Page 43: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2015)

Offshore Edition

Read this page in Pdf, Flash or Html5 edition of April 2015 Maritime Reporter Magazine

not so prevalent in the U.S. or the off- around projects.” and employee. “We’ve seen the advent and talking to people. There is no substi- shore and maritime markets. He sees Through markets good and bad, of the internet, the advent of job boards, tute for that. It sounds simplistic, but it the current period of uncertainty driv- Charman said that his business, the the advent of LinkedIN, and the advent comes down to knowing your space and ing more companies to consider contract job of professional recruitment has not of internal recruitment capability; but at talking to people.” professionals, as he reasons it offers a changed so drastically when it comes the end of the day, recruitment is a full A little certainty in an uncertain mar- nice hedge in cyclical markets, both up down to ? nding the best ? t for employer contact sport … it’s all about networking ket.

and down, as well as niches where skill shortages are the norm.

“Job security going forward doesn’t come from being employed, it comes from being employable,” said Charman, apologizing if the statement seemed a touch cliché. “From a candidate’s per- spective, it’s all about the skills and knowledge and what you can do with it.

To leverage this, I don’t think it’s about being employed, its about being employ- able; keeping up with the latest technolo- gies or the latest projects; having the lat- est know how; and being able to market yourself to organizations who need this more ? exible approach to workforce planning.”

Charman and Faststream are champi- oning the concept of supplying a pool of contract professionals domestically and globally, as he reasons it makes avail- able a nice pool of really good people with a speci? c skill set to do a speci? c bit of work. “I think that’s an interesting element of how contract labor can help companies in the current marketplace.”

The Road Ahead

Charman closely monitors a number of economic, employment, maritime and offshore speci? c data daily to keep in touch with the ? uidity of the global marine and offshore markets, particular- ly eying the number of new vessels due for delivery. “There are a lot of new ves- sels coming into operation. Will they get laid up? I can’t tell you at the moment,” said Charman. “But we are certainly forecasting big demand in the offshore sector, with the respect to projects going into construction. There is a lot being built right now and will so for the next few years … after that, there is not so much in the pipeline.”

By region, Charman remains bull- ish on Asia and the Middle East. “I was in Singapore last week, and it was like ‘what crisis?’ The Asia Paci? c region is still booming. We’ve seen very little let up in Asia Paci? c or the Middle East market; our predictions are that both

Asia Paci? c and the Middle East will grow for us this year.”

In the U.K. North Sea he predicts a rebound in 2016 to 2017, but the U.S.

Gulf of Mexico seems a bit foggier at the moment. This year seems OK, but be- yond 2015 is far from clear. “It’s almost a perfect storm at the moment; there is an oversupply of ships combined with a very low oil price and a lot of uncertainty www.marinelink.com 43

MR #4 (42-50).indd 43 MR #4 (42-50).indd 43 3/31/2015 1:46:12 PM3/31/2015 1:46:12 PM

Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.