Reviving Marine Recruitment: The Internet Job Board
Skills Shortages Are Hampering Growth
The marine industry today is in an uncomfortable predicament. Demand for products and services is increasing, but the marine industry is struggling to respond, handicapped by severe skills shortages and an ageing workforce.
Hampshire-based Jamie Ashman is convinced that he has found a solution that will attract greater numbers of high-calibre, skilled workers. Jamie has many years experience in local, national and global recruitment across all skills in both blue and white collar industries and is familiar with strategic recruitment issues.
Jamie believes that part of the marine industry’s problem lies in its recruitment methods, saying, “Traditionally the marine industry looks for new staff by placing advertisements in local papers, contacting recruitment agencies, or by ‘asking around’. This compounds the problem of staff shortages by recirculation, and high competition among employers who are continually dipping into the same job seeker pool.”
Other industries are increasingly turning to the internet. Today, in excess of one million job applications are submitted in the UK each month, and over 50% of these are made online. ‘Job Boards’ are specialist recruitment internet sites that are used by individual job seekers, employers and, also increasingly by the major recruitment agencies.
Job Boards have proven advantages over traditional recruitment methods. Being internet-based, they are accessible to a broad skill range, and cover wide geographical areas. They are also quicker and cheaper; an employer can post a vacancy immediately, get immediate feedback on existing job seekers and real-time replies. Employers also benefit from their cost-effectiveness especially for advertising vacancies at the middle to lower end of a remuneration package.
Jamie has launched www.marinejobboard.co.uk, a Job Board dedicated to the marine industry. Its specialist focus makes it very effective - it’s already attracting plenty of job seekers, typically over 200 a day and several thousand over a weekend. Most have specific marine qualifications, from engineering to architecture, and from boat valets to skippers. Many have generic skills in professional areas such as sales, marketing and finance.
The Marine Job Board has a clear simple screen at which job seekers can register for free before searching straight away for suitable jobs. They can apply online, with the option of attaching their C.V. whilst keeping track of their current applications, and receiving automated email alerts the moment a new job is advertised that suits their requirements. Employers can access www.marinejobboard.co.uk‘s database of job seekers without having to initially place an advert. This significantly reduces recruitment time if there are suitable candidates already registered. However, placing a job advert is quick and simple; the vacancy is immediately visible to job seekers, also appearing under ‘latest jobs’ on the homepage. Employers retain control of their advert, enabling them to switch adverts ‘off’ and ‘on’ as well as keep track of the number of viewings and applicants.
For more information contact Jamie at Jamie@marinejobboard.co.uk or visit www.marinejobboard.co.uk