Too Many Officers Under Training?

[Unregistered]

I personally think that the current tonnage tax system is producing an oversupply of British officers. Most noticeably Deck Officers.

This oversupply is creating unemployment among the recently qualified and forcing the general levels of Western junior officers wages down.

Nautilus always talk about the demand for 'highly skilled British Officers' but this does not seem to be materialising.

I think its about time that faceless companies (through agencies) were prevented from benefiting from the tonnage tax system unless there is a link to employment at the end of training. Evidently it is pointless training somebody if there is nothing for them to do at the end.

The solution to this problem is not legislation to force companies to employ those trained under the tonnage tax scheme - it is to not allow them onto the tonnage tax scheme in the first place and ban the use of agencies for 'cadet training'.

If a company was serious about training people for the future they wouldn't contract the process out to an agency.

I know its tough to admit but does anybody agree that we should dramatically reduce the number of people under training?

[gadget123]

Or maybe we should increase the number of jobs available for british officers.

[Clanky]

Training agencies do a good job and allow many more companies to train people than would normally be the case as many of the companies simply couldn't afford to run a cadet training scheme. It is not the over-abundance of British officers which is keeping salaries low, but the over-abundance of cheaper alternatives who are getting closer and closer to being able to work to the same if not better standards than many of the Brits at sea for half the salary.

I have not heard of too many newly qualified cadets unable to find work, yes I am sure there are one or two, but compafed to the numbers training it seems to be that the vast majority find work soon after qualifying. Yes making companies offer long term employment in return for the tonnage tax benefits would be a positive step, but I don't see where that is linked to using training agencies.

[Unregistered]

Or maybe we should increase the number of jobs available for british officers.

How?

[YoungMariner]

There is an awful lot of work out there, even for inexperienced Officers. There remains a significant drop out rate in the cadetship , in addition to many Officers who never sail on a ship again after completing their cadetship.

[Aleorea]

Don't think there is much of an oversupply at the moment. Everyone I know from college has been able to find a jobs quite quickly. It is much easier for engineers to find work on oil rigs etc.

[Lewis]

There was a MGN (245 I think but not sure) that was pubished this summer it outlined smart funding. In it was the provision of a payment of sponsoring companies of three grand for cadets who complete their training. Why not make this payable after the cadets have had six months sea time after obtaining their COC? This wouldn't garuntee long term jobs but would at least help people get the first couple of stmaps in their book which by all accounts I have heard is the hardest part.

[HolyNougat]

I think that we are getting to a stage where companies are recruiting too many cadets. If I look back to the numbers that were recruited 10 years ago against the numbers being recruited now it does not seem to be linked to a similar increase in available jobs. Having said that I would say that the employment prospects for newly qualified deck and tech officers are so much better than for new graduates as to be almost incomparable.

The best advice has to be for prospective cadets to ensure that their cadetship is linked to a job at the end. Finding yourself without a company at the end of your cadetship does make life much more difficult as experience trumps all as far as recruiters are concerned.

And for newly qualified officers, don't rest on your laurels, think about what you can do to make yourself more attractive to new companies, I.e. DP courses, degrees, sail training etc .

[Hatchorder]

I think that we are getting to a stage where companies are recruiting too many cadets. If I look back to the numbers that were recruited 10 years ago against the numbers being recruited now it does not seem to be linked to a similar increase in available jobs. Having said that I would say that the employment prospects for newly qualified deck and tech officers are so much better than for new graduates as to be almost incomparable.

The best advice has to be for prospective cadets to ensure that their cadetship is linked to a job at the end. Finding yourself without a company at the end of your cadetship does make life much more difficult as experience trumps all as far as recruiters are concerned.

And for newly qualified officers, don't rest on your laurels, think about what you can do to make yourself more attractive to new companies, I.e. DP courses, degrees, sail training etc .

I think there is something else as well. Some of the larger companies may well have recruited 50 odd cadets now. They will probably need a proportion of them at the end as there is always a turnover of staff. Make sure you stand out through your cadetship. I am not talking about being a "brown nose", I am talking about keeping out of trouble, passing exams, handing work in on time etc. Come the end of your cadetship there will be a number of people looking for a job if there is one going and you do not want to be excluded because of things you did during your cadetship that you might regret at the end.

I know of one company that has an automatic extension built into the contract for the cadets that lets them keep you on at the end for a further 2 years. Only ever any good if you make yourself employable at the end. That goes both ways though. Companies should make it so that cadets compete for jobs at the end of their cadetship and not all want to be sacked after their exams!

Ian

[ETwhat?]

Fortunately I think we are also getting towards capacity for the colleges, without a major investment in facilites and staff they wont be able to teach more cadets.