The Essentials of Background and Reference Checks

The yachting industry has positioned itself as a luxurious experience for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Everything is top-tier, five-star, and exclusive. The crew on board should fit the same criteria. 

Hiring the right people for the right program is essential, but even more so is making sure the people working aboard are safe to be around and are who they say they are — that’s why all crew are background and reference checked…right?

Not necessarily, unfortunately. 

“It’s very dependent on the person, their role in the industry, and the time [agents] have,” said Capt. Mark McDowell, founder and director of SuperYacht References (SYR). “They are often fairly basic, though, and they are rarely verified.” 

Sometimes, it’s a matter of lack of time — captains are busy, and chasing this info can be time-consuming. That’s why he created SYR. McDowell wanted to help provide easily accessible verified references and background checks, in addition to wellbeing and mental health support, coaching, mentorship, and career guidance.

SYR is free for crew, who can upload their references, qualifications, and identification to an encrypted and data-protected web portal. Crew can update their information as their career progresses in one online platform. 

Conrad Empson, former bosun and “Below Deck Mediterranean” alumnus, created CrewPass a few years ago to make the background check process easier for boats. Background checks are tough to perform in yachting because crew come from all over the world, and tracing their history can be an expensive, onerous job. “It’s a logistical nightmare,” Empson said. They have companies in countries around the world who can perform local checks and verify information for CrewPass. 

Initially, when crew sign up for CrewPass, the company verifies their basic information to confirm their identity. They then perform a background check using all the data supplied by the crew. If they pass, they receive an approved badge. From there, crew can share their approved status without sharing any private information — controlling exactly who has access to their data. 

“When they get down the process, the captain or whoever can order the full report details, all the checks that we’ve done, and the files so the private information is kept until the point that is required to be handed over,” Empson explained. “The crewmember has to provide their consent to be able to share that report.” 

Some captains are skeptical about background checks due to the global nature of yachting. 

“There is potential for a candidate to omit a country they have lived in, in which case there is a chance [a background check] would not catch this,” McDowell said. “Provided the person states the country, though, it would be hard to hide any negative details. The dates of each boat they have been on, etc., and previous history should match up — and if there are any gaps, that would be looked into.” 

The Reference Check

While a reference check may not be the deep dive of a background check, they are equally important in building a crew career. However, they may not always receive the weight they’re due — and they have their own issues. 

“References are a vital part of the recruitment process, and unfortunately, we do see agencies missing this critical step of the process,” said Nicola Morgan, director of Wilsonhalligan in the U.K. “We need to ensure that every recruiter in the industry is working to the same standard to ensure the quality of crew is as high as it can be.” 

Morgan shares that all Wilsonhalligan candidates are reference-checked before shortlisting, and mostcrew agencies likely do the same. As Michael di Luca, managing director of mycrewagency in the U.K., said, they perform both background and reference checks on all candidates they put forward. “We do every kind of check you can imagine,” he said, including visa, credential, reference, and background.

While a reference check should be straightforward, that’s not always the case. Occasionally references are incorrect, inaccurate, or even fake. 

“We live in a world where things can be fabricated quite easily,” di Luca said. “You can’t take it as gospel — you need to scratch the surface. You need to drill down into it and actually verbalize these references and find out if they’re actually true.”

Don’t make up references or create fraudulent ones. It’s not unheard of — it might seem easy enough to ask a mate or two to give you a glowing reference, but most captains will diligently check all that information and chances are it will be discovered.

“Thankfully, it’s not such a common issue, but certainly a serious one, is candidates who have managed to forge a fake reference,” Morgan said. “Luckily, we have been able to decipher what has happened before it’s caused an issue, but it’s definitely something we are wary of.”

One issue Morgan hopes won’t become popular is people refusing to provide a reference because it’s against company policy. 

“This can make it tricky as very often those who refuse to give references still want references for any candidates they receive,” she said. “The process would become extremely difficult if more and more clients decided to go this way.”

Honesty is the Best Policy

There will be the occasional negative reference. “This can be a very delicate situation as we always try to understand there are two sides to a story, and sometimes it can purely be due to a personality clash or similar,” Morgan said. She stressed that they remain objective, and as the go-between, they share all relevant info so that the client can make the best decision for their needs. “We do our best to ensure we are working in both our clients’ and candidates’ best interests.”

While you may be tempted to hide that less-than-stellar reference, don’t.

“Be truthful. Not disclosing information may look like you have something to hide in situations where there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation,” Morgan said. “Don’t be afraid to provide details, as references are also in place to help you find a position that matches your work ethic and experience.” 

Di Luca points out that in yachting, references can veer from the professional to the personal, which is not wholly unexpected in the context of living and working with your employer or manager. 

“Sometimes people can give embellished bad negative references,” he said, colored by personal interactions or issues — which is why you verify by going back further in the crewmember’s career history. “It’s a matter of fact-finding.”

SYR encourages crew to add more than one referee per boat. 

“One must be the captain, or HOD, which gives a rounded view of a candidate’s potential, strengths, and weaknesses,” McDowell said. They also offer self-assessments and offer mentors and coaches to help a candidate who may need to make some changes.

Captains also encourage that honesty. Maybe you and the previous captain didn’t gel — sometimes sharing that experience and telling your side of the story can mitigate the fallout.

Trust, But Verify

Perhaps not so surprising in a world where fake is fine, all captains and crew agencies shared that they do not solely rely on written statements — they always call references.

“Maybe some crew don’t think crew agents actually do in-depth verbalized reference checks,” di Luca said. “But it doesn’t look good when a crewmember is sounding perfect for a particular role, but when you speak to the captain to verbalize, it doesn’t actually correlate.”

“Where possible, we will phone (rather than email) to obtain references — this helps us gain a better insight into the candidate in question (and can also often work better for our clients as some prefer not to disclose information in writing),” Morgan says.

 Capt. Will Kaye of M/Y Coral Ocean agrees. He believes that written reference checks are often limited in the amount of honest feedback provided. 

“People will not tell you the negatives. You need to extract that from them and other conversations because people don’t want to put negatives down on paper,” he said. 

A verbal reference check allows for an open conversation and can reveal potential red flags in a candidate before they step foot on board. Kaye also recommends going beyond those references listed by the candidate to get a well-rounded perspective.

Capt Dùghall macLachlainn also tries to phone all references. 

“Lately, especially with captains, I usually know most of them,” he said. “I expect them to be honest, as I am when I give a verbal reference, but I also usually include mitigating factors as not all crew suit a particular yacht, and very few crew should not be on board at all.” 

A Pinch of Salt?

Capt. Ryan Moore of M/Y Serenity points out that references are great, but some of the info may not apply. Sometimes you have to go with your gut. 

“One also has to look at the type of program they are coming from,” Moore said. “For example, if they come from a laid-back private program and are looking to get into a fast-paced, busy charter program with little downtime, this is often a hard transition and could raise flags; the same could be said about moving from sailing to a power boat program.” 

Moore likes to give these crew a chance; he usually knows the previous captain and can get a sense of how the crewmember worked.Moore’s current program has a crewmember that he took a chance on. This person’s background was in sportfishing, with very little yacht experience. 

“Our now-bosun excels and constantly impresses owners, me, and charter guests,” Moore said. “The program considers him a valuable team member — his can-do attitude and willingness to learn is always a plus.” 

Capt. macLachlainn has witnessed the same thing. The previous captain on board didn’t think the relatively young chief officer would be up for chief officer on an 80-meter yacht. 

“Within a couple of weeks, this has proven complete BS, and I am looking forward to going operational with him,” macLachlainn said.

Even if you do everything right, you could still get burned. Most captains will tell you they have been at some point in their career. Kaye once hired an engineer based on a reference check that described him as a “great guy.” That turned out not to be the case — he later discovered the referee was the engineer’s mate. 

“This puts owners and captains in a predicament as it’s always hard changing out mid-season, and now you are overpaying someone who came highly recommended either by agents or word of mouth,” Moore said. And there’s the rub — it reflects poorly on whoever recommended them. “I personally have only ever written a few references (for my good crewmembers) and give honest remarks of strengths and weaknesses for all.” 

“I think you take every reference with a pinch of salt,” Kaye said. “We’re not asking for the reference to be perfect, and a lot of the time, you’re looking for the right fit, and maybe it wasn’t the right fit on the last boat. I’ve taken on people where I’ve had an indifferent reference. A mixed reference is not necessarily a bad one.”

It’s obvious there is no perfect system. As Empson shared, someone he checked through CrewPass had serious criminal issues that flagged in his background check, so he was unable to be verified, yet Empson knows that same person went on to be hired on a superyacht. So those potentially unsafe people are out there.

“It just boils down to safety,” Empson says. “It’s just something that should be done, and it’s a small expense in the grand scheme of things. And it’s about the safety of everyone on board. These checks should be done as a standard.”

Privacy Concerns

Privacy in the yachting industry is paramount. Crew are asked to sign non-disclosure agreements and can be forbidden from posting boat details on social media. But it’s maybe not so black and white when it comes to the job search. Data posted on public forums opens crew up to scams and data breaches. Crew need to consider their own security when posting their resumes online, and perhaps they really need to reconsider sharing their reference info, too.

“In our industry, it’s all too common to see the CVs of crewmembers posted across public social media groups with the direct contact details of captains, managers, and even in some cases, the owner, clearly visible in the reference section, said Michael di Luca, managing director of mycrewagency in the U.K., in a LinkedIn post. 

 Data breaches occur often these days, and one carelessly shared detail could do some damage as there’s no telling where it ends up. 

“If someone’s entrusted us with their personal details for the purpose of a reference, we really should be doing better in terms of safeguarding their information,” di Luca said. “We need to be a bit more aware of the details that we have access to and where we’re putting them.” 

Maybe the best option for now is to remove those reference details from CVs and make them available only upon request, he suggests.

He encourages crew to research a crew agency to make sure it’s legitimate and capable of handling data securely, recommending they stick with MCA- and MLC-certified agencies. He also suggests crew make sure the agencies are affiliated with a professional body where there’s regulation and oversight. Keep in mind these places will have access to your most essential information, like background data, passport details, and more. 

Tips and Tricks 

•   Be honest and upfront.
•   Make sure your references are accurate.
•   Have a backup reference in case one falls through.
•   Ensure all your dates and positions line up.
•   Don’t use a fake reference.
•   Keep all contact information updated.
•   Get your references pre-verified, if possible.

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