When one door shuts, another opens and on the other side of that door is Flight Centre New Zealand waiting to give a few Pumpkin Patch employees a new career opportunity.
Earlier this month, the kids clothing line went into voluntary receivership after finding the apparel market to be “highly competitive and challenging”.
Struggling to find a buyer, the company is now being forced to close all stores, leaving some 145 people out of work.
Before staff could even digest the shocking news, Flight Centre New Zealand stepped in with its shining armor to offer Pumpkin Patch’s outgoing employees the chance to enter travel.
The NZ branch of Flight Centre said Pumpkin Patch employees who apply for a role with the retailer will be able to bypass the initial job application stage and go straight through to the final stages of hiring, TVNZ reported.
New employees would help fill new roles in recently acquired businesses and investments, which if you haven’t been keeping up range from online travel agency, eDream ODIGEO in Europe to the local virtual Travel Agent, Aunt Betty.
New staff may even get the opportunity to visit the company’s new Brisbane headquarters where there’s no shortage of entertainment with slides, mini tour bus meeting rooms and a state of the art gym.
According to Flight Centre New Zealand’s Michael Connor, Pumpkin Patch employees would make a good fit due to their “good customer service skills and sale experience”.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Flight Centre Travel Group in Australia said the company would be “happy to chat to anyone” affected in Australia.
This isn’t the first time Flight Centre has come to the rescue to help locals find work, the company offered the same ‘skip the line’ opportunity to thousands of Dick Smith employees facing redundancy in February this year.
