Professionals, managers, career changers and newcomers alike can find wide-ranging opportunities with our company and excellent career prospects. With our tailor-made training courses, we moreover further the professional and personal development of our employees.
The AIDA Academy in Rostock is the company’s very own training center. This is where practical experience from daily life on board can be passed on in modular lectures and can flow back into working routines on board in combination with scientific innovations. The subject areas can range from, for example, specialist content such as restaurant training, body & soul training, bar training, detailed training in food intolerances, VSP training and language lessons, and especially HESS topics (Health, Environment, Safety and Security), soft skills and management training. Many other training courses, induction programs and specialist exchanges take place in the AIDA Academy.
In order to cover the growing demand for skilled employees and to recruit the best talents for AIDA, for many years we have been providing support to young people with their schooling and studies, and helping them obtain qualifications in a wide range of fields so as selectively to prepare them for a job on land or at sea.
For many years now we have been offering a dual commercial training program in the company’s headquarters in Rostock. In 2018, eight young people began their training to become a tourism expert, an event manager or an office administrator in our Customer Center and at AIDA. 16 trainees are currently contracted with us across three different apprenticeship years. We guarantee each trainee a position in the company, provided they obtain good results.
The best trainees are recognized by the IHK in Rostock each year. In recent years, our trainees have always been among this select few. The AIDA Customer Center was once again recognized as a TOP Training Company in 2018.
In June 2018, with the support of the IHK in Rostock, AIDA trained two apprentices to become our first official training ambassadors. The aim of this new role is to inform pupils in local schools authentically about their educational profile and our company in order to interest more potential future candidates in our dual training program. Four more training ambassadors have since begun work with us.
In 2018 we once more expanded our collaborations with high schools in the local area and nationwide. This principally took the form of on-campus presentations and workshops on specialist topics, but also included off-campus events in the AIDA headquarters in Rostock as well as on board our fleet. While visiting our ships, students had the opportunity to familiarize themselves both with our company and with what it is like to live and work on board and on land. The highlights of the year were the Campus Cruise on board AIDAsol with 45 students from the Stralsund University of Applied Sciences and a visit by 25 students from the Cruise Tourism Management course at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences on board AIDAperla.
A further highlight was the series of lectures under the title of “Tourism Insight” at the Harz University of Applied Sciences in Wernigerode with more than 100 participants enrolled in the tourism courses there. We also performed a business case study in collaboration with the Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences. We are moreover the sponsors of a total of five “Deutschlandstipendien” (German scholarships) at the Wismar and Stralsund Universities of Applied Sciences and at the University of Rostock.
In collaboration with the Hamburg School of Business Administration, AIDA enables school leavers to take a three-year Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Sales and Marketing as part of a dual study program. Two new students started this course in 2018. The number of dual students at Rostock who are sponsored by AIDA Cruises thus rose to five.
Together with Wismar University of Applied Sciences we currently offer three bachelor degrees in Navigation, Marine Engineering and Marine Electronics. The Marine Electronics course at Wismar University of Applied Sciences is supported by AIDA Cruises with an endowed professorship, through which we can ensure that in the future we will still be able to recruit highly-qualified electrical engineers with watch keeping certification for our growing fleet.
Our training strategy is holistic and international in its approach. It thereby provides the ideal foundation for a career at sea. The schemes we offer have a high degree of practical relevance thanks to close connections with the industry. The know-how of our students is enriched by international lecturers and experts. A network of cooperation agreements with the supply and cruise industries ensures our students have ample opportunity to gain practical experience. Studying and training with AIDA means being right in the middle of things from the very beginning, being accepted by fellow AIDA crew members and gaining experience of the work areas and team spirit within the company.
In 2018, eleven young people started the Navigation course and a further eleven across the two courses of Marine Engineering and Marine Electronics, five of whom were young women.
As AIDA continues to grow, so does its diversity and international character. In 2018 AIDA Cruises expanded its international Cadetship program and signed a new agreement with the École Nationale Supérieure Maritime (ENSM) in Marseille, France. The content of the agreement includes the training of eight multi-purpose cadets on board. Collaborations were also launched with the Marine Academy in Varna (Bulgaria) and the Nautical College in Lisbon (Portugal).
More information: AIDA Academy
All of the nautical and technical managers in the AIDA fleet complete their training courses in the world-leading CSMART maritime training center in Almere in the Netherlands. The innovative training opportunities taken up by around 7,000 nautical and technical officers each year, originating from the various cruise lines owned by the Carnival Group, are based on the highest international standards of quality and safety, which are oriented towards, among others, the airline industry. The training also includes enabling the crews to handle liquefied natural gas safely.
We particularly expect our officers to possess leadership skills and the ability to work in a team besides first class nautical and technical knowledge. Everyone must be in a position to recognize possible emergency situations in the briefest of time and to make the right decisions. Alternative thinking is essential here, for which we provide special training.
Our safety officers guarantee strict compliance with HESS standards on our ships. The crew is obliged to prove through exercises that they can react professionally and quickly in emergency situations and that all life-saving equipment is operational. On every ship there is a specially trained team whose purpose is to ensure the safety of our guests in the event of fire. These repeated and intensive safety exercises are clearly defined in the HESS management system.
In 2018, 545 AIDA nautical and technical officers took part in more than 800 courses at CSMART in Almere. Basic and advanced training packages for our environmental officers were also incorporated into the training program at CSMART over the past year.
We harness digitalization in order to intensify our training courses. With our very own E-learning management system, AIDA Expert, our employees can develop their skills from almost anywhere in the world. Around 230 computer-based training courses are currently offered.
Where this system is concerned, AIDA also benefits from being part of the Carnival Group.
Our security training courses
Together with the acclaimed Center for Adaptive Security Research and Applications (CASRA) in Zürich, we continuously improve and refine the quality of our security reviews. A piece of innovative software developed by CASRA and an adaptive learning approach help our security experts continuously to expand their knowledge and skills in order to be as efficient as possible at preventing incidents.
All AIDA employees are moreover familiarized with the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and are regularly trained in how to abide by it. As part of the E-learning training program, every AIDA employee, whether they are based on land or at sea, can run through the training courses at any time and in any place, which cover such aspects as the code of conduct and ethics, anti-corruption, anti-trust, insider trading and how to deal with staff complaints. Each employee is required to renew their own certificate every two to five years, depending on the topic.
More information: Code of conduct and ethics
Onboarding training sessions traditionally take place at the beginning of every month at our offices in Rostock and Hamburg. This is when all of our new employees gain their first insights into the diversity of the products that our company offers, our corporate philosophy, our organizational structure and the relevant systems and processes. In all, 336 new land-based and 3,529 sea-based employees took part in the onboarding training in 2018.
From the day they start work, we teach our colleagues about how they can go about using natural resources responsibly and thereby preserve the environment. Every new crew member must complete a special environmental training course. This focuses particularly on reducing wastewater and waste generation, using resources correctly and sparingly, and regular training sessions about our processes and standards with regard to environmental management. Our environmental officers additionally inform officers, engineers or managers on board about the specific environmental requirements of their day-to-day work. Such targeted expertise enables them to pass on their knowledge to the employees in their teams.
It is vital that this process is suitably transparent: We inform our employees immediately of any changes resulting from legal or developments. It is important for us that our employees not only act in an eco-friendly manner in accordance with our guidelines, but also that they understand why it is necessary for them to do so.
Our code of conduct is derived from our four AIDA values. These are binding for all members of staff. Our managers act as role models in this regard. At the same time they are responsible for creating a working atmosphere in which our collective code of conduct is put into practice and can be implemented by each employee in their day-to-day work.
The most important expectations that we have of our employees and managers are defined in our competence model. It describes which skills, characteristics and attitudes we require. At the same time, the model also functions as a leitmotiv for assessment and development measures.
We promote open discussions because this provides the foundation for open, trusting and focused cooperation. Employees and managers discuss strategies and goals as well as individual performance and development opportunities. In order to help manage these discussions, we have developed a transparent and clearly defined process for these regular performance reviews.
Potential is identified and individual development paths are extrapolated based on the performance of each employee. This particularly strengthens the identification of new talents and the support provided to them. They are discussed in regular talent meetings and prepared for their inclusion in the Talent Management Program, and mentoring is a key part of that. New managers, as well as key players and employees with high potential, are supervised and supported by experienced managers over a fixed period as part of mentoring programs at AIDA Cruises. Working as a mentor at AIDA is a voluntary commitment and offers both the company and our employees a number of benefits.
