Proof check my CV and personal statement please.

[RIchard91]

Hello Everyone and Merry Christmas.

My name is Richard and I am new to Merchant Navy.

Firstly, I would like to thank those who have organised this website and everyone whose is sharing their experience and information in it. It is a very helpful and useful tool and information platform. I hope one day will be able to contribute in it somehow as well.

I am applying for Deck Cadetship September 2022 intake and have my CV and Statement ready.

Before start sending them over I would like to ask an experienced person to have them checked and letting me know what they think.

I am in the beginning of my 30s and wouldn't want to sound over-experienced. I tried to link skills from life that think might be useful on board and during studies.

I understand this might be time consuming so any of your help at my early career stage will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

[agibbs98]

Hi Richard, merry christmas!

I’m sure others will be along to help (Hatchorder is probably one of the best for this stuff) but I’ll PM you my email to send the stuff through to and I’ll take a read.

[bbrierley1996]

Hello!

I believe I can provide some advice as I've very recently been through the full application process with a number of sponsoring companies and received offers for Jan/Sept 2022 (although I am accepting Sept 2022 offers only).

I'm also a bit older than most aspiring cadets (25) and have some work experience beneath me, so it's important to highlight transferrable skills and the best place to do this is with your personal statement which I believe to be more important than the CV itself. During all three of my recent interviews, I was only asked about how my previous experience could be beneficial to this industry. I'm fairly confident that you can relate any job to this industry in one way or another - leadership skills, working lengthy hours every week, working to strict timelines etc.

From my interviews, it was clear they weren't interested in what work I'd done before, but only about what skills I'd acquired (some of them didn't even ask about previous work or transferable skills).

Some other advice I'm glad I knew about before my interviews, is as a "mature student" I was asked about my financial commitments and if I'm going to be able to support myself and any dependants for the duration of the cadetship (a bit of a tangent compared to your original post, but worth mentioning as this caught out some people who are doing the pre-cadetship with me).

Good luck with your applications and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions. I hope this helps a little.

[Saved_David]

Hello!

I believe I can provide some advice as I've very recently been through the full application process with a number of sponsoring companies and received offers for Jan/Sept 2022 (although I am accepting Sept 2022 offers only).

I'm also a bit older than most aspiring cadets (25) and have some work experience beneath me, so it's important to highlight transferrable skills and the best place to do this is with your personal statement which I believe to be more important than the CV itself. During all three of my recent interviews, I was only asked about how my previous experience could be beneficial to this industry. I'm fairly confident that you can relate any job to this industry in one way or another - leadership skills, working lengthy hours every week, working to strict timelines etc.

From my interviews, it was clear they weren't interested in what work I'd done before, but only about what skills I'd acquired (some of them didn't even ask about previous work or transferable skills).

Some other advice I'm glad I knew about before my interviews, is as a "mature student" I was asked about my financial commitments and if I'm going to be able to support myself and any dependants for the duration of the cadetship (a bit of a tangent compared to your original post, but worth mentioning as this caught out some people who are doing the pre-cadetship with me).

Good luck with your applications and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions. I hope this helps a little.

Hey brierley hope you had a great christmas, i'm currently writing up my cv for the september intake and i went seeking advice from my careers advisor but they weren't the biggest help haha. Is it possible i could send you a copy of mine as well? I'm applying for a deck cadetship as well.

[RIchard91]

Hello!

I believe I can provide some advice as I've very recently been through the full application process with a number of sponsoring companies and received offers for Jan/Sept 2022 (although I am accepting Sept 2022 offers only).

I'm also a bit older than most aspiring cadets (25) and have some work experience beneath me, so it's important to highlight transferrable skills and the best place to do this is with your personal statement which I believe to be more important than the CV itself. During all three of my recent interviews, I was only asked about how my previous experience could be beneficial to this industry. I'm fairly confident that you can relate any job to this industry in one way or another - leadership skills, working lengthy hours every week, working to strict timelines etc.

From my interviews, it was clear they weren't interested in what work I'd done before, but only about what skills I'd acquired (some of them didn't even ask about previous work or transferable skills).

Some other advice I'm glad I knew about before my interviews, is as a "mature student" I was asked about my financial commitments and if I'm going to be able to support myself and any dependants for the duration of the cadetship (a bit of a tangent compared to your original post, but worth mentioning as this caught out some people who are doing the pre-cadetship with me).

Good luck with your applications and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions. I hope this helps a little.

Hello

Thanks for your help I will PM you later.

I especially agree about financial self support during cadetship. It is a very important topic to talk about. Having students with part time jobs is counterproductive.

Also, the application process varies from company to company, some of them limit statements to 300 words only and mine is double of it.

Good luck to you as well!

[riker]

Having students with part time jobs is counterproductive.

Indeed and that's why most of the guys in my class took out student loans or had some savings before starting. Just bear in mind that 3 years is a long time and it's hard to plan financially for that length of time with the money that the Cadetship provides (at least that was my experience).

If you are early 30's, then try to ask your sponsor when you get one, if you can rent a private place in phase 1, maybe on something like spareroom.com, as the private halls at each college are extortionate and you will be many times contractually obliged to stay there during phase 1 (later college phases you can do what you want). They have stupid rules that will just annoy you with the age you are at, as they will try to say that it will prepare you for life at sea or some nonsense when it's more geared towards the 16 year olds and helping the colleges earn a bit more money probably. I found the experience of that pretty frustrating to put it politely. Really, it's just one of many things as a Cadet you might have to just get on with but it's worth asking about to reduce your financial outgoings for sure.

Good luck with the CV and Personal Statement.

[RIchard91]

Indeed and that's why most of the guys in my class took out student loans or had some savings before starting. Just bear in mind that 3 years is a long time and it's hard to plan financially for that length of time with the money that the Cadetship provides (at least that was my experience).

If you are early 30's, then try to ask your sponsor when you get one, if you can rent a private place in phase 1, maybe on something like spareroom.com, as the private halls at each college are extortionate and you will be many times contractually obliged to stay there during phase 1 (later college phases you can do what you want). They have stupid rules that will just annoy you with the age you are at, as they will try to say that it will prepare you for life at sea or some nonsense when it's more geared towards the 16 year olds and helping the colleges earn a bit more money probably. I found the experience of that pretty frustrating to put it politely. Really, it's just one of many things as a Cadet you might have to just get on with but it's worth asking about to reduce your financial outgoings for sure.

Good luck with the CV and Personal Statement.

Thank you

[eng55]

Indeed and that's why most of the guys in my class took out student loans or had some savings before starting. Just bear in mind that 3 years is a long time and it's hard to plan financially for that length of time with the money that the Cadetship provides (at least that was my experience).

If you are early 30's, then try to ask your sponsor when you get one, if you can rent a private place in phase 1, maybe on something like spareroom.com, as the private halls at each college are extortionate and you will be many times contractually obliged to stay there during phase 1 (later college phases you can do what you want). They have stupid rules that will just annoy you with the age you are at, as they will try to say that it will prepare you for life at sea or some nonsense when it's more geared towards the 16 year olds and helping the colleges earn a bit more money probably. I found the experience of that pretty frustrating to put it politely. Really, it's just one of many things as a Cadet you might have to just get on with but it's worth asking about to reduce your financial outgoings for sure.

Good luck with the CV and Personal Statement.

Definitely push for sorting out your own accommodation. I think most companies will waive the halls thing for mature cadets, mine certainly did and a couple of others said as much during the interview process.

[RIchard91]

Definitely push for sorting out your own accommodation. I think most companies will waive the halls thing for mature cadets, mine certainly did and a couple of others said as much during the interview process.

Interesting. I honestly didn’t even think that it is possible to stay outside of student accommodation. And wasn’t considering this option at all.

Thank you