Cadet to Officer - Applying for jobs

[chris]

I've just received my oral date and was wondering about applying for jobs. Keen to hear the experiences of recently qualified officers and of course anyone else in the know.


Do I need to have my CoC in my hand so to speak before I can apply for jobs, or can I apply for roles in the period between passing the oral and receiving the CoC in the post or can I even apply for jobs before sitting the oral.

I've been in contact with a few potential employers and one of them seems keen to sign me up before the oral while another doesn't even want to discuss the role until I have my CoC.

I'm sponsored by Trinity House, so I'm not locked into a role when I qualify / I'll be unemployed when I qualify depending on your view.


Thanks in advance.

[EH75]

Would also be interested in the responses to this. Due to sit my orals around the end of June but don't have a definite date yet. Couple of questions to throw in if I may:

If you are applying prior to orals and tell them you have your oral on a certain date and then you fail are they likely to withdraw the job offer or what would happen? Guess it depends on the company? Not that I'm intending that to happen but you never know.

Would be keen to hear experiences of others who have not had the option of a job with their sponsoring company and how they have went about applying for jobs and what sort of luck they have had. Most of the jobs I've seen advertised require relevant experience as an OOW which I obviously won't have.

[bobofinga]

Personally I would say wait until you have PASSED your orals before you start applying and sending out CV's for jobs.

From passing your oral to receiving your CoC shouldn't be more than 2 weeks (if the MCA dont **** it up) so you can tell companies about this if they are willing to interview/give you a job.

[size4riggerboots]

I'd certainly go back to your sponsor company and ask if they have any vacancies for junior offices coming up, any job you get considered for will of course be dependant on the result of your oral exam.

Personally, after three years of cadetship with only a few weeks holiday at a time, not to mention the mind bending weeks of revision leading up to the exam, I was very content to have a couple of months off and didn't seriously start looking for jobs for a while - I signed up to a bunch of manning agencies on the web and fired off a few CVs for junior positions, none of which came to anything. When I got serious about it I used all the contacts I could think of and landed myself a job pretty fast after that. I'm firmly of the opinion that it's not what you know, its who you know. When you come out of your exam you're on a level playing field with every other newly qualified officer, and there's a lot of officers with a few years sea time under their belts also looking for jobs, but the best resume is someone saying "Oh yeah I taught/sailed with him/her, they were switched on/sound/etc, give them a go" So if you've made good impression on anyone during your cadetship, now is the time to get back in touch!

[chris]

thanks size 4.

[laura]

Depends on your circumstances, I needed a job pronto because the bills needed paid... also sounds crazy but a reminder to your sponsorship company (if you'd consider working for them/ they'd consider working with you ) isn't always a bad thing... a polite phone call wondering if there are any positions available after you've passed won't zap too much time or energy. I say this because I mentioned my orals date to my company in passing and they were like 'What! You finish in two weeks, I thought it was three months, need to try find you a job!'... luckily they did though! Most guys I know found a job fairly quickly (within a month or two) although a few were working temp positions for a while before anything permanent came up... Still the temp work got them to sea and a stamp in the book.

A recommendation from your last Captain/ Chief is also a good feather in the cap if approaching sponsoring company, if you have nothing from your seatime in concrete (well paper at any rate) a polite email to the Captain/ Chief (if they are still onboard/ contactable) is worth the effort, good TRB reports help too, but a good old reference is even better. I got my first job on recommendations from my last Captains and got onto my current ship because I'd sailed with this Captain as a cadet and he'd chosen me over older guys with more experience cause I was 'a worker' and 'willing to learn' as a cadet, so even a couple years down the line my cadet time is still haunting me when it comes to jobs and getting on the company's better ships (this advice is more for staying with sponsoring company obviously)... good luck though!