Maritime mentor
Marcus Pradhan dreams of working within the lucrative world of maritime brokerage
The maritime industry is experiencing a boom and finding it hard to find the manpower to keep up with demand. Third-year Maritime Studies student Marcus Pradhan dreams of working within the lucrative world of maritime brokerage.
However, as a foreign student, the 20-year-old from India is concerned that it will be more difficult for him to find employment. "I have been looking at job adverts, and UK shipping companies are looking for graduates within the EU. Indian shipping companies have less graduate opportunities, and want seasoned professionals."
To improve his chances Marcus has signed up with the University's Mentoring Plus programme, which helps students who feel that they will be disadvantaged in the labour market due to a particular difficulty such as ethnicity, age, country of origin, gender, disability or as an exoffender. The students are paired up with volunteers from local employers such as Ford, Skandia, Lawton Communications and Hampshire Constabulary. They receive one-to-one mentoring and benefit from a series of workshops delivered by industry professionals.
Marcus Pradhan is pleased to be partnered with Adam Myers from Faststream Recruitment Ltd, specialists in the maritime industry.
"When I met Adam he introduced me to everyone and even the Managing Director took time to reassure me that there was a job out there for me.
"Adam is a great motivator and I'm starting to feel more confident about getting work. He's looking at my CV and advising me on my best route into the industry," said Marcus.
This is the first time that Faststream has taken part in the programme and they are looking forward to building better links with the University. "This is a great way for us to improve our community links. We are also in the process of setting up a graduate training programme. In addition to helping Marcus I am keen to find out what today's graduates are looking for and how best we can assist them into the job market," explained Adam.
With help like this, Marcus looks set to navigate his way towards a promising career in an industry he loves.