#4 “Marino and I”. Vaidas, Head of Project Management, Shipping Division: ‘Our employees are the key to success’

Vaidas, who has a wealth of experience, has been expanding the horizons of Marino projects for over 6 years. We talked to him about his work and how he manages to find the right candidates in a fiercely competitive environment.

Marino projects Vaidas

The Beginnings
I joined 6+ years ago, in July 2018, as Production Manager. As I was was showing excellent work results, Deputy CEO Donatas encouraged me to become a Project Manager. This year I started as Head of Project Management in the Shipping Division, which was a new career step for me. I can honestly say that I feel confident in my position. As many projects as we get, we try to deliver 100%, even though there are only two of us in the department.

The work itself is actually quite dynamic and changing, and we are constantly faced with non-standard challenges. Great results motivate us to keep up with work. I see our department growing steadily in the future, so we will slowly start looking for additional colleagues to manage new projects.

What’s an Ideal Project Like?
I firmly believe that our employees are the key to success, no matter what project we are working on. The most important thing is to select the right professionals with the right competences. The first step is done by HR: CV’s, the initial interview. After that, the candidate communicates with us: references, photos of work done, technical understanding, reading drawings, etc. If the employee fulfils 100% of the requirements, then the project becomes ideal for us.

A Wide Variety of Candidates
At the moment, I noticed a severe shortage of good professionals, especially yacht carpenters. Salary is the main factor that influences decisions to work with us, but there are also accommodation conditions, location – some people want to go south, others – north. We work all over the world (Finland, Germany, Italy, USA, Singapore, Egypt), so we can often offer candidates a variety of projects.

As far as candidates are concerned, they are very diverse. I remember in one CV, a candidate wrote under English language skills: “I communicate with the help of gesturing my finger”. We had a good laugh, but in reality, technical skills are the most important – and sometimes you don’t need foreign language skills if you have only Lithuanians on the project. So I would encourage professionals with experience not to be afraid to look into opportunities and contact us.

Successful Projects And the Future
Since 2023, we have an exciting yacht interior and decoration project in Italy, where we started with a team of 2-3 employees and today have grown to a team of 45 specialists. It all depends on the results we show the client. In this case, the feedback was very good and after a few meetings with the client, our team started to grow.

We are also due to return to Egypt soon, where we have had an exceptional river ferry construction project in the past, fitting ferries that later sail on the Nile River. This type of work is more interesting for me personally because it’s not in Europe, it’s more challenging.

Looking ahead, Marino Projects will become a leader in its market because we are already moving consistently in this direction. If you are a carpenter, a cabinet maker, have experience in ship interior fitting – I invite you to apply and guarantee yourself a place in an international company.

If you want to work at “Marino Projects,” contact us at: +370 675 08 976.

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