Busabout Adventures

If you want to experience Europe from behind the wheel, consider a career as a Busabout Coach Driver. This is your chance to be part of a highly reputable company, and be trained by the best, to be the best in the business. You’ll drive state-of-the-art coaches around some of the best destinations in Europe.  Travelers of all ages and from all over the world choose Busabout, meaning you’ll never have a dull moment, and make lots of new friends along the way.

To work for Busabout as a coach driver you need to meet several requirements, you must:

• Hold a valid European passport.
  
• Be aged 23 years or over. (This is a requirement from our insurance company.)
  
• Obtain (or hold) a full, unrestricted European Class "D" (PCV) driving license (Busabout may assist suitable candidates with obtaining a D Class license)
  
• Pass a European commercial driver medical examination.
  
• Attend a one-week intensive driving skills, left-hand drive familiarization and mechanical training course.
  
• Undertake approximately four weeks of on-road training in Europe including driving training, product and city familiarization.
  
• Pass a company driving test to the satisfaction of our insurance company.

The first step is to download and fill in the application form - see the sections below. Once you have completed the form either email it to recruitment@busabout.com or post it to:

Busabout (Recruitment)
258 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London, SW1V 1BS,
United Kingdom

Once we have your completed application form, we will contact you regarding an interview. Interviews will be held in London. If your interview is successful you will be offered a place on our Training Trip in April 2009(Dates to be confirmed).

Are you addicted to travel? Do you love to share your adventures and stories with anyone who’ll listen? Working as a Busabout Guide, you’ll get the opportunity to not only experience the best Europe has to offer, but you’ll share those experiences with a coach full of excited travelers from all over the world!

To become a Busabout On-board Guide you should:

• Be friendly, approachable, and fun
  
• Have a thirst for knowledge
  
• Love interacting with people
  
• Be familiar with Europe through personal experience
  
• Be able to relate to people of ALL ages (our core clientele are 18 to 35 year old)
  
• Be computer literate.
  

The following are not requirements, but are helpful:

• Experience leading groups
  
• A second (European) language.
  
• Experience talking in front of groups of people.

• A confident and clear microphone manner.
  

So how do you apply?

The first step is to download and fill in the application form.
You must complete this by hand (typed or incomplete forms cannot be accepted), attach a recent colour photograph and either post it back to the address on the form, or scan it and send it to us as an attachment to recruitment@busabout.com  Please specify if you are available to be interviewed in London or Sydney/Melbourne in January and  February 2009 at the top of your form.

We will email you on receipt of your application and let you know if you are invited to attend a group interview. Please make sure you check your emails regularly. Applications close shortly. 

At the Group Interview you will be required to give a short talk to the panel and fellow applicants. This can be on any subject you like (Except travel – sorry but we've heard all of those!!). These group interviews will be held in London and Australia (dates/cities to be advised). At the group interview you’ll get the opportunity to learn more about the Busabout as a company, as well as a chance to ask us any questions you might have.
If we think you fit the profile we’re after you’ll be invited to a personal interview, this is quite in-depth and lasts about 45 minutes. Individual interviews will be held either the same afternoon or the following day.

If you are successful in your individual interview you will be offered a place on our training trip, this starts in April 2009 (dates to be confirmed). The training trip lasts for approximately five weeks. During training you’ll visit and study all the destination we visit on our coach network. This is a VERY intensive course and slackers will not get through! However the benefits you’ll receive on completion far out-way the work you’ve put in. Those who complete the training will be offered a position to work with Busabout during the summer season of 2009. Sounds tough, however the people we want working for us will make it through, and get the best job in the world!

To secure a place on our training program you are required to pay a training bond of £200.00, this is fully refundable to you upon completion of two full summer seasons with Busabout.Busabout crew are expected to make a commitment of a minimum of one season and are required to open an English bank account. Wages are paid directly into this account on a monthly basis.

One of our guides described her decision to leave her job as a travel agent and work for Busabout as; "I was selling the dream, now I'm living the dream".

Working for Busabout, you’ll have the opportunity to both live and work in Europe.Your sequence (roster) is provided to you by management and generally involves working 19 to 25 days per month.  When you’re not working you’ll be on days off in one of your favourite cities. Your role as an On-Board Guide is to help like-minded travellers have a holiday they are never going to forget! During the day, you’ll spiel about cities and countries inspiring passengers with ideas of where to go, and what to see. As our passengers get to explore the destinations in their own time, you’ll get to help them plan their trip before they arrive. 

As a guide, you are invaluable to passengers, in terms of your local knowledge and experience.  Simply understanding the public transport system in each city and then being able to explain it to passengers, saves them both time and money.  Everything including helping passengers plan their stay, booking accommodation, and completing paperwork (yes there is some administration work involved) fills up your day. But, before you know it, you’re sipping wine under the Eiffel Tower, partying it up in Prague, or laying on the beach in San Sebastian.

A job in Europe and life on the road does come with some sacrifices.  You are constantly on the move, living out of a backpack, away from family and friends.  The hours are long and responsibility high.  However the family-like bond created between crew, the sights you see and experiences you'll have, make this job what it is.  As a guide, you make the dreams of your clients come true and help create lifetime memories.  You are lucky enough to be guiding them throughout Europe, imparting your knowledge, and making their trip on Busabout one to remember!

To work for Busabout as a driver you will need to hold a full, unrestricted Class D (PCV) driving licence issued in a European Union country.

Alternatively, if you hold a European Union Passport* you can obtain a UK Class D (PCV) licence by sitting the relevant tests. Full details of this is available on the UK Transport Office website. You will need to obtain a provisional licence first, pass a medical, pass a written test & hazard perception, then pass a practical test. This would take approximately 6 weeks to complete. Busabout can arrange a fully inclusive training package for suitable candidates which costs around £1200.00. Busabout can (at our discretion) arrange financial assistance to suitable candidates.

* European Union Passports are those issued by Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.