This executive summary provides a comprehensive overview of key findings from the Maritime Sales Employment survey, highlighting trends, challenges, and opportunities in the sector. The report draws insights from surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024, offering a clear picture of the evolving landscape in the field of maritime sales.
Retention and job-seeking sentiments
The job market is currently candidate-led, with a substantial increase in the time it takes to hire new talent. Retention rates have started to improve, with job-seeking sentiments decreasing year-on-year. It is also crucial to note that job-seeking sentiments do not always meet up with reality.
Motivations for job-seeking
The top motivations for maritime sales professionals considering job changes are compensation and career development. However, misalignment with the company culture and values has grown to the third most popular reason for maritime sales professionals to job hunt.
Company culture and values as a loyalty factor
Work-life balance continues to be a dominant factor in retaining maritime sales professionals, followed by career progression. Increasingly, sales professionals shared that their motivator to stay with their employer was due to the company culture and values.
Remote work and flexible hours for job acceptance
The report highlights the growing importance of access to some remote work and flexible hours in job offer acceptance. A significant percentage of sales professionals would reject a job offer if it did not offer these options.
Career development and progression
Regular reviews, recognition, and opportunities for growth are key factors that motivate and retain employees. While there is a growing emphasis on the importance of reviews, there remains a gap between those who value reviews and those who receive them.
Working styles and travel
The majority of respondents continue to spend some of their time working in the office. Fully remote working has declined year on year. Over a third of respondents shared they would like to do more travel in their role, whilst only 11% wanted to reduce it.
Compensation and pay rises
Compensation remains a crucial aspect of talent management for maritime sales professionals. Notably, the frequency of pay rises has increased, with 52% of sales professionals receiving a pay rise in the last six months.
Performance related incentives
This report reveals a notable increase in the prevalence of bonus schemes, with 80% of respondents reporting access to such programmes, up from 75% last year. Job roles significantly influence bonus availability, as do the regions they are working in.
The results of the survey underscore the significant rise in sales commission adoption among businesses as predicted last year, with 38% of sales professionals now receiving such incentives, up from 26% in the previous year. Sales commission structures vary widely across industries, with software and new technology sectors notably offering competitive packages to attract top talent.
Contact the authors
For a detailed discussion of the report's findings, please contact the authors directly:
Mark Charman, CEO & Founder
Adam Graves, Director of Marine & Energy - Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas
Lorenzo Agatiello, Director of Asia-Pacific
Media Enquiries
For media enquiries and interviews, please contact the Faststream Marketing Team.
Latest Insights
View All Insights
How to Attract Maritime Talent with a Limited Employer Brand
You don’t need to be a household name to attract top maritime talent. Some of the most compelling employers in the sector are the ones you’ve never heard of, yet. If you are a smaller operator, a n...
Career Drift: How to Spot It and Correct Course
In a demanding industry like maritime, it’s easy to keep your head down, get the job done, and assume that means you’re on track. But what if you’ve been so focused on delivering that you haven’t l...
Retention Starts with Recruitment: How to Hire with Staying Power in Mind
Attracting top maritime talent is one thing, but keeping them is another. But here is the often-overlooked truth: long-term retention starts from the very first conversation. Too many employers tre...
How to Use AI to Improve Your CV
AI is transforming the way we work, and that includes how we apply for jobs. Whether you are in shoreside shipping, cruise, crewing, or marine engineering, AI tools can help you enhance your CV, pr...
25 Career Moves You Can Make in 10 Minutes or Less
Small actions. Big momentum. You don’t need to overhaul your life to move your career forward. You just need 10 minutes. Whether you're at sea, ashore, or in the middle of a busy day, these simple...
From Reactive to Proactive Maritime Hiring: The Case for RPO
Waiting to hire until you need someone is already too late… In maritime, uncertainty has become a given. One minute you are scaling up for a new vessel launch or project; the next, you are facing a...
Just Released: Naval Architecture Employment Report 2025
Naval Architecture has always been a technically demanding and highly specialised field. But in 2025, it’s not just the vessels evolving, it is the workforce too.Our latest Naval Architecture Emplo...
The Role of Purpose in Maritime Careers: How to Stand Out as an Employer
In today’s world of work, job seekers are no longer just looking for a competitive salary, a decent benefits package, or the next rung on the career ladder. They are looking for purpose. The mariti...
Shaping the Future of Maritime HR: Insights from our Senior HR Leaders Roundtable in Singapore
We had a great time hosting our Senior HR Leaders Roundtable Lunch at the elegant Jade restaurant, Fullerton Hotel Singapore, bringing together senior HR professionals from across the maritime indu...
Why Targeting the Right People Matters More Than Reaching the Most People In Maritime Recruitment
Many businesses fall into the trap of thinking that the more people they reach, the better their maritime recruitment results will be. It is a natural assumption, after all, wider exposure should m...
How the ‘Everything Now’ Era is Reshaping Maritime Recruitment
We live in an era of instant gratification, where technology has conditioned us to expect immediate results, from same-day deliveries to on-demand streaming. This shift in expectations isn’t just a...
Singapore Maritime Recruitment Market Update – Spring 2025
Singapore Maritime Week, back in March, not only celebrated the sector’s ongoing innovation and resilience but also underscored some of the persistent and emerging challenges faced by maritime empl...