Wilhelmsen Scales Global Recruitment: From Excel Complexity to Manatal Clarity

Introduction

Wilhelmsen stands as a leader in the global maritime industry, specializing in the recruitment of highly skilled seafarers for diverse fleets. Marte Fredriksen is a Marine HR Specialist at Wilhelmsen, where she also serves as the Manatal super user, supporting a team of 23 paid users and overseeing the platform's adoption across the company's global offices.

Challenges

As Wilhelmsen prepared for significant fleet expansion, its leadership team recognized an opportunity to enhance its recruitment framework. The company's existing process was decentralized, with regional teams using spreadsheets and email to manage hiring. While effective for its previous scale, this system presented challenges for the company's future ambitions.

To prepare for a higher volume of recruitment, the team aimed to build a more cohesive, global structure. They identified three key objectives:

1. Create a Centralized Overview: The team needed a single platform to provide a holistic view of the entire talent pipeline, moving away from data stored in scattered spreadsheets across multiple locations.
2. Enhance the Candidate Experience: As a top-tier employer, Wilhelmsen wanted to ensure every candidate interaction was perfectly coordinated and professional, reflecting the company’s strong brand.
3. Streamline Compliance Management: The team aimed to proactively streamline the management of candidate data and consent to uphold its high standards for GDPR compliance on a global scale.

Solution

Wilhelmsen began its search for a robust platform that could unify its talent pool. The primary criteria were clear: pipeline visibility, a centralized hub for global collaboration, and strong support for GDPR compliance. Manatal emerged as the ideal solution.

The platform directly addressed Wilhelmsen’s goals by offering a single, shared database for all candidates. This allowed recruiters in different countries to easily manage and share talent pools, such as adding a promising candidate from Norway to a relevant job opening in India with a single click.

During the implementation, the team discovered the powerful impact of Manatal’s email automation features. They quickly realized this functionality was essential for enhancing their employer brand. By setting up automated communications, they could ensure every applicant received a timely confirmation upon applying and a respectful notification if they were not selected for a role. This created a consistently professional and positive candidate experience.

The user-friendly interface made for a swift and seamless onboarding. New team members were able to adapt to the system almost immediately, finding its workflow intuitive and convenient.

Results: A New Course Set for Growth and Efficiency

By adopting Manatal, Wilhelmsen has successfully evolved its recruitment operations into a model of global efficiency. The platform provides the scalable structure necessary to manage the company's continued expansion.

The transformation has delivered key business benefits:

• A Unified Global Operation: With Manatal as its single source of truth, Wilhelmsen’s team of over 20 recruiters now operates as a cohesive unit across 15 countries, collaborating effectively within one system.
• Strengthened Employer Brand: The use of automated email workflows ensures that all candidates receive prompt and professional communication. This consistent engagement has significantly elevated the candidate experience, reinforcing Wilhelmsen’s reputation as an employer of choice.
• Enhanced Efficiency: The integrated career page has streamlined data capture and drastically reduced the number of applications arriving in individual inboxes. This allows the recruitment team to focus on high-value activities instead of manual data entry.
• Robust Compliance Support: By centralizing all candidate information and automating consent management, Manatal provides the tools for Wilhelmsen to confidently manage its global GDPR compliance requirements.

Future

With Manatal's framework firmly in place, Wilhelmsen is well-positioned for sustained growth. The team is continuously exploring ways to leverage the platform even further. As a next step, they plan to test new features like Manatal’s mass emailing capabilities to enhance their outreach and communication with their extensive talent pool. This forward-looking approach ensures their recruitment process will continue to evolve alongside their business.