Quick question... :-)

[Surfer Girl]

I was just wondering, since I can't seem to find much information regarding this curiosity of mine, whether doing a cadetship with a certain company (e.g shell, BP, carnival) would increase my chances of future employment with that company? I'm not just talking about straight after qualifying but a few years after perhaps..

Thanks if anyone can clarify this

[Inland Pirate]

Some offer you a job afterwards as part of your cadetship agreement.

Have you heard of the Tonnage Tax Relief? Worth reading a bit about if you haven't.

Some companies use it to avoid paying heavier taxes, but aren't in the least bit interested in giving you a job afterwards, when they can get much cheaper officers from other countries (though sometimes not as good).

Others, like Clyde, are training organisations that put you with a company for your sea time. These may or may not decide to offer you a job afterwards, depends how much you impress them I guess!

Hope this helps! Someone will be along shortly to tell me I've got it all wrong no doubt!

[Surfer Girl]

Some offer you a job afterwards as part of your cadetship agreement.

Have you heard of the Tonnage Tax Relief? Worth reading a bit about if you haven't.

Some companies use it to avoid paying heavier taxes, but aren't in the least bit interested in giving you a job afterwards, when they can get much cheaper officers from other countries (though sometimes not as good).

Others, like Clyde, are training organisations that put you with a company for your sea time. These may or may not decide to offer you a job afterwards, depends how much you impress them I guess!

Hope this helps! Someone will be along shortly to tell me I've got it all wrong no doubt!

Ah okay I shall research this further when I get the chance!

Also, how can you tell the difference between companies involved in this tonnage tax scandal and companies that are genuinely looking to take on officers and teach them well? Do companies tell you in advance whether there is a chance or employment at the end or not or does this depend solely on performance during the cadet ship? :P

[alistairuk]

Ah okay I shall research this further when I get the chance!

Also, how can you tell the difference between companies involved in this tonnage tax scandal and companies that are genuinely looking to take on officers and teach them well? Do companies tell you in advance whether there is a chance or employment at the end or not or does this depend solely on performance during the cadet ship? :P

It's not a "scandal" - it could be better, but if they insist every company that trains cadets then hires them upon completion the number of places would drop and competition for the spaces that are there would be even higher than today.

No company will guarantee you a position upon qualifying - the most you may get is "we intend to take on cadets upon successful completion" and anyone that says they were guaranteed a position is either lying or has miss-understood what the company told them. Put simply, its 3 years away - none of them know what the situation will be in 3 years time - or if they will even be in business.

To answer your question of how do you know if a company takes on their cadets? You can ask them at the interview, but basically if the company normally employes British officers as watch keepers you have a high chance of being taken on as an officer upon competition - although not guaranteed. Most of the direct recruiters (Maersk, Carnival Group, BP & Shell) intend to employ at least some of their cadets on completion. Cadets through agencies (Clyde Marine, SSTG, etc.) it's pretty hit and miss.

[EH75]

I'm almost certain that all three of the companies you mentioned would be likely to offer you a job after you qualified if you were sponsored by them. They all employ British Officers so generally if they have put you through your cadetship then they will want to keep you on as you will already be familiar with the ships, company procedures etc. Of course there are no guarantees but I would say there was a pretty decent chance.

If for any reason they didn't offer you a job or you didn't want it on qualifying then again I would think that being familiar with the company would only be a good thing if you re-applied for them in the future. The only hurdle would be justifying why you left on completion of your cadetship in the first place.

Anyway my advice to any prospective cadets would always be to try and get a cadetship with a company that employs British officers and stay away from the companies purely doing it for tax purposes as Inland Pirate has already mentioned. I was sponsored by one of these companies and consequently had to find my own first job as an officer upon qualification. Whilst it didn't take too long, its hassle I could've done without tbh.

[Lewis]

Even with agencies like Clyde it varies greatly. Some companies take on nearly every cadet like northern marine, some none like zodiac. Even with a company that normally takes on cadets their is no guarantee if you act like tit on all your ships don't expect a job.

A job is more than 3 years down the line, it's nice to have but it's not top priority. Apply to everyone and anyone. Don't turn down an offer for a better one that might not come.

[GuinnessMan]

Some companies take on nearly every cadet like northern marine, some none like zodiac.

Northern Marine has a fleet expansion going on...

Zodiac do take cadets on as Officers, but not very many. That was one kicking around on here a while back...

[gadget123]

Try and go with companies which actually employ British junior officers. The key point there is junior officers not just the odd captain or chief engineer.

Also think about the sectors which british officers are employed in nowadays look at passenger and offshore ships, and possibly tankers. Forget about containers and bulk carriers, those sectors are dead as far as the british merchant navy is concerned.

[GuinnessMan]

Try and go with companies which actually employ British junior officers. The key point there is junior officers not just the odd captain or chief engineer.

Also think about the sectors which british officers are employed in nowadays look at passenger and offshore ships, and possibly tankers. Forget about containers and bulk carriers, those sectors are dead as far as the british merchant navy is concerned.

But don't limit yourself to those! If you try and do that you will be ignoring a lot of training providers!

[EH75]

Yeah apply everywhere and if you are lucky enough to get more than one offer then you can start to get picky about these issues.

[gadget123]

But don't limit yourself to those! If you try and do that you will be ignoring a lot of training providers!

I think training is a bit of a strong word for what a lot of these companies provide.

[JukeyLad]

I trained through SSTG with container company OOCL, they told me at the start of my cadetship they would offer me a job once finished... what they didnt tell me was that they have a company policy that cadets must do 15 MONTHS sea time before they can be promoted to 4th. They offered me the job as promised but after passing my oral the last thing I wanted was to be a cadet for another 6 months so I turned them down.

[EH75]

Yeah I know a couple of people who got the whole "we want to keep you as a cadet (on cadet wages) for another few months" chat. They walked and got jobs as officers fairly quickly. I mean, I can understand maybe a month or so (or until whenever the captain thinks you are responsible enough) as a junior, but to be honest if you have done your cadetship with the company and have been trained properly you should be fairly familiar with the procedures so there shouldn't be any need for more than a few weeks as a junior I wouldn't have thought.

[Lewis]

Personally theses days id take a trip at cadet wages as long as it was marked down as something else so at least be useful finding another job.

[Surfer Girl]

Personally theses days id take a trip at cadet wages as long as it was marked down as something else so at least be useful finding another job.

Yeah I hear a lot of people complaining about the difficulty of getting that first job after qualifying. The idea of unemployment kinda scares me :/