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CRUISE CAREERS

Cooking up redible ruise redentials

C

Norway-based cruise operator Hur- tigruten AS has developed its own unique formula for developing cruise talent. The practice is already pay- ing handsome dividends.

By William Stoichevski business of Hurtigruten AS (pronounced Hoorty-rooten).

Cruise Leadership

Fun, luxury, experiences — that’s what cruise operators Among other company ads with deadlines expiring in mid- sell, and by all accounts, it is selling well. With bookings up February are calls for payroll experts. A new CEO from the three years in a row, competition for skills and customers is successful airline Norwegian Air Shuttle was brought in just up. Increasing in frequency, too, are cruise-company launches over three years ago. Not long after that came – just in time for of the largest ? oating cities ever. Yet, steaming up alongside 2105’s massive ship overhauls and a needed new crew train- for a share of this business are modern day versions of storied ing regimen – Hurtigruten brought in Senior Vice President, coastal steamers building Transatlantic credentials from head- People and Organizational Development, Marit Finnanger. quarters in Norway, Italy and elsewhere. Conspicuous among She joined a management team just ? nishing up a major turn- them is recently revamped Hurtigruten AS with a focus on ex- around, as Hurtigruten went from being a cash-conscious pedition-like adventure, expediting cargoes and “? exible” staff. coastal steamer with a mix of older and newer vessels to an

OSLO—“Quali? cations: pleasure craft boating certi? cate; upgraded coastal and expedition cruise company divided into mariner security certi? cate; restricted operators certi? cate,” the Norway and Transatlantic divisions. On the HR side, the soft-

Spitzbergen Travel job ad says, adding that the company also spoken but clearly managerial Finnanger says the change prefers “weapons experience, outdoors experience” and expe- in HR focus means from purely manning and regulations to rience in and around the remote, polar-bear-? lled Spitzbergen “structural changes” focused on making the seaborne side of archipelago. Applicants are encouraged to call the operations the HR organization and its shore-based people development leader for expeditions at the Travel company, a shore-based work in tandem. 26 Maritime Professional 1Q 2016| | 18-33 Q1 MP2016.indd 26 2/29/2016 10:44:56 AM