Recruitment and the image of the shipping industry

Many practising seafarers no longer regard seafaring as a lifetime career. Such a position is becoming entrenched with the many operational changes taking place in the shipping industry (Caesar, Cahoon & Fei, 2014; Cahoon, Caesar & Fei, 2014). With new generation seafarers spending less than 10 years at sea in the past two decades (Ljung, 2010), shipping industry employers need to not only work towards improving retention rates; but may also need to devise effective strategies to bolster global seafarer recruitment figures. Additionally, given that poor human resource practices are reported among shipping industry employers (see for example, Donner, 2008; Magramo, Eler, Calambuhay & Bernas, 2010), this chapter advocates the need for an effective career approach to the recruitment of seafarers. The effectiveness of seafarer recruitment strategies may need to cater for the wider spectrum of the negative image issues affecting the industry to decisively build a more attractive brand that will have positive implications for future recruitment efforts. This isimportant as industries such as shipping whose image has become less attractive are struggling to attract young people in the developed maritime nations (McLaughlin, 2012) . The impact of shipping industry image issues on seafarer recruitment is evident in the literature. Consequently, industry efforts aimed at improving recruitment figures may have to focus on creating a better perception of the shipping industry, especially among young people in developed countries (Cahoon, Haugstetter & Bhaskar, 2010; Zaar & Hammarstedt, 2012)