ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the need for an effective career approach to the recruitment of seafarers. The effectiveness of seafarer recruitment strategies may need to cater for the wider spectrum of the negative image issues affecting the industry to decisively build a more attractive brand that will have positive implications for future recruitment efforts. The proliferation of short-term employment contracts among shipping industry employers is inimical to sustainable mentoring of skilled talent for the shipping industry as it adversely affects the attraction and recruitment of seafarers. Maritime piracy creates a negative image for the shipping industry. In developed maritime nations where people are primarily motivated to go to sea for the seafaring lifestyle and adventure, the resurgence of maritime piracy along critical international shipping routes may deter young people from taking up careers in seafaring. Access to quality maritime education is an important factor that influences and can limit the supply of seafarers.
