Few questions about this industry

[Brendan]

Found out about this awesome industry from my school careers advisor last summer after having to find an alternative to the Royal Navy. My parents don't want me to go into the military.. They have a big thing about this. So when I found out about the merchant navy I was thrilled :3

I've researched a lot and got the gist of what it takes to get to where I wanna be.

But have a few things I've been wondering about

1) Are there many school leavers? I wanna join as soon as I can and college has never been for me
2) Is it hard to get a sponsorship as a school leaver?
3) I have a part time job at costa coffee.. Is this good for my cv or should I volunteer somewhere relevant?
4) I'm taking double science rather than triple. Predicted grades are as follows: physics- C, chemistry- B biology- B maths- C English- B. My others are basically all As-Ds. Is this alright or will I have no chance against other people amazing at science and maths?
5) How are Pritchard-Gordon? I like the look of their site and I wanna work on tankers preferably.

Haha.. Yeah. Thanks and cya for now

[alistairuk]

Hi and welcome!

I guess there A Level courses??

1 - there's still a large number who come directly from school having just complete their a levels / highers / whatever. Personally I would advise against doing it straight after GCSE/S Grades incase you later change your mind! But it's possible to go straight at 16 with only GCSEs.

2 - depends on companies preferences.

3 - make sure you sell yourself as working as part if a team in a busy retail environment on your CV and interviews. consider; - what do you bring to the team - what would you improve - when did the team not work - etc. have answers to these questions in head for interviews.

4 - make sure you meet the academic requirements for the course the company uses.

Goo luck with your applications - apply to more than 1 company though.

[Brendan]

Hi and welcome!

I guess there A Level courses??

1 - there's still a large number who come directly from school having just complete their a levels / highers / whatever. Personally I would advise against doing it straight after GCSE/S Grades incase you later change your mind! But it's possible to go straight at 16 with only GCSEs.

2 - depends on companies preferences.

3 - make sure you sell yourself as working as part if a team in a busy retail environment on your CV and interviews. consider; - what do you bring to the team - what would you improve - when did the team not work - etc. have answers to these questions in head for interviews.

4 - make sure you meet the academic requirements for the course the company uses.

Goo luck with your applications - apply to more than 1 company though.

No, not A level haha I'm a GCSE student in year 10.

I realise i should probably get a college degree before jumping into a career at sea but i'm seriously impatient and i dont wanna go to college just to be safe. I'm sure the merchant navy is for me and I can't imagine myself doing anything else. I appreciate your feedback tho.

I'll make sure to apply to other companies than Pritchard-Gordon of course though, but they are my first choice
also thinking of applying to maersk, sstg and possibly Clyde when the time comes.. Kinda hard when a lot of companies only do FD which I'm not eligible for

[Ratchet_Spanner]

South tyneside offer a pre-cadetship course that lasts a year I think. It makes you eligible to get onto the fd course. It is an extra year that you don't want to do but it will give you a good insight into the industry and what is required of you in terms of the theory side of things.

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[Brendan]

South tyneside offer a pre-cadetship course that lasts a year I think. It makes you eligible to get onto the fd course. It is an extra year that you don't want to do but it will give you a good insight into the industry and what is required of you in terms of the theory side of things.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 4

Hmm.. Sounds pretty interesting actually. Not sure if I can afford that kind of thing though, unless of course it is funded by the government.

[Ratchet_Spanner]

I'm sure it's state funded of you're under 18. You would have your accommodation to pay for though. I would strongly recommend looking into it in more detail.

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[Brendan]

Wow thanks! I looked it up and it looks surprisingly promising. When you first mentioned it I was like eh a whole year doesn't sound very appealing at all and a waste of time but in fact it seems exactly the kind of thing that would be perfect for me to develop some useful experience plus confirm whether the merchant navy is for me.