Maritime UK has initiated a new national Maritime Careers campaign, aiming to promote career opportunities across Britain’s £46.1bn maritime sector. The nationwide campaign is being launched in response to recommendations within the government’s Maritime 2050 strategy, launched in January.
The campaign targets to promote career opportunities across the maritime sector around the UK, based on the work started by the Maritime UK Careers Promotion Forum. This is a grouping of industry bodies that wants to promote careers for each of the maritime industries.
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The goal of the campaign is to provide better coordination of careers promotion across the sector, envisioning the idea that there is ‘no wrong door’ in maritime. It also stresses the ability for people to move to different parts of the sector during their careers.
The campaign launched with a Careers Hub aboard the NLV PHAROS on 12 September during London International Shipping Week, organised by Maritime UK.
Primary and secondary school children boarded the ship to learn about careers across the maritime sector. The group included 6- and 7-years pupils from Gomer Junior School and Bay House School in Gosport.
In addition to finding out about all the possible careers in Britain’s maritime sector, the children had a chance to speak to the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary, who were there to announce a £1.25bn deal to construct five new Royal Navy frigates.
The Maritime Careers campaign will be supported by an initial £250,000 from the Department for Transport.
Commenting on the campaign, Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said:
I am immensely proud of the vibrant range of jobs offered by the maritime industry, and I know that the 186,000 people who work in the sector will agree that it is a truly fantastic place to build a career. We need to ensure this fantastic industry is fuelled with the brightest talent from across the country, and that means tapping into the potential of our diverse society and increasing the number of women working in maritime
Along with promoting maritime careers generally, there will be a specific focus on attracting girls and young women into the sector. A significant component of the campaign, the ‘Maritime and Me’ project will use a public campaign to show girls of all ages the fantastic range of opportunities in maritime.
The project will collaborate with WISE, a community interest organisation, to create an online quiz where girls and young women can see which roles would fit their personalities, supported by case studies of women working across different sectors, including maritime.
Speaking at the Maritime UK Careers Hub aboard the NLV PHAROS, Sarah Kenny, Vice Chair of Maritime UK stated:
It’s been fantastic to see so many people hearing first-hand what a rewarding career maritime can offer during London International Shipping Week. With the sector globally forecast to double in size, there really is a job for everyone – and with typical pay significantly above the national average, our people are well rewarded. We warmly welcome government’s funding to support careers in maritime, and we’re excited to take this new campaign to the next level
What is more, the campaign will include the following as well:
- Maritime UK will grow its secretariat to include a dedicated Careers Promotion and Outreach Manager, engaging the Careers Promotion Forum (CPF) to support the campaign. The Careers Promotion and Outreach Manager will be responsible for developing the campaign’s targets, objectives and plans;
- The Maritime UK Careers Promotion Forum will work with its members and other organisations wanting to join to support the campaign;
- Reflecting the growing role of regional cluster organisations, each Maritime UK geographical cluster will deliver a series of careers events, to be visible through a single sector-wide calendar. Members of the CPF will support activity across the country where able to, including through the regional branches of each national body;
- Each regional cluster will also develop a local engagement plan for schools, colleges and youth groups;
- The campaign is working closely with the team behind the Year of Engineering campaign to share best practice and replicate its successes;
- New print and digital resources will be produced and campaign-branded;
- Members of the CPF who undertake “outreach” functions to schools and other groups with ambassador programmes will also be better coordinated. They will be supported to tell the ‘whole sector-wide’ story during these outreach missions, helping promote the idea of ‘no wrong door’ within the sector.