Page 36: of Marine News Magazine (October 2020)

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SHIPYARD JOBS

Tug Pennsylvania was recently constructed at Great Lakes Shipyard for

The Great Lakes Towing Company.

Scott Tish / Great Lakes Shipyard than 30 immediate corporate job openings listed online as jor cities like Seattle can create hiring challenges. “Skilled the Panama City, Fla. shipbuilder looks to ? ll roles rang- trades people with speci? c experience we need such as alu- ing from administrative assistant to analysts, designers and minum welding can be dif? cult to ? nd,” she said. drafters, superintendent and project managers. “SAFE Boats relies on traditional recruiting tools and

On the other side of Florida, St. Johns Ship Building in methods such as posting on Indeed and other job sites,”

Palatka has been staying busy with new construction and McFarland said, adding, “SAFE Boats has invested in great repair work for a wide range of vessels. The company says relationships with area trade schools and educators who on its site that it is looking for experienced personnel in a refer their students and alumni, as well as word-of-mouth number of trades positions. and referrals from existing employees.”

Bollinger Shipyards in Louisiana has both professional/ “We are very fortunate in that our company culture is staff administration and production trades/crafts openings very focused on our team members, and therefore our re- listed online. Metal Shark, which on its site currently shows tention is high as compared to the rest of the industry,” job availabilities at its Jaeanerette and Franklin, La. facili- McFarland said. “We bene? t from our reputation of being ties, recently took to LinkedIn to announce the open posi- a great company to work for that takes care of its team.” tions. Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk, Va. has 87 job open- “There is little doubt about it, ? nding and retaining the ings on LinkedIn, and Portland, Ore.-based Vigor has 126. best people is always a challenge,” said Deste, who adds that the pandemic has piled on another obstacle to over-

Attracting and retaining talent come when recruiting and hiring employees. “We, like

While U.S. shipyards’ need for talent has been steady, other major shipbuilders, have to recruit locally, regionally one problem has been that the stream of quali? ed candi- and nationally given the competitive landscape. That hasn’t dates available to ? ll open positions is often anything but. changed during COVID, but not being able to physically

For a lot of shipyards, ? nding and retaining skilled workers attend as many hiring fairs and have conversations with is a perennial challenge. prospective employees is a new challenge,” he said.

“Finding good quali? ed full-time shipyard employees has “Even during COVID-19 though, we have continued to always been a challenge,” said Great Lakes’ Starck. “We have bring on new employees. We have reduced the size of our supplemented with labor supply contractors for the past sev- on-boarding classes in the shipyard and we have done more eral years, and many of those workers have been here a long interviews virtually than ever before; but we continue to seek time. In the meantime, we are always trying to ‘grow our out and ? nd the highest quality teammates,” Deste said.

own’ and when we ? nd talented candidates who have the Ashwell said employee-owned Gulf Copper is combat- right experience, we generally ? nd a place for them.” ting hiring challenges with competitive salaries and great

McFarland said SAFE Boats’ relatively remote location bene? ts and insurance coverage. He added that the com- and smaller talent pool to draw from compared to ma- pany’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), which al-

October 2020 36 MN