Crewtoo, an online network dedicated to seafarers, launched an online maritime jobs board. Founded by KVH Media Group, part of KVH Industries, Inc. (KVHI), Crewtoo, which says it has more than 100,000 members, is premiering the service today in Stamford, Connecticut, at Shipping 2014, the annual shipping conference and exhibition of the Connecticut Maritime Association.
The Crewtoo jobs board is integrated into the Crewtoo site and enables seafarers to simply change a setting on their profile to state that they are available for work; they are then prompted to fill in their full employment details on the site and upload their current CV/resumé. For the seafarer, membership to the popular social network remains free of charge and, even before the jobs board launch, thousands of seafarers had already taken the opportunity to complete their jobs profile.
“We believe that Crewtoo gives us the perfect platform to help seafarers and maritime recruiters alike,” says Mark Woodhead, managing director of KVH Media Group. “Seafarers are afraid of being taken advantage of and want to deal with a name they trust while maritime recruiters want great value in an effective and flexible service that will find them the best crew. From traditional web advertising to social media promotion, we believe we can match businesses with the right crew using web and social technology.”
Maritime recruiters using Crewtoo can choose from three advertising packages: a single vacancy post, a monthly plan, or an unlimited annual service that includes social media posts and a featured company profile service.
Crewtoo members represent a wide range of nationalities, with 55% from Europe, 34% from Asia and the Middle East, 9% from Africa, and the rest from North America, Latin America and Australasia. Likewise, the membership encompasses a broad range of ranks, including masters, ordinary seamen, chief officers, chief engineers, electrical engineers, deck cadets, engine cadets and cooks.
“It’s a very exciting time for Crewtoo. We have put an experienced maritime recruitment team together and we have already received vacancies from recruiters who know the Crewtoo brand, even before the site launched,” said Woodhead. Crewtoo prides itself on its relationship with seafarers and plans to continue growing the social side of the site by adding new elements and services to it throughout the year.
In addition to Crewtoo, KVH Media Group has a number of other services aimed at improving crew welfare. NEWSlink is a daily news and information service customized for seafarers, with more than 75 publications in 17 languages delivered by email to vessels around the world. MOVIElink, TVlink, and TRAININGlink provide commercially licensed movies, television programs, and training films for onboard viewing by seafarers, delivered in a range of formats from hard-copy DVDs delivered directly to ship agents anywhere in the world to fully digital services. SPORTSlink provides daily video clips of sporting events.
KVH provides maritime broadband connectivity to vessels worldwide through its TracPhone V-IP series terminals and mini-VSAT Broadband network. In addition, KVH is introducing IP-MobileCast, a content delivery service that is designed to enable MOVIElink, TVlink, SPORTSlink, TRAININGlink, NEWSlink, and MUSIClink commercially licensed entertainment content to be delivered via multicasting technology to subscribing vessels, over the top of the mini-VSAT Broadband network.
kvh.com
