Thoughts on the bp interview?

[reusch]

Just wondering what others thought of the interview? Had mine today and I thought it was quite tough! Wasn't really prepared for the questions they asked, not feeling confident at all

[tommo]

Hi reush,
yeah I had the same interview last Monday and thought there was some difficult questions, probably to do with the fact that I'm in full time education, and cannot realy relate some of the questions to a work place. However we will see I suppose. Are you a school leaver?? also when did they say they would be getting bach in touch you??

Hope it all goes well for you buddy!!

[reusch]

I'm currently finishing my Engineering Advanced Diploma but I do work part time too. Even so, I found it really difficult to find examples for their questions. Eugene said he's returning to Singapore to discuss candidates and should be getting in touch some time next week. Just have to hope for the best I suppose...best of luck to you too!

[Sail tom]

I also had my interview week last Monday, although the questions were fairly tough the interviewers were calm and relaxed, it felt like a friendly chat. I was preparing for a grilling, apprentice style.

I have to admit the questions were aimed at people already in employment with questions about health and safety making decisions.

Hope it all went well for you.

[Aleorea]

If your a deck cadet the only advice I can give you is, don't go.

From an engineering point of view tankers may be quite interesting, but from a deck side they are pants. The voyages are too long, you don't get much time up the road in foreign ports. Plus I noticed that al ot of mates and captains I've met from tankers have a tendency to be very pretentious. They have a bad mentality.

Get yourself on cruise ships or into a decent offshore company if you want to have an enjoyable cadetship.

[reusch]

I agree that it seemed to be aimed towards people who were already employed.

Aleorea, what do you mean that they have a bad mentailty? Not sure about deck side, but for engineering I think future prospects are excellent. He also mentioned that there would be opportunities to work in different areas within BP such as offshore, oil rigs etc. which is a lot more than what a general shipping company can offer.

[ETwhat?]

The cruise/cargo arguement has been done before and doesnt really add anything to the details of a Bp interview, although if you said you want this to get time ashore then yeah your might well have shot yourself in the foot. BP seem to be a good company and more importantly are also a company that wants to employ you after which is a nice perk.

[Aleorea]

In my opinion cruise liners are the Sin of the earth. What's all this malarky about the customers having dinner with the captain like he's some hero? You wouldn't invite your surgeon to a restaurant the evening before an operation.

There's always going to be a demand for oil, at least in our working lives. You're never to sure what's around the corner with the cruise liner industry and at the moment they are in the press for the wrong reasons.
Ok BP have had their fair share of bad press but they pulled though it after spending billions in compensation. I'm not sure the same can be said about costa cruises.

I also read in the paper that princess cruises are in trouble financially. I get the impression times are tough for the cruise industry. Costa Concordia and the fact that most of western Europe and America are in a recession isn't helping.

I feel joining the MN just to see new places is a bad career plan and not a viable answer when asked "why do you want to join the merchant navy?" It may be a perk of the job but not a deciding factor. If I wanted to see new places and work at sea, i would choose to work with yacht delivery or Super Yachts.

It depends what your after really, having never sailed on a cruise ship I can't say for sure, but for cadets it seems the best quality of life having spoken to a few who sailed on them. A far better life than being stuck on a tanker for 3 months with no shore leave.

[Aleorea]

I agree that it seemed to be aimed towards people who were already employed.

Aleorea, what do you mean that they have a bad mentailty? Not sure about deck side, but for engineering I think future prospects are excellent. He also mentioned that there would be opportunities to work in different areas within BP such as offshore, oil rigs etc. which is a lot more than what a general shipping company can offer.

Yeah for sure, tankers have some very good engineering systems so they are great ways of gaining experience.

But from a deck side, a lot of tanker chief mates and captains are very pretentious, I would go far as to say some have a kind of god complex. Which is like hell to work with for the rest of the crew.

[tommo]

So, does anyone know the dates when Bp will get back in contact with us, regarding cadetships??

[reusch]

So, does anyone know the dates when Bp will get back in contact with us, regarding cadetships??

Like I said before mate, should be some time next week. Eu gene's returning to Singapore to discuss it

[tommo]

Anybody heard back from bp yet??
Im still waiting with anticipation!! lol

[reusch]

Nope not yet! Said it would probably be the end of the week so hopefully tomorrow or Friday. I feel the same tommo, but can't say I'm very confident after my interview

[tommo]

Yeah I'm not that confident either reush, however all we can do now is hope for the best!
I will keep you updated mate.

Best of luck though
Tommo

[rusty]

Should be any day now. Anyone else found that they're checking their emails an awful amount?