The last 12 months have been insanely busy in the Quay Crew dock, we thought we’d grab the Directors Tim and Caroline to get a little round up of what’s happening and where they are headed.
Thanks for taking a moment out of your busy schedule guys! First question has to be, how did you imagine 12 months ago Quay Crew would have had such a successful year?
We always had a long-term vision for Quay Crew and each year we are taking steps to achieve this. Each year we’ve got more clients, we don’t pay for any advertising etc, so our reputation is nearly all through word of mouth. We’ve employed our first member of staff and there are more exciting things to come in the next 6 months.
You recently had a new member of the team come on board, for those that haven’t come across Samantha yet, can you tell us a little more about what she’s been handling and developing for you?
We are really pleased to have Sam on board. Her employment record is fantastic. Her previous life was working for Cobham PLC and so now she looks after the engineering side of things for us.
You’ve placed crew in some fab jobs over the last year, has there been some great feedback from where their new roles have taken them?
We have had loads of success stories with Juniors taking their first steps in the industry to experienced crew finding their dream jobs. Specifically we’ve had one of our Chief Officers on a 70m MY, get promoted to Captain and one of our experienced Stews just got promoted to Head of Housekeeping on an 80m MY.
We’ve also had a great year with new builds having placed several heads of departments on 80+m motor yachts.
You headed to Monaco last year, will you be back there this year and at any other shows?
We will definitely be at Monaco this year and there is every possibility we will be at Antigua too!
Have there been any trends you’ve noticed when it comes to skills / experience that Captains are looking for in their new crew in the last 12 months?
Over the past year we have seen more and more yachts wanting extra skills that set them aside from the usual. Owners want crew that can do more than just serve, clean & drive a tender. Whether that is personal training, massage, yoga etc, we’ve had a request for a boxing coach! Ultimately though, longevity is still the most important thing, in our opinion.
And finally, what’s on the hit list for Quay Crew for the rest of 2016?
Next on the list is opening an office in Poole, Dorset, home to Sunseeker & the RNLI training college as well as numerous maritime training schools. We are currently looking at office space with a view to employing another 2 consultants, ex yachties, by the end of the year.
