Job Hunting

[JonathanI]

I don't know if anyone is in the same position as me but i passed my OOW Orals nearly two months ago. I have been pretty much job hunting for that full time and only had one solid job offer. Pretty much all I am running into is you need DP Unlimited or we need experienced officers. Now the part DP I get thats fine but the "Experienced" Officers what even ! Does this not mean that this is a complete failure in our training program ?. You spend 3years of your life training to be an officer and sit in front of an examiner who finds you competent but apparently some companies don't think this is good enough !. The problem I see is the whole industry is going to come to a standstill if officers are not given the opportunity to get to sea. I know winter is probably a **** time to try and find a job but 2months is a joke. I tried to contact my training company but absolutely no reply ! Pretty much dumped !

[EH75]

Aye its a bit crap. Qualified in July and found a job fairly quickly but a lot of the cruise lines seemed to be on a major recruitment drive around then which was lucky. All my mates who didn't get offered a job with their sponsoring company it was either case of right place right time or managed to get in with one of the cruise lines. I was having a look recently and saw Holland America are looking for 4th officers but you need 12 months experience. Bit bizarre considering they were taking folk on with no experience for the same role a few months ago (I got offered an interview but the salary was a joke so didn't bother). Good luck getting someone with 12 months OOW experience to take that job if they are still offering the same conditions.

I think the RFA were recruiting recently but not sure if they still are. Tried them? Tried North Star? They seem to take new folk quite regularly. EERV like but better than the dole.

Also you say you had one solid job offer, have you taken it or did you turn it down or what? Don't turn anything down. Even if its not the sector you want to get into once you have a few months experience it is a lot easier to move around.

[JonathanI]

Aye its a bit crap. Qualified in July and found a job fairly quickly but a lot of the cruise lines seemed to be on a major recruitment drive around then which was lucky. All my mates who didn't get offered a job with their sponsoring company it was either case of right place right time or managed to get in with one of the cruise lines. I was having a look recently and saw Holland America are looking for 4th officers but you need 12 months experience. Bit bizarre considering they were taking folk on with no experience for the same role a few months ago (I got offered an interview but the salary was a joke so didn't bother). Good luck getting someone with 12 months OOW experience to take that job if they are still offering the same conditions.

I think the RFA were recruiting recently but not sure if they still are. Tried them? Tried North Star? They seem to take new folk quite regularly. EERV like but better than the dole.

Also you say you had one solid job offer, have you taken it or did you turn it down or what? Don't turn anything down. Even if its not the sector you want to get into once you have a few months experience it is a lot easier to move around.

Yeh I applied to Holland America but they wanted me to appear at there office in dover with only 40hours notice or something just for an interview. Yep emailed North Star no reply which also seems to be common as most companies won't even bother emailing you back. Yeh It was a tanker working round coast of scotland 24k a year kind of wish i took it now.

[thebrookster]

Get in touch with Clyde Recruit, they do temp work as well, which could well help you get your foot in the door? Lass I sailed with had to do this.

[JonathanI]

Get in touch with Clyde Recruit, they do temp work as well, which could well help you get your foot in the door? Lass I sailed with had to do this.

Yep signed up with them along with 500 other recruitment agencies ! Clyde on seem to offer experienced candidate positions. Yeh hopefully once I get my foot in the door moving to another job will be easier.

[HolyNougat]

Well, you don't really seem to be doing youself many favours to be honest. If you have turned down one job and did not bother going to an interview for another perhaps your expectations are unreasonably high?
It is a difficult pill to swallow, but being qualified does not make you experienced and all new qualified officers have lots still to learn.
You probably won't appreciate my tone, but honestly it is a really tough jobs market out there and you need to take every opportunity, at least until you have a few trips under your belt.
Good luck!

[JonathanI]

Well, you don't really seem to be doing youself many favours to be honest. If you have turned down one job and did not bother going to an interview for another perhaps your expectations are unreasonably high?
It is a difficult pill to swallow, but being qualified does not make you experienced and all new qualified officers have lots still to learn.
You probably won't appreciate my tone, but honestly it is a really tough jobs market out there and you need to take every opportunity, at least until you have a few trips under your belt.
Good luck!

Yep I really regret turning down the first job offer ! I actually expected many job offers to follow ! I maybe am expecting too much of the market right now !! The reason why I never went to the second interview is I was expected to pay nearly ?200+ in train fares + hotel for the night and I wasn't even guaranteed a job ! I am not saying I am amazing or Watever but surely it's a failing in the system if a person who trains for 3years can't get a job because they don't have experience ! And this is the job where you never stop learning !

Cheers anyway

[IFHP]

You may have trained for 3 years however you only have 12 months sea time so I am afraid you are just going to have to keep trying till a company is willing to take you on. The latest trend with tanker operators (Chevron/BP/Shell) is that you will go away as 4th Mate for at least 2 trips, they have identified that the cadetship isn't long enough in terms of sea time, the MCA might think that you are competent however companies want to make sure before letting you loose on cargo and navigation operations on their vessels, it is, after all their money.

In terms of your interview that you turned down it is always worth while to check what expenses they will give you, I have never been to an interview where I have to had to pay a penny, whether I accepted the job or not.

[JonathanI]

You may have trained for 3 years however you only have 12 months sea time so I am afraid you are just going to have to keep trying till a company is willing to take you on. The latest trend with tanker operators (Chevron/BP/Shell) is that you will go away as 4th Mate for at least 2 trips, they have identified that the cadetship isn't long enough in terms of sea time, the MCA might think that you are competent however companies want to make sure before letting you loose on cargo and navigation operations on their vessels, it is, after all their money.

In terms of your interview that you turned down it is always worth while to check what expenses they will give you, I have never been to an interview where I have to had to pay a penny, whether I accepted the job or not.

Yeh we had think a thing with zodiac basically it was just a longer handover time if you were a newly qualified officer. I don't mind doing that it's just I expected more from the job market right now !. The way the girl was speaking the me on the phone was just either take it or leave it no mention of any help with travel costs ! I don't mind travelling a bit for an interview just Glasgow to Dover with a days notice isn't really helpful !

[EH75]

Maybe your CV needs work? I got Hatchhorder to look at mine and he improved it significantly. He has since written an article about how to construct a decent one: http://www.officercadet.com/content....o-writing-a-CV

[JonathanI]

Maybe your CV needs work? I got Hatchhorder to look at mine and he improved it significantly. He has since written an article about how to construct a decent one: http://www.officercadet.com/content....o-writing-a-CV

Been told my cv is good by a few recruitment agencies as I thought this May have been the Issue. I am just putting it down too a bad market and hopefully I get something soon !!

[chris]

I would get on the phone to Clyde for any temp roles, also like them on facebook to see the jobs as they go live if you haven't already done this. The NLB use Clyde for short notice contracts.

[JonathanI]

I would get on the phone to Clyde for any temp roles, also like them on facebook to see the jobs as they go live if you haven't already done this. The NLB use Clyde for short notice contracts.

Already have buddy, check there website every day along with 20 other sites !.

[chris]

hang in there then, something is bound to turn up

[Blondie]

The RFA is recruiting, might be worth a shout.