The superyacht world isn’t immune to the challenges of retaining talent. In fact, multiple surveys over the past several years find that most junior crewmembers leave their jobs within a year or so. To inspire crewmembers not only to stay longer but also to show them potential career paths, a think tank of industry leaders created the Superyacht Industry Careers website.
The think tank, Raising the Bar, represents crew-training agencies, crew-placement agencies, yacht-management companies, and more. The members are from all around the world, too. As for the reasons why crew change jobs or leave altogether, they vary. Crew mental health issues such as burnout and poor leadership are certainly among them. But, better pay on other yachts, perceived better opportunities, and lack of truly understanding the responsibilities are other explanations.
The Superyacht Industry Careers website lays out career maps for every onboard position and for every experience level. They start with overviews of grouped-together disciplines, namely culinary crew, deck crew, engineering crew, interior crew, and yacht purser. The career maps then outline the qualifications for each role in those disciplines. For example, within deck crew alone, 10 job outlines exist, ranging from entry-level deckhand to build captain. Each position contains recommendations for how long a person should stay in the role before eyeing a step up the proverbial career ladder.
Additionally, the Superyacht Industry Careers website indicates the proficiencies and certificates vital for the role. For instance, “Bosuns should have obtained or be working towards OOW” (OOW meaning Officer of the Watch certificate). The mandatory and recommended qualifications are in keeping with the guidelines of leading international bodies. They include the International Association of Maritime Institutions and Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA). The think tank members intend to update the details as needed as well.
Ultimately, the think tank members want not just owners’ advisors to understand and share the career maps, but also training schools and recruitment companies. Plus, they anticipate senior crew will share and use the career maps to mentor and support junior-level crew.
While currently the Superyacht Industry Careers website focuses on crew, the goal is to add onshore job insight in the future.
Superyacht Industry Careers superyachtindustrycareers.com
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