Crew Board, a new recruitment platform for superyachts, have announced the company will be launching in November. The company hails from Manchester’s burgeoning startup scene, and mixes industry-leading technology with a hands-on vetting process to better match yacht crew with open roles.
The platform allows yacht owners and captains to review, filter, and progress candidates along each stage of the recruitment process in a clear and logical manner. Crew Board will also make use of an advanced ‘best-match’ algorithm to analyse crew profiles and auto-shortlist the best pool of potential candidates. For employees, the same algorithm will find suitable jobs based on their experience and skill set.
To add extra value for employers, the team behind the web-based app will be personally vetting each and every crew profile. The aim is to create a database of high-quality, serious candidates for every position, regardless of prior experience.
“As a recruiter and former crew member, I understand how difficult it can be to match the perfect crew with the perfect yacht”, says founder and Managing Director, Chay Hodgson. “Yacht recruitment can be a difficult and drawn-out process, but Crew Board’s exclusive database and intuitive user interface will make it so much easier to fill any role: from Captains to Stewards. We are very excited to share it with the yachting community.”
Crew Board adds to Manchester’s rapidly growing technology and startup community, with the city becoming a hub of creativity, entrepreneurship, and investment – in part fuelled by the BBC’s move to the region and the success of the city’s billion-pound businesses, like Boohoo, AO and AutoTrader.
Chay explains, “It’s an exciting time to launch a new business in the city. The array of business talent and expertise here is incredible. We’ve seen a growing number of businesses launch in the past few years and achieve incredible results – with hard work and a great team behind us, we hope Crew Board can reach the same heights.”
The yachting industry is growing at a similarly quick rate with 150 new vessels hitting the water each year. As a result, the demand for crew is constantly increasing. Traditional recruitment solutions can make this extremely costly for yacht owners and captains, who typically pay placement fees for each crew member found by an agency.
Crew Board developed a low-cost subscription model to combat this issue, meaning employers will have constant access to an exclusive pool of candidates, therefore removing the middleman and saving yachts thousands.
It is completely free for crew members to create a profile, whilst employers are encouraged to trial the platform for up to six months. Furthermore, in an effort to remove the barriers crew with little to no experience face whilst looking for a first job in the industry, employers can post junior roles for free, forever.
“The demand for crew has never been higher and it’s only set to increase in the future, so employers will need a more cost-effective and efficient recruitment solution. We’re hoping our platform will aid the growth of the industry, along with helping younger, less experienced crew to find their dream role”, says Chay.
Crew Board will be released to the public in November 2018, with more information available on the company’s website.
