Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association: Employment opportunities for youth in the Blue Economy

More than 10,000 young men and women, aged 15-29, throughout Greece have been informed about the employment opportunities offered by the blue economy, by Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association-HELMEPA and the team of the European initiative Blue Generation, and have free access to digital tools, such as BlueCareer Job platform & the BlueCareer Guide, as well as personalized career guidance mentoring.

Recently, another 500+ young men and women actively participated in the Blue Generation open interactive workshop, exploring the prospect of professional careers in maritime professions and coming into direct contact with blue economy, education and sustainable development professionals.

Multifaceted training program for seafarers

The willingness of the students to directly interact with the representatives from the sectors of Coastal Tourism, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Marine Biotechnology, Ocean Energy, Maritime Transport and Shipbuilding during the conference on “EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES in BLUE ECONOMY” held at the War Museum of Athens (May 11, 2023).

Topics that emerged are the professions that are in high demand in all industries, requiring different degrees of expertise, such as: Software engineer in creating applications for Shipping and Yachting, Sailor in marina management, Diver or Marketing and Sales Executive in Aquaculture, Technician pipe fitter or welder in Shipbuilding and maintenance, Legal jobs for the regulatory framework in ship inspection and marine spatial planning, Warehouse and loading manager in port management, Environmentalist in the design of offshore wind farms, Biologist in the development of cosmetics from marine organisms. It was emphasized that sustainable development is a key pillar of the blue economy and professionals of all sectors must be aware of and integrate its goals into their activities. Finally, great importance was given by all the speakers to soft skills, such as resilience, teamwork, communication skills, the desire for continuous learning, personality traits cultivated through volunteering, practice and experimentation .

The workshop was implemented by Militos Consulting S.A., Leader of the European initiative BlueGeneration in collaboration with HELMEPA, partner in the consortium.