Partner Article

Zodiac signals bright future

A training company has vowed to help 1,500 unemployed northeasterners back into work by the end of the year as it continues to grow at pace.

Gateshead’s Zodiac Training is also on the look out for a new 10,000 sq ft headquarters on Tyneside in a move which would see it double in size.

The firm is working on a project in partnership with the Learning and Skills Council and the European Social Fund to retrain the unemployed back into the workplace.

Zodiac expects to achieve its target of directly getting 1,500 people back into work by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, after seeing its annual revenue jump from £6m to around £8.5m in the last year, it remains on track to reach its goal of becoming a £10m-a-year enterprise by 2011.

Marketing manager Chris Green said the company’s growth during tough economic times had been fuelled by business leaders who have used training to get more out of their staff and an increase in courses for 16 to 24-year-olds.

He said: “With a recession, the first thing that you would expect to go from a company’s budget is the training.

“But we have found that companies appreciate how important it is to get the most out of their existing staff and are also bringing on young people through apprentice schemes to get cost-effective, dynamic people who they know will understand their business - that’s been really good for us.”

“We are looking for a bigger head office - we need one twice the size. We are currently employ 190 people which has doubled since 2008 and we are always looking to bring people in.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .