Growing Our Blue Economy Work Force

Sea Blue Company has a unique function that sets it apart from most e-commerce businesses, a job posting function. Not only is strong networking essential for the success of a business, qualified employees must fit their positions as well. Having the right employees can be difficult for a business to achieve.

At Blue Startup Weekend, the team developing the concept of Sea Blue Company noticed something concerning, a significant number of blue economy businesses had several open employment positions advertised. The ages of these postings ranged from one month to two years old. Several colleges and universities on Cape Cod train and educate students to fill these positions. The supply and demand existed, but a lack of connection between the two was causing jobs to remain open, and students to remain either unemployed or employed at a position that didn’t utilize their education’s full potential.

Further research revealed that the average retention rate for blue economy jobs was 4.4 years (Forbes, 2012). With approximately 235,000 blue economy jobs existing in the northeast, an annual turnover rate of approximately 50000 jobs occurs (National Ocean Economics Program, 2013).

At the time, a platform for blue economy jobs did not exist, despite the presence massive blue economy industry growing around 10% each year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, NOAA, 2013). The only viable sources available for job postings were local newspapers and Indeed. Local newspapers only reached a limited audience, and Indeed is full of postings from separate industries that compromise the ability for someone in the blue industry to locate desired positions. The team realized that a major gap needed to be bridged, and this formed the jobs posting function.

Sea Blue Company will network with several businesses and higher education institutions to ensure that blue economy jobs and workers will come together.

Maura Smith Stein