Cotton Crew Club: What Makes A Great Superyacht Crew?
How our expert yacht recruitment knowledge allows us to find you the perfect crew every time
Building the perfect superyacht crew is an art; something that takes time and practice to finetune. Luckily, Cotton Crews has a wealth of experience in yacht recruitment, having successfully placed thousands of permanent and temporary luxury yacht crew across South Florida, New England, the Caribbean and the Med. That’s how we manage to get the balance right on your vessel, every single time.
Because transparency is at the heart of our philosophy, we wanted to answer a few frequently asked questions about how we do it. If you have any further queries just get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.
What makes a good superyacht crew member?
Although it may seem important to have the highest possible silver service training and the most exclusive Michelin-star restaurant experience, personality plays an equal part to skills when picking the right crew. That’s why as well as reading through each yacht CV in detail, we also research what their hobbies are to get more of a taste for their personality. We want people who aren’t just here to do their job as professionally as possible, but who can also bring their unique character to the table, and yacht recruitment is often about finding a good balance between these two requirements.
We know from years of experience that yachts are not a one-size-fits-all situation, and there is not one personality type that works best for successful superyacht crew. A big part of finding a great crew member is placing them within the right crew for them; putting them in an environment where they can flourish.
One thing that we know good yacht crew do have in common? The desire to please and exceed the Owner’s expectations. After all, they’re in the service industry because they take pride in making people happy – without this trait, a crew member won’t go far.
What makes a great onboard team?
We think of walking into a crew mess as being like walking into someone’s home – each house has a personality, a décor and an atmosphere, and it’s the same on a yacht. This personality is dictated by the Owner and the Captain – whether it’s high-energy, relaxed or somewhere in between, and whether it’s a warm, interactive service or more of a refined, seen-but-not-heard atmosphere.
Since every vessel has its own character, our priority is finding superyacht crew members that will fit in. Like-minded individuals make for less tension and more seamless collaboration onboard; the benefits of this cannot be overstated. When you have a happy crew you have a happy Owner, and this is always our ultimate goal.
How does Cotton Crews select the right crew for every yacht?
As yacht recruitment experts, we have the intuition and forethought to find out what makes our candidates tick, making sure we get to know more than just their resume through face-to-face meetings and social media. Doing this helps us understand what kind of program would make them happy, and to match them to a boat where we know they’re going to be a real asset to the Owner.
This can be more challenging with charter yacht jobs, where different guests may expect very different things. However, we tackle this by making sure we encourage good communication between our superyacht crew members and the charter broker, ensuring they know what is expected of them before each charter starts. This gives the crew time to prepare and ‘switch on’ any personality the guests may be anticipating.
Our years of experience in yacht recruitment, placing candidates from all over the world onto every type of vessel imaginable, combined with our endless love affair with saltwater, allow us to consistently source the perfect crew for our ever-growing client list. Get in touch with our friendly team to find out more.
Learn more about hiring luxury yacht crew with the Cotton Crew Club or get the Cotton Crew Hire app here:
