Learn tips and tricks to hire seafarers and maintain better crew.

When you are running a shipping company, with dozens of ships in port, you want to be able to crew them properly. A good crew can mean the difference between a successful voyage and an accident in the middle of the ocean. The problem is that there is a major shortage of seafarers.

Records show that there is a big demand for a crew which is difficult to meet. In this competitive environment, you will want to keep a few tips in mind to ensure that you have the edge on your competition.

Train your own:

One of the best ways to meet seafarer demand is to have a school that churns them out for you. Seafaring in this modern-day and age is very demanding. There are many intricacies to know, and technical details are important.

A single mistake can cause massive damage to a ship so you will want a crew that knows what it is doing. There is no better way to assure that a crew meets your standards if your company trains them and tests them personally. Plus, offering training and an assured job is a very attractive proposal right now in the modern economy. You will attract quite a few young people who are interested in job security. With your own training program, you can ensure that the people you hire will be in it for the long haul. This is a good return on your investment.

Enlarge your online presence:

The internet is a great place to promote your shipping business and to let seafarers know that you are hiring. Although the seafaring community is tight-knit, word-of-mouth is not enough to reach all of the potential crewmen that you want to hire. You must know how to use social media for your business and hiring process. An online presence reaches all over the world and can find you your crew anywhere.

It also helps that social media is big right now. Having a Facebook presence allows potential recruits to directly contact your company from anywhere in the world. A single post can be seen by thousands of potential crew members in a multitude of countries. This can have crewmen sending in inquiries on a regular basis.

Don’t recruit by yourself:

When it comes to recruitment, you should also get a bit of help. There are dozens of crew management services all over the world who would be willing to find you the crew that you need. The great thing about them is that they can do all of the heavy lifting.

Send them your requirements, and they will do the background checks, the testing, and the interviews. The final decision is still yours though, but all of the work has mostly been done. When working with a recruitment team, be upfront and honest about your requirements and risks, though. This will make it easier in the long run. Plus, if you present yourself as being honest and willing to protect your crew, then that will attract more potential recruits.

Your ships need good crews if they want to reach their destinations. This is why the tips above are so important. They let you find the right people so that your ships will be in good hands. With the best seafarers on board, they will be ready to face whatever the sea throws at them.