Introduction
Knights Marine is committed to providing clients with the safest, most knowledgeable, and most productive craftsmen in the shipbuilding industry. By the start of 2021, Knights Marine’s workforce had dwindled to about one-third of what it had been just before the pandemic began. Their newest, biggest challenge was finding and retaining skilled talent in a tight labor market.
Knights Marine's Challenge
Given their need for fresh, high-quality talent, Knights Marine began searching for a new talent management platform that would provide them with the most advanced ATS capabilities possible. What's more, their talent works in the field, which required Knights Marine to find a solution that supported the communication needs of their unique workforce -- skilled craftsmen that work in the shipyard do not sit behind laptops. To reach these skilled laborers, Knights Marine needed a CRM solution that would help expand and improve communications with such a unique workforce.
The Ceipal Solution
In today’s tight labor market, contingent talent providers need to act on job requests at light speed. Knights Marine sought a solution that would allow its recruiters to quickly identify talent and immediately reach out to that talent regarding new and existing opportunities.
“Prior to Ceipal we used HRnetSource however it was antiquated and we were unable to customize it based on our industry needs,” said Anna Krebs, General Manager of Knights Marine.
Management determined that more customizable features and workflows would be needed to succeed in the post-pandemic marine staffing industry. Adopting Ceipal enabled Knights Marine to customize its workflows to the unique needs of the marine industrial sector, while also providing the ability to easily engage with candidates who might be working in a shipyard.
"Since deploying Ceipal we’ve streamlined our workflows and improved communications with our skilled craftsmen. When I think of Ceipal, I think of quality, kindness, and top-notch service," said Krebs.
Communications with shipyard workers in real-time is critical to convey a constantly evolving array of COVID guidelines. Communications were also crucial through the vaccine rollout, as many of Knights Marine’s shipyard customers support the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, while other shipyards have varying guidelines and policies. Using Ceipal's blast email options and TextToHire features allows Knights Marine to communicate important and time-sensitive information with its entire workforce in the field instantaneously.
Productivity-Enhancing Results
Knights Marine selected Ceipal because it was innovative and would help them with their industry-specific staffing needs. Since deploying Ceipal, they’ve doubled their staff, streamlined their workflows, and improved communications.
Using Ceipal's CRM capability, the company can now easily track all applicant activities in one place. This provides constant visibility into requisition status and shows what is in the pipeline. When Knights Marine receives a new job req they are able to enter the opportunity, including the primary skills required, into Ceipal and quickly search for skills by fields, reducing the amount of time it takes to identify talent.
Now when a shipyard requests 50 workers, Knights Marine can quickly identify the talent and use TextToHire to share the opportunity immediately. In the future, Knights Marine plans to further its use of Ceipal's blasting features to keep its workforce engaged by sharing safety award information and industry news.
