RECRUIT
The challenge of recruiting crew today
Laurence Lewis looks at why when looking for new crew, you need to find the right recruitment agency with longevity, experience and knowledge
T
he Mediterranean recruitment season is in full swing; it’s spring time and Antibes has awaken from its winter
lull. The phones are ringing, the crew houses are full, the recruiters and captains are interviewing and as always there are not enough hours in the day.
The show is on the road, so what should captains expect from a recruitment agency? ‘Plenty’ is the answer; but how best does a captain take advantage of a crew agency’s resources?
People work at their best when they feel engaged, inspired, motivated and empowered. It’s the same for recruiters who will deliver their best service when they feel truly able to impact a process through a clear line of communication and a relationship based on trust and respect.
The most successful working relationship between captains and recruiters will allow for a quality driven search service. There are great tensions in the market at the moment, exacerbated by the shortage of talent, so more then ever, recruiters are able to bring added value to the recruitment process.
Best kept secret: the fewer agencies you use, the better the service you receive. The more agencies you use, the worse service you will obtain, from all. It’s a fact. Surprised? Don’t be, it’s logical.
When too many agencies are enlisted, there is of course also the possibility that the best recruiters will simply decide to invest their time and energy elsewhere and keep the best candidates for clients they work with on an exclusive basis or in the knowledge that the competition is limited to one or two other respected agencies.
Every so often, clients call us after they have been looking at 30 or more CVs and
still have not found the right candidate. As a recruiter, I am thinking this just can’t be right; here’s a client who, I am sure, has better things to do than spend his time reading through reams of paper; that just can’t be the best use of his day! This client uses the wrong agencies or got lost in a social media world of free CVs where the good, the bad and the ugly merrily co-habit. Recruiters are paid to read CVs, meet and interview candidates, check references and qualifications, discuss their goals and build a shortlist of candidates for you, the client, to interview. The bulk of the work should be done by the recruiter, not the client.
Also vital is to use an MLC-approved recruitment
agency for commercial
vessels, with a proven ability to source quality candidates. What is the agency or the recruiter’s legitimacy? What kind of network do they have? What kind of visibility do they have within the business, on the internet and in publications? If a client is prepared to pay an agency fee, should he not, in exchange, feel as though they can demand and indeed, expect from his recruiter an in depth knowledge of the market key players?
Another point to take into consideration is the individual recruiter’s knowledge of the market and its trends. Can your recruiter guide you and advise you on the state of the market and what type of candidate profiles are available at any given time? Is your recruiter telling you if your criteria are not in sync with the market?
Finally, ensure your agency will represent your yacht in a positive fashion when speaking with candidates and, when giving interview feedback. Like always, insight and experience help and the more developed the partnership between the captain and the agency, the better the communication. Certainly in the initial phase when Captain and recruiters start working together, presenting good job descriptions is very helpful. With time, these become less important as the recruiter’s knowledge of the client increases.
Recruiters genuinely care and want to do a good job... let them do so! CVs are not what matters, what does matter is the act of selecting and identifying the best person for your job!
ONBOARD | SPRING 2019 | 141
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