Superyacht Sector Calls for New Approach to Crew Recruitment

The growing requirement to source yacht crew from outside the superyacht sector has led to a call for a more sophisticated approach to recruitment from managers and owners representatives.

The increase in production of yachts over 100 metres has led managers and owners representatives to question the availability of suitably qualified crew. Those looking to recruit in higher ranking positions, where the need for commercial tickets is becoming more prominent, are beginning to feel the pain when it comes to hiring the people they need. 

“As we’ve seen on the commercial side of maritime for many years, the more specialist the candidate the more difficult they are to source. It creates a war for talent, similar to what’s been seen in other areas of the maritime market for many years” says Ben Darnton, Managing Director of industry recruiter Faststream.

The superyacht sector has traditionally been a very niche area for crew recruitment. However, with the increasing number of larger yachts being designed and built, the yacht crew market has become closer to mainstream maritime. This is being driven by the need to find Engineers and Officers with commercial COC’s.

“We’re getting more and more requests from Captains and Yacht Managers who want to recruit crew from commercial passenger vessels, which is a good example of how our client’s requirements are changing” said Darnton.

“Our clients are looking for us to be the best of both worlds by sourcing the best candidates with yacht experience, as well as qualified candidates from outside the yacht world. Whilst we have access to thousands of these potential candidates, there are very few who will actually make the move. They are already in jobs and are in strong demand. Their employers in the wider maritime industry face their own skill shortages and are working hard to retain and attract the same talent for their own growing fleets; we are in a war for talent.”  

The subject of crew skill shortages is likely to be a popular topic at this years’ Monaco Yacht Show this week.

Image of Rear Admiral via Wikipedia.org