Whilst some of this will probably appear to be a slight contradiction to previous blogs, I can’t emphasis enough the importance of what I am about to say. The superyacht sector is absolutely booming. The brokerage side of things has literally never been busier and yachts are selling in record quick time. Some yards now don’t have any new build availability until 2027! All of which is fantastic.
But the upshot of this is that the crew market is ridiculously busy. Every single day we are getting crew recruitment enquiries and the sad truth is there aren’t enough good, experienced crew to go around.
Currently we are interviewing candidates in the morning, and they are getting jobs the same day. We actually placed an Engineer this week and the entire process took about an hour from start to finish.
So what do I suggest?
- When hiring superyacht crew, whether you receive CVs from Facebook, a job board or agencies, you need to look at the CVs ASAP and reach out to the candidates you like the look of within 24 hours. Ideally if you receive the CVs in the morning you have gone through them by lunch, contacted the crew you like and hopefully can get an interview organised within 24 hours.
- If you use agencies, don’t go to three or four. When you go to multiple agencies you multiply your workload and admin. You also reduce the effort an agency puts in. To explain it from an agency’s point of view…. Why would I work hard on a job where I am one of four agencies, when I have a load of roles which I am working on exclusively? Or at worst, against one other agency. We are so busy with exclusive jobs now we are having to turn down work.
- If there is a second interview in the process with the Captain for example, get it done within 24 hours of the first interview.
- If after two interviews you aren’t convinced a candidate is a good cultural fit, then a third or fourth interview probably won’t convince you either. Resign yourself to the fact they aren’t right and move onto the next candidate or offer them the job, get them on board and keep your fingers crossed!
- Try and streamline your process. If management or family office have to approve crew, try and remove this step or get it done as quickly as possible or advise them how time sensitive the situation is.
- Good candidates will be interviewing with multiple yachts. Having the attitude that ‘they would be lucky to work for us’ doesn’t get you the good crew these days. It’s a two-way street. You need to present yourself well, but honestly too.
- What’s your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)? Apart from salary and leave, what are the reasons someone would want to join you? You need to have some good things in here outside the standard benefits – e.g. crew have access to the water sport toys when not in port. You then need to articulate these benefits at interview.
If you need any help hiring superyacht crew or improving your internal recruitment process, then feel free to reach out to tim@quaycrew.com .
