Why take cadets

[HolyNougat]

I'm going to try and convince my company to offer a cadet place, but need a list of reasons why they should do it. Anyone got any good ideas?

[Clanky]

The opportunity to have a junior officer who is trained in the company ways, systems and ethos.

The opportunity to sit at the top table in the industry as a training company.

The chance to simply do some good.

[YoungMariner]

Good PR for the company.

Loyalty - People trained and mentored through a company who value them will be very loyal to the company

Cost Effective Experience - Much of the cost during training is taken by the government, so at the end with a properly trained qualified officer you have someone with experience in company operations. Cheaper then taking a newly qualified officer without company operational experience.

Fresh Young Ideas - Not sure what the average age of personnel are with your company, but you have fresh experience ideas from people with a different outlook on life.

[Midge]

You could point out that the company could be very selective and if they offered a position at the end of a cadet ship especially a deck one, it would be very attractive considering how difficult it is for some to get that first job.

What kind of company is it? Just thinking if its one of the difficult ones to get into without the right experience as a cadet even more prestige perhaps?

As other have said improves the company image, those officers training have a good reason to do it well as it would be one of their own.

A chance for the company to have some up to date new ideas coming through, but still having the ability to shape someone how they want, rather than spending officers and crew time and money and resources training someone only for another company to benefit?

The cadet they take on will want to be on their ship, will have chosen that company not just put there because there is a space.

Drawbacks - you might get some fallout, being at sea might not suit the cadet, if the selection process is rigorous enough you should be able to exclude any that can't manage the academics, those that are willing to make a real effort, but might be hard to discover those that find a career at sea is not for them.

However, perhaps by getting prospective cadets some work experience they might find those before spending too much money, or find someone they really like and want to train?
Just because a lot of the companies that train just interview doesn't mean they couldn't do it differently.

How many times on the forum do we see and most likely the young ones, questions about interviews, about companies which have been asked time and time again, they do not always take time to research properly.
Maybe because schools lead and hand them information that they do not know how to 'find' information for themselves, quite sad as they are the info tech generation, but they will need those skills at college.
My view of a seafarers skill set and attributes is someone, who can think for themselves when something unexpected happens, who is a team player, and a leader or has strong potential, an ability to get along with other people. Someone who will respect authority, and follow rules and guidelines. A fairly independent character. Flexibility, not a jobs worth type.

I can't see an abrasive rule breaker doing too well at sea.

[Clanky]

You will have someone at a nautical college talking about the company so that when it comes to recruiting junior officers people will know the name and may even be sending cv's without the need to advertise or to pay agency fees.

[HolyNougat]

Thanks everyone - excuse my ignorance here - we are a smallish US based company - I would think the best bet would be get involved with one of the training companies like Clyde etc. I wonder what the actual costs would be for the company? anyone have any ideas? - do the UK government still provide funding for companies not registered in the UK?

[Midge]

Thanks everyone - excuse my ignorance here - we are a smallish US based company - I would think the best bet would be get involved with one of the training companies like Clyde etc. I wonder what the actual costs would be for the company? anyone have any ideas? - do the UK government still provide funding for companies not registered in the UK?

Took a bit of hunting around but MGN 455 has some answers and at least who to contact, think being US might be a problem though. But then again where companies are 'actually / really' registered can be complicated. Not quite sure how they define a training provider, if that just means the likes of Clyde SSTG Chiltern or those and the big comps like Maersk and BP perhaps one of the big companies who train can help with that one, MCA speak I find a bit hard to follow!

See Para 13.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mgn455.pdf

This explains the background to it and has links which might be useful.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga07-home/workingatsea/mcga-trainingandcert/mcga-careersatsea/dms-stc-smart.htm

Ahh just spotted in MIN 470 http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/min470.pdf

"On the 9th September 2013 the Transport Secretary, Mr Patrick McLoughlin, announcedthat the SMarT budget, over the Spending Review period to the end of 2015/16, would
receive an increase of up to ?3m a year, in recognition of the importance of sustaining the
UK’s skills base for this important sector."

2. Additional Funding
2.1 The increase in funds will primarily be used to support the training of additional Officer
Trainees through SMarT 1.
2.2 The current restrictions within Marine Guidance Note 455 (M) Paragraphs 13.1 to 13.4
have been removed during the Spending Review period.
2.3 New companies who meet the eligibility criteria1 and have new and eligible Officer
Trainees2 may apply to join the SMarT Scheme with immediate effect.
1 Training Provider eligibility criteria as stated in Paragraph 13.5 of Marine Guidance Note (MGN) 455 (M). 2 Trainee eligibility criteria as stated in Paragraph 8.1 of MGN 455 (M).

[HolyNougat]

Thanks - will have to look at this in more detail I think!

[newbie]

It may be a good idea to convince your employer to initially offer the opportunity of seatime to a couple of UK Cadets. Cadets under sponsorship with Trinity House (Chiltern) or with the MEF would be ideal (minimal cost to your employer), and they would certainly be interested in the berths.

As an introduction to the benefits of having trainee officers onboard it could be ideal without asking them for the financial commitment without potentially seeing the benefits of doing so.

Drop me a message if you want any contact details.

[size4riggerboots]

As an ex Trinity House cadet I would say newbie's suggestion is an excellent one.

Plus as I am thinking of mooting the same question to my company, my thanks to HolyNougat for this very useful thread

[HolyNougat]

Yes - actually I think Newbie has hit the nail on the head there, that is basically what I wanted to do!

[alistairuk]

Thanks everyone - excuse my ignorance here - we are a smallish US based company - I would think the best bet would be get involved with one of the training companies like Clyde etc. I wonder what the actual costs would be for the company? anyone have any ideas? - do the UK government still provide funding for companies not registered in the UK?

You could try contacting one of the Clyde / SSTG agencies and indicate you have a cadet berth available for x months, do they have anyone to fill it which can be used as a trial and hopefully it's successful, persuade company that way. Could probably do it for purely the cost of a flight / board onboard.