A new live AI avatar interviewer recruitment platform has been launched for merchant shipping, with the founders claiming that the system could help employers recruit qualified seafarers faster while maintaining safety, verification, and competence standards.
Developed by maritime technology company The World Yacht, the COMPETIQ platform will allow organisations to interview large numbers of candidates simultaneously using AI live avatar interviewers while automatically verifying identities and checking qualifications.
The system creates a live avatar interviewer that can be tailored by gender, age, or ethnicity. After analysing a candidate’s CV and experience, it generates role-specific interview questions, adapts its questioning according to each response, and assesses candidates against predefined recruitment criteria.
The platform can be configured for various seagoing positions, including Masters, Deck Officers, and Engineering Officers.
The company says that identity verification is managed via facial recognition technology, and the system cross-checks professional qualifications and certifications before progressing applicants to the next stage of the process.
Following the initial interviews, recruiters receive performance reports together with a recommended shortlist of the strongest candidates, enabling final interviews to be conducted either in person or by video call.
“As a ship’s captain, I know there is a big difference between someone who is certified on paper and someone who can make the right decision under pressure. That is the gap this platform has been built to address,” said Vinil Gupta, Founder of The World Yacht and a Master Mariner.
“Maritime recruitment is under huge pressure. Employers need to move faster, but they cannot afford to compromise on competence, safety or trust. COMPETIQ uses AI to help identify the strongest candidates more quickly by testing how they think, how they respond and whether their experience matches the role they are applying for.”
“It is not about replacing human judgment. It is about giving recruiters better information before they make that judgment. The platform can interview large numbers of candidates simultaneously across different countries and time zones, verify identity and qualifications, and produce a consistent first-stage assessment, so recruiters can focus their time on the people most likely to be right for the role.”
