Here we are in the second week of 2017 and the first full week back at work after a great break (I hope) so I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  2016 was a whirlwind of a year to say the least.  We lost many of the names I grew up with, such as David Bowie, Muhammad Ali & Carrie Fisher, and from an economical point of view we decided to leave the EU and Donald Trump was named as the next President.  Straco, on the other hand, enjoyed an exciting year.  We might be a small business but we are always expanding our team as well as our market knowledge.  I would like to say a big thank you to everyone we did business with in 2016.  Here are my highlights of a great year.

An outstanding year for growth
With a great team in place we have seen an increase in clients, vacancies worked on and placements made, something I only dreamed of when I first started out as a sole trader with a yellow pages and a fax machine!

New additions to the Straco family
Referring back to my earlier mention of expanding our team, we made some great additions to all areas of the business, from marketing to sales.  There are now 15 of us to help make careers happen.

Straco Olympics
Not only do we work hard at Straco, we play hard.  The Straco Olympics were fun for all and the marketing team did a great job of organising everything, from teams to events (including breadstick fighting, musical chairs and pie face).  The only downside was that I wasn’t on the winning team, though it was very close!

Joining industry Associations
As an expert recruiter in the retail industry we felt it was the right time to join the prestigious associations POPAI & NAS.   This is a great opportunity to connect with new companies who could benefit from our services while both developing and sharing our market knowledge.

Attending awards & events
There were so many fantastic events and awards on offer this year – well done to the companies who had their hard work acknowledged.  I have to say that the Retail Expo was an event that stood out for me, in particular the interactive sweet shops by TRO which challenged my will power in maintaining a fabulous physique!  Attending the VM Awards was another highlight, and I’d like to say thank you to Pure POS for sharing a table with us and making the evening memorable!

Are you looking forward to an exciting 2017?