WE end the year roughly 2% ahead of last year. No mean feat considering the tough market conditions in the first half of the year.
Eagle-eyed readers will know that we’ve already reported a strong second half, more than making up for a weak first half. We’re not sure why. We put it down to sentiment. As George Orwell said in 1984: the proletariat are a fickle bunch. Quite. But if that was the second dip in our double-dip recession, then we’re left feeling optimistic.
It’s very difficult for businesses to plan nowadays. Sentiment is a fragile thing and if you wait until you’re sure the market’s recovered, well then you’ll be too late. At Spinnaker, we decided to invest in the future and get ourselves ready for the recovery. It will come, as surely as the downturn itself was inevitable. We discovered long ago that recruiting the finished article for our business will rarely happen. Instead, we decided to grow our own and in the last year we have recruited 11 trainees into our graduate training programme where they receive intensive training in shipping, recruitment practice and employment law.
As the year ends, we are hiring another group of trainees and watching with some pride as our newcomers are learning and progressing.
If you’d like to join the Spinnaker gang, take a look at Working for Spinnaker.
