completing his perito mercantil, which is something like the Leaving Cert but with an emphasis on business studies, in 1983, he studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Arte Dramatico, Argentina's national school of art. Alter this he worked in theatre.

Before he left to travel, Gonzalez had worked in public relations and he had also spent time working with "street children" in the city.

"But why should I be only one thing in my life," he asked himself. "We all have plenty of talents. There are more than one." So, at 24, he headed off into the great blue yonder and faraway Europe. He worked in many cities on the Continent, visiting all sorts of places and meeting all kinds of people.

When he came to Dublin Gonzalez wanted to work in travel and tourism. He heard about the national certificate in travel and tourism course at DIT Cathal Brugha Street and started in 1993 as a mat tire student. He passed the college's entry requirements, which included mastering French and improving his knowledge of English. There were 24 in his class. As well as studying and working part-time in the evening, he was elected as class representative.

One of the most important aspects of the course, he says, was the chance students get to study for the International Air Transport Association exam. "It is a world-wide diploma," he says. "It's a very good course. All you learn in college you will put it into practice in work." The teachers and tutors provide wonderful support for the students, he says.

After graduating I went knocking on doors," Gonzalez recalls. "It was very hard. I suppose people were afraid of hiring a foreign speaker." He finally got his first six-month contract at Travel Hewetts in Dublin. "It was great. I was a bit frightened doing everything, doing a lot. I had to jump into the swimming pool and put everything I had learned into practice."

After this he was tin employed for a couple of months. His advice to students is that this career demands that you be persistent, pro-active and positive. "They should keep a network after finishing in college," he says, "because it's often by word of mouth that you get a job.

Gonzalez then got work in another travel agency where his brief involved handling tours to the Far East. Here also he learned a lot." He says that learning about the travel and tourism industry is an on-going process. "I like doing things properly. . . it's a very complicated industry."

Last October he started working with American Airlines, which has its European headquarters in Dublin. After a five-week course within the company, he donned his headset and started work. "They make sure that you are professional when you get on the phones," he says. He is a sales agent in the general reservations department dealing with customers from all over Ireland and Britain.

"People are not aware of what the career involves," he says. It requires more skills than many people think. The key, he believes, is to know and understand your product so that you can speak with confidence and assurance about it.