Mistakes Made by Seafarers While Searching for Maritime Jobs
Present Scenario
We are all well aware of the present scenario of jobs in the Maritime industry. Due to the pandemic, there has been a huge recession in the shipping industry globally. Ships are not being allowed to dock at the ports of several nations and due to this several mariners are unable to join ships and many others not able to leave their duties. Over the last few years, the maritime industry has been flooded with fresh recruits and officers in training i.e., the supply is more but the demand is less.
Common Mistakes Made by a Seafarer
A person has already made a mistake if they do not have a job after finishing their maritime course. This often happens because of the following three reasons-
1. Lack of knowledge- People who do not know much about the merchant navy easily fall into the traps of fraud agents or fraud training institutes. There’s a lot of false information out there about the merchant navy on various unreliable websites which should never be trusted.
2. Lack of skill- Most people lose hope when they score less in their intermediate. They lose their self-confidence, and are unable to determine their next step. Also, due to lack of proper guidance they are not able to develop their skills.
3. Silly mistakes- Out of frustration and desperation, seafarers at times take some wrong stepswhich end up ruining their careers.
Some silly mistakes often made by seafarers which should always be avoided :-
1. Fraud Maritime Training Institutes (MTI)- Many non-authorized Maritime Training Institutes (MTIs) have beenset-up recently.They gather students, luring them with false hopes and ultimately destroying their careers. They demand a huge amount of money with no assurance of job security or a career in other lines of work. Therefore, the ones who are fooled, at a point in their life find themselves in a situation where they belong nowhere.So to prevent such disasters in life we must keep a few points in mind before joining any MTI:
The most important step is to check whether the MTI is affiliated by the Indian Maritime University. Also check if the procedure for admission is approved by theofficial regulatorslike D.G Shipping and AICTE. Click here to know more about government regulators.
● Courses should be properly checked.
● Check the background of the MTI. Gather as much information as possible by consulting present students or ex-students, or by searching on popular educational websites.
● Check the placement scenario of the institute as fraud MTIs hide their placement data.
● Try to stay away from new and skeptical institutes.
Click here to know more about IMU
2. Fraud shipping agents- Nowadays the market is flooded with various scam agents. Fraud agents are available in every field. Since the new joiners have very little knowledge about the maritime industry, they easily fall for the traps set by agents. It becomes very easy for agents to manipulate the aspiring seafarers by making fake promises to them.They’ll try to extract huge sums of money from you by showing fake statistics of the previous students that associated with them or by telling you’ll be making many times more in return.
A few points to be kept in mind before consulting any shipping agent are-
● The license of the agent should be legitimate and up-to-date.
● They should have a proper official email (example: contact@company) and a functional website.
● There should not be any monetary demand, as per the guidelines of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006.
● Every authentic shipping agency posts its details or vacancies on its official website or on LinkedIn. Do not trust any other sources other than this. Click here to know more about famous shipping agents
3. Searching on deceptive maritime websites-The internet is so vast that it’s very difficult to find legitimate sites to search for maritime related information. There are many sites available to find jobs but not all of them are legitimate. Most of the sites are just clickbait. Thus many mariners end up wasting their precious time on these useless websites.
Here are some points to remember while surfing the web :
● Check whether the job postings on the websites belong to your own country.
● Check the frequency of their posts, how often do they post new updates?
● Thoroughly check whether the companies providing jobs are legitimate or not.
● You should never mention your details on the website until and unless it’s completely official and legitimate.
4. Lack of dedication- Most of the seafarers don’t dedicate the required amount of time needed for job searching. They don’t do proper research and randomly search for all the terms related to maritime jobs. It is essential to avoid being distracted by social media like Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. and strive towards the main objective while not losing focus. Seafarers should never give up and look for different approaches to search for maritime jobs.
5. Using the same means and resources- It’s common for a normal person to visit the same websites, search engines, and resources every day. But, this repetitive routine while researching is sure to make a person fed up. If a person is serious and determined to find a job in this line of work, then he/she should start looking for new ways of finding jobs. They should make amends to their researching methods and explore the new horizons of the web. They should explore new tools and search engines for their job search. It’s very important to think ‘out of the box’ in this line of work and form new strategies to find jobs.
Steps to Avoid Mistakes
1. Search on good websites- Seafarers are required to search on authentic websites like seajob.net or jobships.com to avoid any kind of false news and fraud.
2. Don’t give up- Being a seafarer, it is crucial to never give up or lose confidence or else it’ll become very difficult to survive in this line of work. They must completely dedicate themselves to searching jobs. For example- Focus on one company for 45 days rather than focusing on 45 companies in a day.
3. Proper resumes or cover letter- Most seafarers have a tendency to ignore the importance of a proper resume or cover letter. They have a common perception that shipping companies don’t give much heed to resumes while selecting a candidate. Meanwhile, a resume is the first thing that any company looks for when searching for a new candidate. So to make sure that your resume catches the attention of the recruiter, it’s very important to write it with precision while using a proper format.
Click here to learn more about resumes or cover letter
4. Social media- It is suggested to join various social media platforms to gain more knowledge about maritime jobs. For example, LinkedIn is a platform where you can get a huge amount of information regarding the maritime industry. Join groups like ‘pathstream’, etc. on LinkedIn. Also try to get in touch with alumni or marine influencers online, in order to achieve your aim.
5. Approach companies- Always try to approach the companies. No matter what, upload as many resumes as possible at different legitimate companies and always be in regular contact.
6. Improve your skillset- Keep working on your skills and try to improve them so that even if there’s the slightest chance of getting a job, you do not miss it.
Conclusion:
In this era of urbanization and modernization, time is very crucial. Therefore, we need to avoid mistakes while searching for maritime jobs. Every seafarer must always keep in mind the above-mentioned points to avoid any blunders. In this way, they can emphasize more on preparing for the future.
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It really helped me a lot about jobs scenario in shipping industries. Thanks for this wonderful blog .
Really glad! Your welcome 🙂
Thank you Sir, for the helpfull
Information 🙏🙏.