Training stands business in good stead for weathering recession

BUSINESS WAS so strong during 2008 that Roy and Maria Lalor had plans to open two more Pitman Training Centres.

However, at the start of the year, student numbers at the high- end office training centre launched in Swords, Co Dublin, during 2007, began to dwindle and the harsh realities of the recession began to hit the business.

“We had a fantastic 2008 and in December we decided to expand. It was wonderful,” says owner Roy Lalor.

“In January we noticed people were slower to commit than the previous year, and in February, March and April it slowed to almost a standstill. We were doing very little and it was a worrying time.”

It is not all bad news though – although revenue is down about 30 per cent compared to last year, things have picked up and July was better than the same month in 2008.

“We are cautiously optimistic. Things have settled a bit. I think everyone who is made redundant wants to pay the bills and the mortgage and hold on to their money but they also think they have to upskill and have to try get back into the workforce,” Mr Lalor says.

Plans to open new centres in Blanchardstown and Navan, which will join the 15 other franchised centres currently operating throughout Ireland, are still in the pipeline but have been set back for now.

“I think there is a demand there. In November we were very keen to get going and had plans to open in 2009, but now it will be mid-2010,” he says.

“That reflects the caution required to operate. They will go ahead but more slowly than we might have thought.”

The owner says the biggest challenge facing the centre, whose courses include accounts, payroll, secretarial, administration and IT technical training, is finding new business.

Mr Lalor says he now uses online marketing tools to drum up new business – including Facebook, Twitter and mobile texting – rather than brochures, leaflets and newspaper advertising.

He says the centre, which has four staff, now helps students to find work and the best-selling programme this year is the medical secretary course. - RENEE JONES

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