A RECRUITMENT drive by DFDS aimed at Islanders has generated “a lot of interest”, according to the Danish shipping giant.
In an update from the company, DFDS route director Chris Parker said they had 20 to 30 open positions, and that two recent jobs fairs saw 70 to 80 Islanders attend.
“There’s a lot of interest in potential roles with DFDS in the Island,” he said. “We’re certainly hoping that a lot of those roles will be filled by existing Condor employees.”
Positions include operational staff in the port as well as management, working on partnerships with Island businesses, for example on joint campaigns promoting Jersey.
The company is focusing on Jersey staff as opposed to French or UK Condor employees for the moment, he added.
He said: “We’ve had some discussions with Condor about making sure that there’s this continuity there. They want to look after their staff; we want to take them on.
“We don’t want to lose them from the ferry industry – we want to keep them doing what they do very, very well. So to see so many of them is fantastic.”
DFDS is currently working on a transition period between the end of Condor’s services and the start of DFDS’s services, he added.
DFDS released part of its schedule last week. Refitting work on its high-speed craft Levante Jet is scheduled to be completed in time for the first sailings to operate on Thursday 17 April.
The company plans to launch its booking platform before the end of the month, and is continuing discussions towards finalising the timetable on other routes, notably St Malo – which is expected to be published this week – and inter-island services to and from Guernsey.
The inaugural services on the Poole route, scheduled to complete the crossing in around four-and-a-half hours, come almost three weeks after DFDS begins its contract on Friday 28 March and 12 days after the first day of the school Easter holidays on Saturday 5 April.
The ferry company noted that there was “plenty of scope to add departures to this schedule where there is demand”.
