Huzaifa Bandookwala is a Crewing Professional and an RPA Developer. Born and raised in Udaipur, India, he has always had a passion for the Oil & Gas and Marine Industry. In his free time, he enjoys learning new skills.

With 23 years of experience in the Marine HR Function, Huzaifa has had the opportunity to work with various individuals and organizations. Over the years, he has developed a strong set of skills in Marine HR and People Management. He is a hard-working, dedicated, and creative individual who always strives to produce the best results. Currently, Huzaifa is working on a project within his company to increase automation through a system they are developing. This system aims to support staff by enhancing productivity and reducing errors.

Nimbus Marine Group is a licensed Crew Management company that has been providing exceptional ship crew for various vessels for many years. They develop crewing solutions for shipping companies’ operations in Singapore and around the world. As a recruitment company, they offer global recruitment services to the oil and gas, subsea construction, and offshore vessel industries. Crew members provided by Nimbus Marine Group range from senior officers to crew members who have received direct training on board.

How would you explain your job to someone outside of HR?

I am in a Marine HR role for the last 22 years. Marine HR is a function where we need to fulfil HR requirements for the Marine industry, it is different from normal HR functions as it is more of a contract or project-based role and it is paid per project or tenure, not full year salary. People are assigned role on a rotation basis, so you need to double the number of people than required so that when one person goes on leave after his tenure another person join to take over the role from him. My job involves shift planning (or Rotation planning), monitoring certification and skill requirements of a person with the requirements we have, payroll of persons employed on a rotation basis, and periodical performance appraisal done to gauge if an individual assigned to a position is meeting the requirement or he/she needs to be guided to get more skill and certification to meet all the high-risk requirement of the position. Mobilization activity when one person comes for his leave and another person goes for the job their movement is arranged by my team to/from the project location.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

It is a 24 by 7 job as when people move on rotation, their mobilization activity is managed by the HR mob team which takes care of individual flights, visas and other travel-related arrangements while the person joins or disembarks project location. As the people are on rotation, there can be ad hoc gaps due to various reasons which need to be controlled and filled on an immediate basis as the project can’t be delayed if any person is not available and so a replacement immediately needs to be arranged. There are many more ad hoc requirements in my job which are not present in a normal shore-based HR role.

What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

The biggest highlight of my career was when I solely handled a full crew (Marine HR) management of ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) fleet size of 97 vessels during my tenure with my last company (Vships Global) Where the number of staff(Seafarers) I managed was around 1300 people include both onboard and onshore seafarers.

What’s an HR trend or space you’re watching this year?

I will be concentrating on Profile preparation guidance for all Marine HR professionals across the globe and try to showcase how a seafarer updates his/her LinkedIn profile so that the employer can find him/her easily through LinkedIn search. As LinkedIn is not made specifically for Marine Industry.

What advice would you give someone starting in HR?

I always believed in a Win-Win situation, there is always a third way by which we can achieve a win-win situation, try to find that third way so that both employee and employer are in a win-win situation so that both are happy.

New Hybrid working culture can be implemented and for that can maximize the use of Process Automation which can make again win-win situation for both.

What’s one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

How to make processes better in HR function by making them automated and which can reduce human errors and avoid any repeated task.

What’s your favourite movie/TV show?

My favourite movie is “The Matrix Resurrections” and the TV show is HBO’s Game of Thrones”.

What’s your go-to lunch around your workplace?

Subway in Funan Mall.

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