Everyday, dozens of Facebook groups and Seaman Job Hiring websites flood plenty of vacant jobs. However, not all vacancies are fulfilled due to some reasons. It makes you wonder, there are thousands seafarers roaming around Luneta, Kalaw or Pier areas in Cebu or Davao at any given time but still can’t fill the qualifications from the employers.
And think of this, every year, the Philippines produces around 20,000-30,000 new maritime graduates. These cadets are bound to seek employment for their apprenticeship. However, with the same fate with the ones before them, only a few are accepted.
In addition, some regular plying crew wants out from their current employer. Thus, adding to the unemployed seafarer. If you add this up, this number is enormous right? So how come some spots in seaman job hiring posts not filled?
A painful truth…
When an applicant is being rejected not once, but multiple times in his journey to land that seaman job hiring spot.
Nevertheless, one should persevere and keep going. But sometimes, what we have might not be enough. There’s more to what we have that we need to have. What are they? Take a look:
An infographic on the things that you need to have to increase your chances of being hired.
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These five things are probably the real deal to increase your chances of employment. Never drop being healthy, being competitive and up to date documents for these are the one of the basic requirement to have.
As you would go along, build a presence online by applying trough online platforms, email and in social media sites of shipping agencies. Transacting online for your employment can save you time, money and effort compared to a traditional application.
Different kinds of stories and struggles our seafarers faces when applying in shipping agencies. Its a different era nowadays as to what our predecessors experienced. It is not an easy, joyful life anymore with golden stories of riches and fame. It is all but a golden memory to all of us.
The reality is, today, nothing comes easy. To get to the top, one must start at the bottom. But seeking employment these days came way below the bottom. Sometimes, one will need a bit of luck and stroke of destiny on his side to finally get a job onboard.