In the maritime sector, you can no longer recruit welders and pipe fitters with a standard job advert on a single job board. It only works if you combine data-driven campaigns with a compelling employer brand and a fast application process, targeting the places where these skilled workers are actually active online. At FosFor, we fill these kinds of hard-to-find roles within an average of 3 […]
Does this sound familiar? You’ve got orders on the worksite, but you can’t get the welding team together. The applications you receive aren’t suitable, and the candidates who are actually good are already employed elsewhere. That’s not just bad luck: it’s the reality of a structurally tight labour market for technical staff. In this article, you’ll find out how to break that vicious circle.
Why is it so difficult to recruit welders and pipe fitters?
Welders and pipe fitters are among the most in-demand professions on the Dutch labour market. There are simply more vacancies than qualified tradespeople, and these tradespeople rarely apply for jobs actively. They are snapped up before your vacancy is even advertised.
Technical and metalworking trades have been at the top of the list of hard-to-fill vacancies for years (UWV, 2024). Labour market tightness for technical occupations is structurally higher than the national average (CBS, 2024). For certified welders with, for example, a 6G certificate, or pipe fitters with experience in reading isometric drawings, this shortage is even more acute.
What’s more, the maritime sector is competing with the wider metalworking, engineering and offshore industries for exactly the same people. A welder who is welding ship hulls today may well be working on a tank or a pipeline in the process industry tomorrow. So anyone who competes solely on salary almost always loses out.
What makes recruiting welders for the maritime sector particularly challenging?
The maritime sector has specific requirements: working in confined spaces, knowledge of steel grades and welding methods used in shipbuilding, and often physically demanding work in varying conditions. This makes the target group smaller and more discerning when it comes to working conditions and future prospects.
What’s more, many suitable candidates are spread out geographically around the construction sites, from Zeeland to Friesland. Without region-specific targeting, you’ll miss out on precisely those people who live within a reasonable commuting distance.
How do you recruit welders and pipeworkers in a tight maritime market?
You can recruit hard-to-find maritime professionals by combining three things: reach out to latent jobseekers through targeted social media and search engine campaigns, attract them with a compelling employer story rather than just a job description, and ensure your application process is quick and accessible. Candidates often make their decision within days, not weeks.
Would you like to find out more about data-driven recruitment?
- Recruitment using AI and data
- Takes an average of 3–8 weeks to complete
At FosFor, we develop this approach based on data from hundreds of recruitment campaigns and public labour market data. This enables us to identify, for each profile, which channel works best, which message resonates and which metric determines whether a campaign needs to be adjusted. Employers discover through this data-driven approach It is often the case that their target audience has very different preferences to what they had expected.
Which channel is best suited to welders and pipe fitters?
For blue-collar roles, the target audience is rarely concentrated in one place. The best choice depends on whether someone is actively looking for a job or is passively open to new opportunities. The table below shows which channel is best suited to which situation.
| Channel | Support for the maritime sector | When to place a bet |
|---|---|---|
| Meta (Facebook/Instagram) | Reaches latent jobseekers with specialist skills outside working hours; can be targeted by region | If the target audience is not actively searching |
| Google & Google for Jobs | Captures active job seekers (‘welder wanted + location’) | In the case of immediate demand and a specific search intent |
| TikTok | Reaches out to young professionals and showcases the working atmosphere on site | For career changers and employer branding |
| More targeted for managerial or certified roles | For senior or specialist roles |
6 steps to building a fully-staffed welding team
A structured approach prevents you from repeatedly missing out on individual job vacancies. These steps form the backbone of a data-driven maritime campaign.
- Target audience analysis: Identify where suitable welders and pipe fitters live, what they earn elsewhere, and which conditions are most important to them.
- Employer positioning: Turn your company’s vision into a concrete narrative about projects, craftsmanship and growth.
- Channel selection: For each profile, select the channel with the widest reach and the lowest cost per applicant.
- Campaign live: Place region-specific adverts with a short, straightforward application process.
- Prompt follow-up: Reply within 24 hours and book a meeting straight away.
- Measuring and adjusting: Please send weekly reports on figures such as cost per applicant and conversion rate to interviews.
Would you like to see how this approach works in practice? Take a look at our results in the maritime sector or our current technical vacancies.
Why does a strong employer brand work better than a higher salary?
Because virtually everyone competes on salary, a strong employer brand is what really sets you apart. Skilled professionals make their choices based on expertise, working atmosphere, commute, shift patterns and career prospects. An Employer Value Proposition (EVP) that sets these things out clearly attracts more and better applications than a job advertisement that merely lists requirements.
“We see time and again that employers underestimate how attractive they are,” our recruiters note. “If you show which ships someone will be working on and how the team operates, the application process shifts from ‘looking for a job’ to ‘I want to work here’.”
Is recruitment marketing more cost-effective than secondment or recruitment and selection?
For recurring staff shortages, recruitment marketing is often more cost-effective than secondment or a traditional recruitment agency. This is because you are building a steady stream of permanent skilled staff, rather than constantly paying a fee or hourly rate for temporary solutions. The extent of the savings depends on your recruitment volume.
The comparison below will help you make an informed choice. When carrying out your own calculation, take all costs into account, including the weeks during which a vacancy remains unfilled.
| Approach | Cost model | Goes well with |
|---|---|---|
| Secondment | Hourly margin, ongoing | Temporary peaks and flexible staffing |
| Recruitment & Selection | Fee per placement | Occasional, one-off vacancy |
| Recruitment marketing | Campaign investment, steady inflow | Structural, recurring recruitment needs |
An unfilled welding vacancy costs you production time, planning issues and, at times, penalties for missing delivery deadlines every week. Factor these costs in, and the investment in long-term recruitment often pays for itself more quickly than you might think. Would you like to work out the figures for your site? Book a no-obligation strategy meeting.
How quickly can you recruit a welder or pipewriter?
With a well-structured, data-driven campaign, we fill hard-to-find maritime roles within 3 to 8 weeks on average. Your clients will only interview the 2 to 4 best candidates each month; we take care of the entire pre-selection process, so you don’t waste time on unsuitable applicants.
Frequently asked questions about recruiting welders and pipe fitters
How much does it cost to recruit a welder or pipe fitter?
The costs depend on the number of vacancies, the region and the desired certification level. For recurring staff shortages, recruitment marketing is often more cost-effective than secondment or a recruitment fee, as it helps build a steady supply of candidates. Always factor in the costs of a unfilled vacancy when making a comparison.
Which channel works best for maritime professionals?
There is no single ‘best’ channel. You can best reach welders who are passively looking for work via Meta outside working hours, attract active jobseekers through Google for Jobs, and reach younger people switching careers via TikTok. You determine the right mix based on target audience data for each profile and region.
How long does it take to assemble a welding team?
With a data-driven campaign, we fill hard-to-find maritime roles within 3 to 8 weeks on average. Speed is crucial: skilled professionals often make their decisions within days, so prompt follow-up and a barrier-free application process play a key role in determining how quickly you can assemble your team.
Does region-specific recruitment work better in the vicinity of construction sites?
Yes. Suitable welders and pipe fitters live in various locations around the shipyards, from Zeeland to Friesland. By targeting your adverts regionally, you can reach exactly the right people within a reasonable travelling distance, which significantly improves the quality of your pool of applicants.
Why does a standard job advertisement attract too few applications?
This is because most suitable candidates are not actively looking for work. A standard job advert only reaches the small group of active jobseekers and tends to compete primarily on salary. A campaign that reaches latent jobseekers with a compelling employer brand appeals precisely to those who are already in employment.
Is your welding team still short-staffed despite all your efforts? Find out how our data-driven approach is systematically recruiting scarce maritime professionals, and is taking the first step towards a fully staffed shipyard.
Sources: UWV, Hard-to-fill vacancies (2024); CBS, Tension in the labour market (2024). See UWV labour market information and CBS labour market dashboard.