The Tribune

The Government teamed with Carnival to stage a recent recruitment fair that aimed to fill 65 jobs at the cruise line with Bahamian workers.

The Ministry of Labour, continuing its drive to find employment in the maritime industry for Bahamians, teamed with other industry partners and Carnival to organise the job recruiting programme (JRP) on Thursday, October 18, at the National Training Agency's (NTA) Gladstone Road headquarters.

The job fair, organised as a follow-up to the recent visit by the National Committee on Skills, Industry and Training to Carnival, sought to fill 65 total vacancies. These were broken down into 25 bar waiters; 15 assistant waiters; ten trainee cooks; and 15 deck hands.

In accordance with the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) Regulations 2012, the Ministry of Labour worked with two registered seafarer recruitment and placement services agencies to identify a pool of Bahamians to be interviewed. The two that took part were AquaMarine and Campbell's Shipping.

The interview process included the submission of resumes, and the completion and submission of an online form by each job seeker. The Carnival interview team included Ashley Spencer, senior manager of talent acquisition, and Edward Allen, vice-president of beverage and guest services.

Carnival's representatives advised the Ministry of Labour officials that they were pleased with the quality of the job seekers interviewed, and confident that the cruise line will be able to identify Bahamians to fill the 65 vacancies.

They added that Carnival will work with the two participating seafarer recruitment and placement services agencies to ensure that the successful candidates which meet its criteria and standards will be employed in the 2019 first quarter.

The Ministry of Labour said positions are still available, and interested job seekers can contact AquaMarine or Campbell's Shipping.