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CEO/Founder of Trinity Recruitment Services, Judeen Scantlebury, alongside Ivan Mosquera, Senior Manager – Shipboard Talent Acquisition at The Apollo Group and Global Human Resources.

High demand for cruise ship jobs

Persons seeking employment have opted to look beyond Barbados’ shores for opportunities.

For many, the cruise ship industry continues to be an option.

“With the changes that have taken place not only in Barbados with the economy and shortage of jobs, but also in the other islands across the region, we are seeing a large increase in the number of applicants looking to make working on board cruise ships their form of employment,” CEO/Founder of Trinity Recruitment Services, Judeen Scantlebury pointed out.

For the past decade, Trinity – an executive recruitment agency based in Barbados – has been providing not only locals, but Caribbean nationals with jobs on board cruise ships, river cruises, as well as airlines. When The Barbados Advocate visited the Mall 34, Bridgetown office on Thursday, Apollo Ship Chandlers Inc. was conducting interviews for Housekeeping and Bar and Restaurant.

“Trinity Recruitment Services is the agent for the Miami-based Apollo Ship Chandlers Inc. We have been providing staff for their vessels since 2015,” she
disclosed.

“We are conducting the recruitment drive for the ships that are going to be based in Barbados from November 2017 until April 2018…They manage a number of brands but the ship that is going to be based in Barbados for the winter period will be the Thomson brand – Thomson Discovery.”

The candidates, ages 21 to 53 years, were screened and trained, and according to Scantlebury, “They have been brought up to the standard of what Apollo is looking for.

“Once we have completed screening, the next step is to take them through a series of training. We have implemented housekeeping training for those persons who don’t have any previous experience, so that they can fully understand what they are getting into prior to the recruitment managers doing the final assessment.

“Cruise ship employment is good because you don’t have any overheads while on board – no rent, electricity and food bills – so persons have an opportunity where they can work, send back home money and still have a little something to save,” she said.

Ivan Mosquera, Senior Manager, Shipboard Talent Acquisition at The Apollo Group revealed that this time around approximately 40 persons were selected to be interviewed.

“For us it is about the quality of the applicant. I am talking about skills. In many cases the experience might not be large in the number of years, but we also look for the soft skills – the attitude, customer service understanding – that is as well very important for us.”

“We are interviewing around 40 people and from those 40 people we expect to hire at least 85 to 90 per cent, if not the 100 per cent. That would be ideal but it is not always the case.”

Mosquera added that Apollo has been continuing its recruitment efforts in the Caribbean because “the workers coming from this region are dedicated. They are people who have a genuine interest to work on board the ships and that is key…. We don’t only want persons to come for one contract, we want them to stay with the company and hopefully progres through the ranks.”

Barbados Advocate

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