RECRUIT
The pillars of wisdom
Lawrence Lewis talks about the four pillars of a captain’s job which need addressing during interviews
A
large number of seasoned chief officers are hitting the captain’s job market and are thus competing with established captains for a small number of jobs. Between
2015 and 2016 we recorded an increase of 21% in terms of new registrations of Chief Officers and 20% for captains. This is a large increase, bearing in mind that YPI CREW has been trading for over fourteen years and is therefore already an established player. This is not the surge of activity a start-up can expect from year one to year two. The increase of captain’s registrations is a sign that this market is highly competitive and basically, securing a captain job is getting tougher. Interview preparation is therefore paramount in order to succeed.
Clients enlist crew agencies for captain head hunting assignments mostly when discretion is required but the majority of captain jobs are still filled by word of mouth or through personal recommendations. One of the least enjoyable parts of our job as recruiters is to inform captains “no new jobs have come up”. Whilst we might not immediately come up with a job, we can however, share a few interview tips to ensure you make an impact with the decision maker in the aforementioned crowded market.
There are four ‘pillars’ of a captain’s job which need addressing during interviews; Navigation and Safety, Crew Management, General Yacht Administration and Finance / Hospitality.
These four points need discussing and developing in a confident way during the interview. I cannot stress enough how decisiveness, together with confidence, are the qualities most owners of today’s large yachts will look for in a captain which is why developing and qualifying answers is critical. I sometimes witness that captains hold back in sharing their knowledge and professional
opinions due to the fear of saying the ‘wrong thing’ which could ruin their interview or show them in a bad light, not realising that this is totally counterproductive. Coming across as a ‘nice guy’ is important of course, but more important is to position yourself as a charismatic leader who has a total grasp of his profession and duties.
If somehow the interviewer is not addressing one of the four pillars, take the lead and ask all the questions allowing you to build of clear picture of the job and what is expected of you. By asking questions the captain will transform an interview script into a warm human conversation and that’s when the chance of nailing the job greatly increases. Here’s an example regarding the Hospitality pillar: “I have changed job frequently over the last few years for the reasons I explained earlier, but what about you, how many captains have you had so far?” This question may not always be appropriate but it has the merit to open a conversation on what works and does not work with this specific client and invariably, a genuine exchange on his expectations can follow on from there, allowing both parties to assess if they fit with each other.
Many interviewer like to start an interview by asking “tell me about yourself” or “what brings you here ?” It’s your job as the interviewee to prepare ahead of the day, to walk through the interview process in your mind in order to answer in a concise and interesting way. Hopefully your interview has turned into a conversation and you feel more relaxed and comfortable to then address the three real questions in the owner’s mind, the questions which ultimately matter and which he will not ask aloud: Can you do the job? Will you like the job? Will I like having you there?
ONBOARD | SPRING 2017 | 149
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