All roles/Shoreside/Crew Recruitment Consultant
Shoreside
Crew Recruitment Consultant
A crew recruitment consultant matches yachts with the crew they need, from a junior deckhand to a chief engineer. Good placements keep yachts safe, happy and running, so captains rely on your judgement.
- Department
- Shoreside
- Reports to
- Head of Recruitment or Agency Director
- Yacht size
- Shore based
- Contract
- Permanent, shore based
- Starting pay
- €35,000 a year plus commission
What the job is
You find, vet and place crew on superyachts. Captains, heads of department and management companies send you a brief: a second stewardess for a 60m charter yacht leaving for the Caribbean in ten days, or a rotational chief engineer for a 90m private boat. You search your database, advertise, call candidates, check tickets and references, then send a shortlist the client can trust. When it works, you invoice a placement fee, usually a percentage of the first year's salary.
Most consultants specialise by department, such as deck, interior, engineering or galley, so they can judge a CV properly. You need to know what a Y4 is, why an OOW 3000gt matters on a 70m yacht, and what a real chief stew reference sounds like. Many consultants are former crew for exactly this reason. You also handle the awkward parts: candidates who drop out, captains who change the brief, and placements that fail within the guarantee period.
The work follows the season. March to May is the Mediterranean rush, October and November the Caribbean and Florida build up, with dock walkers and dayworkers filling Antibes, Palma and Fort Lauderdale. Outside those peaks you build relationships, visit yachts at boat shows in Monaco, Cannes and Fort Lauderdale, and keep your candidate pool warm. The job is sales as much as HR. Your income depends on placements, and your reputation depends on every one of them.
What makes a good one
- Reading crew CVs and tickets accurately
- Phone and relationship skills
- Sound judgement of character
- Sales and negotiation
- Organised under seasonal pressure
A day in the life
- 08:30Coffee and inbox. Two captains in the Caribbean sent overnight briefs, and a stewardess placed last week says she has settled in well.
- 09:00Team meeting to split new jobs. You take a 55m motor yacht needing a deckhand with RYA Powerboat Level 2 and a bosun for a 70m sailing yacht.
- 09:45Database search and calls. You ring ten deckhands, check availability, visas and whether their STCW and ENG1 are in date.
- 11:00Two candidates walk in from the dock. You interview them face to face, scan their certificates and note what kind of boat suits each.
- 12:30Lunch near the port, where you bump into a first officer you placed two years ago who is now looking for a chief officer role.
- 14:00Reference calls to previous captains. One reference is lukewarm, so you drop that candidate from the bosun shortlist.
- 15:30Send shortlists with short written notes on each candidate. You arrange two video interviews with the captain for tomorrow morning.
- 16:30A captain calls to offer the deckhand role. You confirm salary, start date and rotation, then send the candidate the offer and SEA details.
- 18:00Update the CRM, chase the invoice for last month's chief stew placement and post two job adverts before leaving.
Pay by country
Annual base salary for a full time office consultant, plus commission on placement fees which can add 30 to 100 percent in a good year. Senior billers earn well above these ranges.
- France and Monaco
- €35,000 – 55,000
- Spain
- €26,000 – 40,000
- Italy
- €26,000 – 38,000
- United Kingdom
- £28,000 – 45,000
- USA (Florida)
- US$50,000 – 80,000
- Caribbean
- US$40,000 – 60,000
- UAE
- AED 150,000 – 240,000
- Australia
- A$65,000 – 95,000
- New Zealand
- NZ$60,000 – 85,000
Required
- Right to work in the office location
- Yachting or maritime industry experience
- Fluent written and spoken English
Recommended
- Previous work as yacht crew
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- REC Level 3 Certificate in Recruitment Practice
- MLC 2006 knowledge
- GDPR and data protection training
- Second language such as French, Spanish or Italian
Visas
- Right to work in France or the EU
- Monaco work permit for Monaco offices
- US work authorisation for Florida offices
- UAE residence visa for Dubai offices
- Australian or New Zealand work rights for local offices
Where it leads
- Deckhand
- Steward / Stewardess
- Crew Coordinator
- Crew Recruitment Consultant
- Yacht Crew Manager
- Yacht Operations Manager
- Yacht Manager
Crew Recruitment Consultant jobs open now
Questions crew ask
Do I need to have worked on yachts to become a crew recruitment consultant?
It is not a legal requirement, but most agencies strongly prefer it. Former crew understand tickets, rotations and life on board, which makes clients and candidates trust them faster.
How does commission work?
Agencies charge the yacht a fee per placement, often a percentage of the first year's salary, and you receive a share of what you bill. The split and targets vary by agency, so ask at interview.
Where are most crew agency jobs based?
Antibes, Monaco, Palma and Fort Lauderdale hold the biggest cluster of agencies, with others in the UK, Dubai, Auckland and Australia. Being close to the docks matters because candidates walk in and you visit yachts.