Up there on the seventh floor of Ryedale Buildings, Piccadilly, York, is the kind of controlled frenzy that ensures that Superbreak Mini Holidays regularly takes £1 million a week.

It is only 2pm but already the computer has clocked up 953 calls since 8am and the projection is that by closing time - 9pm - the various shifts of telesales people will have taken 2,700 calls for or about short breaks in Britain.

But amid all the frenetic energy of this electronic booking system are empty desks. Surely not a sign of fast staff turnover? On the contrary. These are some of the spaces set aside for the 20 new staff expected to be taken on over the next few months.

And all of them are likely to have come from the same source - the York Tourism Jobs Fair which took place at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, York, on Thursday, March 5.

It is evidence of the validity of the fair at which were represented delegate companies from the city's tourism industry who between them were offering hundreds of potential jobs.

Even now the Jobcentre is still sorting out applicants... and interviews are taking place at Ryedale Buildings, but it is as much an indication of how Superbreak Mini Holidays is now riding higher than ever since it was privatised out of British Transport Hotels in 1983, bought Golden Rail in 1989 and moved the entire business to York in December 1994.

It has literally moved up. From half of the fifth floor at Ryedale Buildings, it moved to the entire top floor last December.

And up went the morale to stratospheric heights when a month later, in January, travel agents voted the firm the best UK short break operator for the tenth year in succession. It came hot on the heels of the English Tourist Board's England For Excellence award in October, 1997.

Nick Cust, joint managing director, is proud of the firm's consistently growing share of a short break market in the UK now worth £825 million per year.

He said: "Around ten per cent - that is £82.5 million - goes through travel agents nationally for all operators. It is a source which represents about 90 per cent of Superbreak's business and that represents up to 55 per cent of all short break bookings through travel agents in the UK."

The new expansion, and need for more staff, coincides with the publication of the firm's latest brochures, called Superbreak, Goldenrail and soon to be launched in April, Theatrebreak.

Across all three are represented around 1,100 hotels - more than 100 up on last year and more than 500 destinations nationally.

Carl Harris, marketing manager, said: "The growing popularity of the short break is phenomenal and has a lot to do with the demands that society and jobs place on people's time. People believe, quite correctly, that a change through a stress-busting break can be as good as a rest and that a two or three days away can easily recharge your batteries."

Business college starts job agency

York Business College will launch its own employment agency in the city on Monday, March 30.

It is a natural progression for the college which last April moved out of Stonegate Walk, York, and into huge Gothic-style premises in the Ouse-side River House in Museum Street. It comes as more than £250,000 has been invested in refurbishment and expansion of the premises.

The newly-formed division will be known as YBC Recruitment and will use the close training links forged with the business community by college principal Margaret Taylor.

The college, in many cases, will have been responsible for honing the skills of those whom it is trying to place.

Mrs Taylor, who will direct operations, said: "This is an exciting initiative for YBC.

"We will be able to offer local companies the very best in recruitment services - and the very best applicants in town - for their permanent and temporary office-related vacancies."

The new division will be headed by American June Muranyi who has had experience in customer service, sales and marketing for major international corporations.

Mrs Muranyi, a former marketing manager of international office furniture makers Herman Miller, based in North Carolina, said: "What makes YBC Recruitment really different is that we have access to a wealth of highly-skilled and experienced applicants, keen to make a career move, or update skills in market-leading software before returning to office work. At a time when suitable applicants for temporary and permanent positions are hard to find, YBC Recruitment will have on tap the best trained applicants in the area."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.