Company Overview

Zest Recruitment (formerly Cordon Bleu Personnel) is a private employment agency with a hospitality and tourism focus. Zest Recruitment is a business formed in 1981 and purchased in 1998 by the present owners. Zest operates primarily within the Queensland and Northern Territory areas though the client base stretches throughout Australia into Europe and the USA. Zest Recruitment is the recruiting agent throughout Australia, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and New Zealand for a number of US and European based Cruise Lines, with a combined 120,000 hospitality employees at sea. Zest has operations based in China, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Fiji and recruits from New Zealand as well. The head office for Zest Recruitment is based in Brisbane, Australia. From here we coordinate the cruise ship recruiting activities for the regions where we operate.

Zest commenced recruiting for Royal Caribbean International in 1999 and since then has found positions for over 1000 Australians who want to see the world whilst they work.

Zest now recruits for several of the major Cruise Lines around the world.

Candidates from the region in which Zest operates are highly sought out by Cruise Line organisations because they tend to be outgoing, friendly, hardworking, positive and enjoy the adventure of travelling and working.

Many of the candidates who have completed contracts on board ships have come back to their home country to find that they are highly sought after within their local hospitality industry. So working on a cruise ship not only provides the opportunity to travel, see the world and save money. It also opens career opportunities that previously may not have been available.

To give an idea of what we do in the cruise ship recruitment arena, we:

• Source potential employees through a variety of means including traditional newspaper and online advertising, liaising with vocational institutes, seminars and working with government departments.
• Train potential employees (if required)to give them the skills they need to be successful when working on ships
• Screen potential employees and shortlist for the cruise ship companies
• Reference check
• Assist in obtaining criminal reference checks
• Update the cruise ship company database to assist in the hiring process.
• Verify through identification that the person who applied for the position is the person who will undertake the assignment.
• Monitor and undertake English language testing (if required) for potential employees
• Assist with obtaining a seamans book
• Assist new employees in taking their medical
• Assist new employees in getting the necessary visas required to take up their assignment as well as working with the various Embassies and Consulates to instil faith in the integrity of the process used to recruit for Cruise Line companies
• Monitor the time required for new employees to obtain the necessary visas and keep the Cruise Line companies informed
• Ensure that the new employees go to the correct ship and port and have all the necessary travel information they require.
• Keep the new employees and the Cruise ship companies abreast of any changes in assignments or crew readiness as soon as we are aware and arrange replacement crew where possible.