The seagoing recruitment division has been established due to the high demand for this type of service from Faststream’s shipping clients. Headquartered in Faststream’s North East base in Massachusetts, the seagoing division will also operate through Faststream’s other US regional headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and Houston.

The division has already been launched in Faststream’s global headquarters in the UK. Planned future expansion will see this business area span across other Faststream operations in the Asia-Pacific and Scandinavia.

Heather Twiss will be heading up the seagoing division throughout The Americas. Heather was the former Director of Career Services at Massachusetts Maritime Academy where she provided career guidance and placement opportunities to both cadets and alumni in both seagoing and shore-side maritime employment opportunities. She is also a graduate of Massachusetts Maritime Academy and has sailed on seismic vessels.

Mark Charman, Group CEO and Founder said:

“This is an exciting chapter in Faststream’s development. Although this is our first planned step into the seagoing market we’re certainly not wet behind the ears. We are shipping people through and through and our specialist consultants hold a wealth of knowledge of the shipping industry in its entirety”.

“Our business is based around supply and demand. Our clients have a huge demand for seagoing staff. The quantity of enquiries we’ve received about providing seagoing recruitment over the years had reached a level where launching a stand alone seagoing division was a must”.

“From what we hear, the seagoing market lacks a quality recruitment model. Industry knowledge is all very well but it’s critical that this is combined with best recruitment practice and Faststream are in a perfect position to provide both” (source: www.faststream.us).

University of the Philippines professor Lucia Palpal-latoc Tangi came to this conclusion after in-depth interviews with a dozen women seafarers, most of whom are working as bar waitresses, utility and massage therapists on passenger and cruise liners.

The discrimination of women seafarers, Tangi claimed, begins from the recruitment stage, when women applicants are already judged based on their youthfulness and beauty, and not on skills.

“Experience is a plus but not imperative, especially when the applicants have a pleasing personality,” Tangi said.

Her conclusion has rattled the male-dominated seafaring industry.

“If there are women seafarers [working in freighters or tankers], there will be just a handful of them,” Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) director Alejandro Padaen was quick to reply during the presentation of Tangi’s paper last September.

Padaen said people should not be misled by government figures that say there are about 6,619 Filipino woman seafarers, since most of them work in passenger liners or cruise ships, both types of which are demanding both men and women to either serve passengers or run the ship.

Working in freighter or cargo vessels is far different from working in passenger and cruise liners, Padaen said. He also said freighter or cargo vessels can only employ between 21 and 23 crew members per sail.
Padaen, however, added that this does not mean there’s no harassment onboard. He assumed that women are too scared to come forward and report the case.

“In my three-year stint as director for POEA’s adjudication division, I encountered just one case.”
Padaen said the case involved a male seafarer stealing the undergarments of his coworker onboard.
That male seafarer, whom he declined to name, was suspended without pay for two years because of the violation.

Safeguards to prevent sexual harassment of women

The four female graduates of MAAP, one of the country’s premier institutions for the seafaring industry, last July are just the latest group to join the increasing number of women in the seafaring industry.
Established a decade ago, MAAP is headed by the local labor union Associated Marine Officers’ Union of the Philippines, private sector Danish Shipowners Association, International Transport Workers Federation, International Maritime Employee Committee, and the Filipino Association of Mariner’s Employment.
All graduates of the school are scholars and handpicked by the principals themselves. This means that all of their graduates will be future officers and will not be given menial jobs.

According to school president Eduardo Ma. Santos, they are treating their women students the same as males.

But there are “safeguards” to prevent them from being sexually harassed by the others, Santos said.
For one, hazing, which he said is usually practiced in other maritime schools, is prohibited.
Students are segregated according to their floors, and students are prohibited from going to floors other than their designated area.

“Women seafarers organize their own symposia on sexual harassment for prevention,” Santos, who is a former Philippine Navy chief, told the OFW Journalism Consortium.

“But there is no discrimination [of gender]. They will take their shipboard training the same as everyone else,” Santos said in a telephone interview.

He added that the name of a seafarer accused of sexual harassment will be disseminated to all maritime agents and vessel operators.

“In the symposia, they always instruct the women to always lock their doors when brushing teeth. Women are also encouraged to cite ways they could avoid harassment or abuse.”

According to Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) executive Siony Flores, addressing women’s concerns onboard a vessel could be as simple as giving them adequate facilities since they have a different biological makeup from men.

Flores, a career PPA employee, was the one of those who established gender and development points in the ports, a sector in the industry considered dominated by men. “We’re only talking of equity on the available resources and not equality,” the PPA Corporate Communications director said.

Flores added they encourage women to organize, especially since the government provides them funding for gender and development projects, as mandated by Women in Development and Nation Building Act.
The law states that at least 5 percent of the budget of an agency goes to gender projects.

But private-sector initiatives for the protection of women are a different matter, she admitted, since resources are “scarce.”

Santos, however, balked when asked if the measures of the maritime sector to prevent harassment of women onboard a vessel are already institutionalized.

Women battling exploitation

IN her working study titled “Pinays On Board: An Exploratory Study on the Working Conditions of Filipino Women Seafarers,” Tangi said women have to battle exploitation, discrimination and sexual harassment when onboard a vessel.

Eleven out of the 12 respondents of the study worked onboard luxury liners and only one worked onboard an oil tanker, Tangi said in an e-mail message to the OFW Journalism Consortium.

Tangi categorized those working in cruise liners and a freighter vessel as both seafarers, but they are differentiated when they go onboard, as the latter type of vessel requires highly skilled, more physically enduring jobs.

A seafarer, she said, refers to any person who is employed or engaged in any activity onboard a seagoing ship navigating the foreign seas other than a government ship used for military or noncommercial purposes.
Thus waitresses, utility and massage therapists are considered seafarers as well.

The study, however, made apples-and-oranges comparisons.

For one, she opined there is discrimination of salary between male and female seafarers.

The women she interviewed said they only earn between $50 (for massage therapist) and $1,000 a month as basic salary. But they can earn between $2,000 and $4,500 a month from tips alone.

Tangi then compared the salary of male seafarers, which she said are more into professional, technical and labor-intensive job onboard.

A ship captain and the ship engineer, depending on the type of vessel, can both earn between $5,200 and $10,000 a month, while the other officers can earn about $2,400 and $8,400 a month.

“The research depicts the systematic discrimination of women in the maritime sector. Since women are assigned to positions or jobs which are reflective or related to their reproductive and nurturing roles, they tend to receive lower pay,” she wrote.

“Women seafarers manage to augment their income through tips and through part-time jobs, such as doing the laundry and cleaning the cabins of Western crew members,” she added.

Tangi faced the same hurdle that the government experience—the unavailability of data regarding women seafarers.

The POEA does not even give details on how many women are in cruise ships or freighter vessels.
Nongovernment groups like the Church-based Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) also do not have records of cases of sexual harassment onboard a freighter vessel nor discrimination issues of women.

“For sure, they will not come out,” said Maria Isa Yñiguez, AOS paralegal aide.

Another Church group, Scalabrini Migration Center, said it does not have any study on female seafarers and all of the data were from those gathered by the POEA.

Lack of protection given to women

TANGI also added points on the long-time debate on the current flag of convenience (FOC) system.
She said such system also put women more at risk since FOC-vessels do not give enough protection to women.

International Transport Workers’ Federation has been alone in its campaign for the abolition of the FOC system to protect the seafarers from exploitation and discrimination.

At the moment, more than half of the world’s merchant ships, as measured by tonnage, are registered under the so-called flags of convenience, more commonly referred to as “open registries.” Traditional reasons for choosing an open register include protection from burdensome income taxes, wage scales and regulations.
While this may be true to some open registries, it is difficult to substantiate generalized arguments against flags of convenience as the establishment of the system was sought by the vessel owners themselves.

In about more than 30 FOC states or nations, the most well known are Panama, Liberia, Bahamas, Malta and Cyprus. Together they control about 45 percent of the shipping tonnage, according to nongovernment group Greenpeace.

“Within the IMO, a treaty only comes into force if the ratifying states together represent the required shipping tonnage. That means that, in fact, FOC states have the power of veto in the IMO,” the IMO web site said.

Tangi said this is one of the things her study would focus on.

“I will be expanding my study to include the history on the deployment of women seafarers. I also intend to interview women from other departments, including engineers and officers, if I am lucky,” she said, adding that she will also interview ship owners to make her study more comprehensive.

“I want to include the entire three Bs in my study—the buyer, the business and the bought.”

Tangi said her study is supported by the views enshrined in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The Philippines, as a signatory to the convention, has the duty to ensure that women’s rights are protected even in the maritime industry.

“We are not asking for special treatment for women. We are asking that women should be given an equal opportunity to integrate and excel in a field that they choose. Women’s rights are inalienable rights and should, therefore, be upheld and protected at all times.” (source: www.businessmirror.com.ph).

www.MaritimeJobSearch.com | Shipping, Transportation, and Engineering Jobs

“We are in it for the long run. We are prepared to offer officers and seafarers a job for life,” said Mr Bishop.

Competition from land-based jobs, the shipping industry’s poor image, the constant re-qualification required to keep up with regulatory changes, criminalisation of seafarers and post-9/11 visa security issues are all contributing to the growing shortage of seagoing personnel, Mr Bishop pointed out.

“To counter this we are actively promoting marine careers in key locations, developing our own in-house recruitment network, focusing on training, career progression and retention and re-visiting former sources of marine personnel such as the US and Western Europe,” he said. “We have also committed to requiring instinctive compliance by all marine and related shore-based staff.”

“All of this requires significant investment and extensive resources which are beyond the scope of most individual shipowners and boutique ship managers,” Mr Bishop added.

V.Ships, which has a crew retention rate of 85%, manages more than 900 ships (source vships.com).

“Any company or industry that shuts its doors to the recruitment and training of its next generation of skilled workers will send a clear and long-lasting message that it is in terminal decline.”
David Dearsley, secretary general, International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC)

At a recent conference, International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC) secretary general, David Dearsley argued that although the present world economic crisis is far worse than at the beginning of previous recessions, it would not significantly impact on shipping’s manpower shortage. Expectations based on the results of previous economic recessions would tend to indicate that the shortage of qualified officers is so bad that a significant decline in the number of ships in the world fleet through the scrapping of existing ships, lay-ups and the cancellation of proposed newbuildings, would simply reduce the shortage to more manageable numbers. “Frankly, I doubt this,” Dearsley said.

Dearsley explained that unemployed qualified seafarers have already demonstrated in past recessions that they can assimilate back into the shore-based population relatively easily because their technical and professional skills are transferable. Many shore-based industries, such as in engineering, ports and harbours, and offshore installations value the flexibility and hands-on skills of seafarers.

“Young people all over the world looking for careers as they leave university, use the internet to source information in a way that did not exist even 10 years ago,” he said. “Any company or industry that shuts its doors to the recruitment and training of its next generation of skilled workers will send a clear and long-lasting message that it is in terminal decline. We run the very real risk of sending out this message again today, not just in the UK or Europe but globally, unless we maintain a long-term and far sighted training programme to deal with the crew crisis.” Many owners facing pressure on margins are bound to reduce so called ‘discretionary spending’, which includes the training programme. If the recession produces a reduction in the scale of the officer shortages and reduces the pressure on officer wage rates, it will be even more difficult to resist demands to reduce the number of cadets being trained. The only way forward to making sure that the errors of the past are not repeated is to maintain recruitment and training programmes. Dearsley explained: “This does not mean that they should be maintained precisely as they are today; indeed this would not be sustainable. It means maintaining our intake of cadets but targeting our resources better in order to reduce wastage and improve the quality of the output and where possible spreading the costs with other like-minded companies.”

Long Term Decision

IMEC took a long term strategic decision last year in respect of cadet training. Dearsley said: “When considering the officer shortage we concluded that simply throwing more cadets into the system would not necessarily prove to be the answer in some of our major labour supply countries. The Working Group we established to consider the officer shortage was particularly struck by the fact that some 10% of our Filipino ratings held valid officer licenses. They were also struck by the fact that each year some 18,000 young Filipinos commenced training programmes designed to deliver officer watchkeeping certificates after the four-year period, but only some 4,000 officers were actually produced.

The balance obtained work ashore or became ratings. “Clearly, recruiting yet more cadets into this system would not produce the desired effect of producing enough officers to overcome the shortage. So we decided to follow the lead already initiated by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association and try to change the system. Starting from scratch this year we decided to select cadets to educational, aptitude and medical standards that we set, to train them to standards we set, in particular in respect of reduced class sizes and the provision of educational materials and equipment, and to ensure that the lecturers were fully competent and selected by IMEC.

“The programme is fully sponsored through International Maritime Training Trust (IMTT) and the cadets receive a full scholarship covering tuition fees, accommodation and food, uniforms and training materials. The cadets are assured of the 12 months sea time training with an IMEC member during the third training year and will return to that company once they have obtained their officer license,” he said. IMEC firmly believes that the cadet training programme is a long-term, farsighted way to produce the number of qualified seafarers that the industry requires and of a standard of competence in excess of current standards.

Dearsley said: “Of particular importance given the current economic crisis, the manner in which the programme is financed through an industry fund should minimise cost during a time when training budgets will inevitably come under severe pressure.” (source: tankeroperator.com)

The campaign calls on governments, industry and IMO, supported by ILO and other international organizations, to take specific actions, within their areas of influence, to increase the recruitment of seafarers to tackle the problem.

A recent report issued by maritime industry analysts Drewry Shipping Consultants assessed the current shortfall of officers in the global shipping fleet to be some 34,000, against a total requirement of 498,000. Moreover, based on Drewry’s fleet growth projections, and the assumption that officer supply will only increase at the current rate, the report predicts that, by 2012, the officer shortfall will have grown to 83,900.

“As everyone in shipping is aware, the global shortage of seafarers, especially officers, has already reached significant proportions and is now a source of genuine concern to all involved in the industry,” said IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, speaking at the launch of the campaign.

The shipping industry can provide the basis for a fulfilling and satisfying life-long career and the problem is one of recruitment, rather than retention in the profession, he added, noting that this required a shift in the public perception of shipping, particularly amongst the young.

“I have long been an advocate of the need to promote the industry and improve its public image. Outside the industry itself, the wider public has little conscious perception of the vital role that shipping plays in everyday life and this, clearly, needs to change,” Mr. Mitropoulos said, adding that all the organizations associated with the ‘Go to Sea!’ campaign were united in wanting to address concerns over the future supply of quality manpower to the shipping industry and in taking positive steps for that purpose.

Amongst specific calls for action in the campaign document, the shipping industry is urged to take the lead and more can to promote itself through the media, in particular the electronic media. The industry should continue to provide support for and endorse campaigns aimed at improving its image and use some key industry figures as examples of career progression. It is also urged to do more to make life on board and away from home more akin to the life enjoyed by others ashore; to encourage women to work in the seafaring profession; and to promote the industry at non maritime-related events.

Governments are asked to give greater prominence to the maritime perspective, by doing more to support and encourage the shipping industry in any initiatives it takes to enhance its image and to remove adverse actions that may damage that image. Maritime training facilities need to be resourced adequately (both in financial and human resource terms) to ensure a supply of competent seafarers. Governments could do much to promote a wider take-up of a sea career through, for example, recognition of sea service instead of compulsory military service, training of jobless persons and promoting the career for women.

IMO itself will develop a page on its public website highlighting the types of career paths available to seafarers, through links to industry sites. While on missions abroad, where practicable, the Secretary-General will visit maritime and non-maritime training facilities and seafarer organizations to express support and address both maritime and non-maritime Government departments to promote shipping and seafaring. And the ILO, which promotes the objective of decent work for all, has adopted several instruments directly relevant to the campaign and will support it in every way possible (source: IMO.org).

What is a superior job posting? Certainly not the majority of those we normally see on the Web. Today’s online recruitment ads are more akin to a cure for insomnia. They’re dull and lacking in any persuasive power. That’s not a problem, of course, if you’re content to recruit mediocre talent, but if you want to hire the best, then boring ads aren’t going to work. In an economic downturn, a recession or at any other time.

Why? Because the best talent always has choices. They can stay right where they are and avoid the disruption of change or they can pick from what is often a number of other, competing employment opportunities. If you’ve connected with a person who has a hard-to-find skill, a person who has a track record of “A” level performance or that rarest of rare talent, a person who has both, then you can be sure that the prospect:

• is employed and well taken care of by their current employer;
• the recipient of constant messaging from other employers promising to do the same.

That’s why I think we need a new kind of job posting, one that can compel even the most happily employed and the most sought after prospects to submit an application. I call it the inspirational job posting.

The inspirational job posting four key attributes:

Passion

You can’t inspire others if you aren’t first inspired yourself. Work isn’t always fun, but on your best days, there are likely to be aspects of your time on-the-job that inspire and motivate you. So, figure out what they are. Pinpoint what is it that makes you willing (maybe even eager) to contribute your talent, your effort, your commitment to your current employer. Then make those factors the central feature of the value proposition you present in your postings. In fact, lead with your passion-make it the first thing a reader sees in your ad-and express it in a vocabulary that lets the emotion show through. That’s not unprofessional; it’s good advertising.

Vision

Communication is the art of enabling people to picture your message in their mind’s eye. To envision it as well as comprehend it. Videos are helpful, of course, but probably not feasible for every ad you post. The alternative is to create “word pictures.” These descriptions need not be Shakespeare, but they must be vivid enough to convey a mental image. They must touch the reader on the right hemisphere of their brain-the creative side-as well as the left hemisphere-the rational side. That can be a difficult task, of course, if the vision you are conveying is inadequate-if the leadership of your organization hasn’t given it a compelling sense of purpose-but it is always essential and especially powerful when the vision is worthy of your presentation.

Focus

Write your ad from the prospect’s perspective. Describe “what’s in it for them” but do so with both the features and the benefits of your value proposition. There’s an old saying in sales that, every year, hardware stores sell six million quarter-inch drill bits-a feature-and nobody really wants one; what they want is a quarter-inch hole-the benefit. So, throw out those corporate-centric position descriptions and present the requirements and responsibilities of your openings in a way that will affect the reader-what are the advantages and benefits your opening offers to them.

Conciseness

People don’t read on the Web; they scan. Moreover, high caliber, passive prospects-the talent we most want to hire-have the attention span of a gnat and flit from posting-to-posting as if they were one. The key, therefore, is to change the format of your ads. Don’t write them in the thick, pithy paragraphs of the print medium. Instead, express your message in headlines and bullets so that the reader can quickly grasp your key points and, if appropriate, make a decision on-the-fly to invest more time in getting to know what you have to offer.

An inspirational job posting is able to sell even the most reluctant employment prospects when other ads won’t. Why? Because in a good economy as well as a bad one, people-especially those who are talented-want hope. They want to believe that there is a special opportunity for them. And, they want that hope expressed in a way that speaks to them. That’s what an inspirational job posting delivers. Not a chance to work at some job, but a chance to fulfill their dreams (source: weddles.com).

The State University of New York Maritime College offers degree programs in both Engineering and Business disciplines. The Bachelor of Engineering degrees includes Mechanical, Marine, Electrical Engineering option and Naval Architecture. The Bachelor of Science degrees include Facilities Engineering, Transportation Management, Marine Environmental Science and Humanities. Our graduates’ master the hands on experience with the 565ft Training Ship Empire State located at our campus.

The Department of Global Business and Transportation (GBAT) is responsible for SUNY Maritime’s courses in business, economics, international trade, logistics and transportation systems. The Department has lead responsibility for two of the Colleges degrees—the Masters of Science in International Transportation Management and the Bachelor of Science in International Trade and Transportation, an upper division program designed primarily for community college graduates. GBAT provides business and transportation systems courses in support of the Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and the Colleges other degree programs.

Please see below an overview of hiring companies that will be recruiting at the SUNY Maritime College Career Fair:

The survey was undertaken by undertaken by international shipping recruiter Faststream whose managing director Mark Charman said that 58% of the respondents agreed that recruitment was a big challenge. He said: “Vacancy levels in the shore-based LNG sector are at a record high and we forecast them to continue growing. Employers face competition for talent not only from direct competitors, but also banks and power companies who need people with specialist marine engineering know-how.”

Competition for those with seafaring LNG experience was “fierce” and that rising salaries at sea were setting expectations ashore. He added: “The ongoing uncertainty driven by the credit crunch has led to candidates being much less willing to take a chance and relocate to a new company. The promise of large bonuses is failing to attract candidates, with base salary a far more important factor.”

Mr Charman advised LNG shipping companies and terminal operators to change their attitude to recruitment strategies and to take a lead from other industries when seeking to hire top talent in a candidate short market (source: mglobal.com)

In order to serve you better, MaritimeJobSearch.com just finished a redesign. Uploading your resume is easy and you can now even create your own online presentation!

To upload your resume, just go to: www.maritimejobsearch.com/signup/employee

Please see below the list of fifty hiring companies that are looking for qualified candidates;

Alaska Marine HS | http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs

CSC | http://www.csc.com

Faststream Recruitment | http://www.faststream.us

GD-EB | http://www.gdeb.com

Kirby Inland Marine | http://kmtc.com

Hornblower | http://www.hornblowermarine.com

MaritimeJobSearch.com | http://maritimejobsearch.com

Mercy Ships | http://www.mercyships.org

MCS-Shoreside | http://www.msc.navy.mil

Moran Towing | http://www.morantug.com

US Air Force | http://www.airforce.com

United Maritime Group | http://www.unitedmaritimegroup.com

Sealift | http://www.sealiftinc.com

ADM | http://www.admworld.com

Alion | http://www.alionscience.com

AMO | http://www.amo-union.org

Atlantic Marine | http://www.atlanticmarine.com

BG LNG | http://www.bg-group.com

Celebrity Cruises | http://www.celebritycruises.com

GD-BIW | http://www.gdbiw.com

Crowley Maritime | http://www.crowley.com

ENSCO | http://www.ensco.com

NAVY | http://www.navy.mil

Hornbeck | http://www.hornbeckoffshore.com

MM&P | http://www.bridgedeck.org

K Sea | http://www.k-sea.com

MEBA | http://www.d1meba.org

MSC-Civmar | http://www.msc.navy.mil/

USMC | http://www.marines.mil

NAVSEA-PEO | http://www.navsea.navy.mil

Northrup Grumman | http://www.northropgrumman.com

Vane | http://www.vanebros.com

Norwegian Cruise | http://www.ncl.com

Reinauer | http://www.reinauer.com

NOAA | http://www.noaa.gov

Penn Maritime | http://www.pennmaritime.com

Seacor | http://www.seacormarine.com

Sayres | http://www.sayresandassociates.com

OTTO Candies | http://www.ottocandies.com

OSG | http://www.osg.com

Army | http://www.army.mil

Keystone | http://www.keyship.com

ISCG |

US Nuclear Reg. | http://www.nrc.gov

McAllister | http://www.mcallistertowing.com

G&H Towing |

NASSCO | http://www.nassco.com

Oceaneering | http://www.oceaneering.com

Puget Sound |

Columbia Group | http://www.columbiagroup.com

If you need help contacting one of these organizations, please don’t hesitate to contact me at dirk@maritimejobsearch.com

Or go to www.MaritimeJobSearch.com to view jobs and upload your resume.