Clyde Marine Preferences

[tommo]

Hi folks,
I have had two successful interviews; one with Clyde Marine, and the other with SSTG. Now, Clyde want me to pick 3 preferences, now I want to stay clear of cruise ships personally, and I have been told that the money is off-shore on supply, dive support etc... Now my question to you lovely bunch is;
-Will the sea time I gain offshore allow me to go up and do my tickets (as I want to get my tickets out of the way as soon as possible).
-Also, in terms of the pay off-shore, is the pay better as 3rd mate than if you were deep sea i.e once I have attained my officer of the watch ticket. Or is it best to go deep sea with Chevron for example, get my sea time, get my tickets, and then go off-shore?

Thanks again!
Tommo

[SWonder]

Hi there I am currently an engine cadet and have just completed my first sea phase.

Clyde do ask you to pick 3 preferences but your chances off getting any of them are pretty slim, especially if you are a January intake when there are less sponsors to choose from. With Clyde no matter what company you get as your sponsor you will be paid the same amount, SSTG however have different levels of pay in their sponsoring companies. A few of my mates are with SSTG and sponsored by North Star, they are the highest paying sponsor and also pay their accomodation. They have all spent 28 days on/off working in the North Sea on Supply boats and standby boats.

Offshore time on boats is the same as time deep sea, neither will provide you with a quicker way of getting throught the cadetiship. From what I can gather pay and time on/off ration is generally better deep sea and of course you don't have to pay tax,although you could be working offshore in Mexico I suppose!

[thebrookster]

Right, if you want to get your tickets as quickly as possible, you do not want to train with an Off-shore company, most of the guys in my class ended up having to drop back a phase to the class behind us (I was August/September intake, they dropped back to the January intake) because they could not get the time in.

Aside from that, I personally would be asking which companies right now are keeping cadets on, and where newly-qualified officers are getting jobs. In terms of the engine side, the current situation seems to be that Cruise keep their guys on, SOME off-shore have kept guys on but others have been dropped, and Oil Tanker companies are tentatively employing/keeping guys on. The rest of the guys are struggling, but how that translates into the Deck side I don't know.

Personally, I would never recommend chasing the money, you lose job security going that route. Go for somewhere that gives better benefits and job security, you might earn a touch less money but you have a job! It is pretty much irrelevant anyway, because the money is reasonably good full stop. For example, Holland America are paying roughly ?22k for a new officer, Disney are about ?26k, Stena around ?26k and Chevron around ?28k. I don't know about off-shore.

Also, if you really want to chase the money, you want the superyachts anyway, they outstrip the MN by quite a stretch! But unless you can find a way in, you would need to go through Cruise training ideally..................

Ohh, and another point worth noting, both Stena and Chevron, when they take cadets on seem to have a preference to keep their cadets, so you might find they insist on a couple of years with them after you qualify, so they can get their moneysworth!! (Also, according to Chevron, if you put them as a preference for Clyde Marine, they always get your CV/App through so they can decide if they want you)

[tommo]

Right, well thanks for the advice 'theBrookster' I will defiantly take that advice on board. One final question would be, have you got any idea as to when chevron would get back to me, i.e. the start of next year for the September intake? The reason being, I don't like the fact that your not guaranteed the company you pick with training organisations, and it would be really good to know before college starts..
Thank's again !!

[Lewis]

Swonder talks sense. Unless one of your choices is Zodiac or NMM, I wouldn't count on it I think CMT assign you to a company pretty much at random. But it shouldn't matter to much once you qualify you can go where you like.

[Markie93]

Right, well thanks for the advice 'theBrookster' I will defiantly take that advice on board. One final question would be, have you got any idea as to when chevron would get back to me, i.e. the start of next year for the September intake? The reason being, I don't like the fact that your not guaranteed the company you pick with training organisations, and it would be really good to know before college starts..
Thank's again !!

Hey Tommo,

I started an Engine Cadetship at STC last September (12') with Chevron. I chose them as my first choice and was asked to go to an interview on the 14th of August. More or less a month before the start date (being the 9th of Sept). From what I could gather they invited people to an interview based on their CV's and application forms. If there is anything else I can help you with give me a shout..

[thebrookster]

I think Markie answered that nicely I personally have little idea how that side of Chevron works, my cadetship was with Knutsen!

Clyde Marine are wonderful at ignoring your choices though, I suspect they only do it to filter out those who want to go with Zodiac/NMM/Disney etc. I believe however it is possible to contact a company directly and enquire if they are taking cadets on, it is not unheard of for people to get a desired company that way. I know that I put down three deep sea companies, in the bulk carrier/reefer/container line, and got given a North Sea Shuttle Tanker company instead! Worked out well in the end though, fortunately.

[Rmar11]

Its hit/miss with clyde, I asked for an offshore supply company, didnt get the company i asked for, but got an offshore supply company regardless. I'm just glad i got a company in offshore support, instead of ending up on a container/bulk carrier (Which is what you'll end up with if you choose a cruise company btw).