Sea transportation is a vital factor to any economy in the world, as it accounts for more than 80% of goods transported globally – and that means plenty maritime job interviews to be had.

For some who work at sea, it can be quite challenging – it is hard work and you can be away from your family and friends for up to months at a time – for others, it is a dream come true; full of excitement, adventure and an attractive paycheck. Regardless of these mixed opinions (or because of them), the maritime sector sees its fair share of aspirants with thousands of people vying for positions every year.

Luckily, there are thousands of job openings for sailors to be found on job sites like NWMA, which means that there is certainly a vacancy that would suit your qualifications and expectations. Therefore, if you want to secure that all important job interview, we would advise you to consider our tips and instructions below, as they will surely come in handy while applying for any maritime vacancy. Whether it is for the position of Captains, Engineers, Deckhands, Able Seamen, Ordinary Seamen, and others, SailNord.com is dedicated to sailors, with a vision of becoming the sailors’ preferred job site; we are entirely committed to helping you get that job.

Secure A Maritime Job Interview

Find the right niche

The first step towards your maritime career is knowing which niche suits your career goals and passions the best (as this article shows, a maritime job in Fisheries differs a lot from Offshore and Transportation). Knowing your true passion will help you stay motivated  in case you don’t get a job instantly, and will automatically make you want to gain  more knowledge about the job in question.

While any career path can be challenging, a maritime career can be especially challenging, with long trips away from family and friends. However, when you know what you’re getting into and love what you’re doing, you will see the bigger picture and thrive in these circumstances!

Research

Once you know which career path you want to pursue, do your research! Read about the assignments you can expect at sea, the courses you’ll have to take and the opportunities you’ll get. Talk to people who have taken the same path (there are online forums for all career paths), read books, learn the ‘maritime jargon‘ and so on. This will make it much easier to stand out from the other applicants and show real interest in the field, when writing your cover letters!

Write a good cover letter

When you have found the niche that suits your passion and the career path that appeals to you the most, the next thing to do is writing a good cover letter. If you are applying to various companies, make sure to adapt the letter to the individual company, culture, positionss etc. To an extent, every cover letter must be unique – good cover letters are not ‘one-size-fits-all’.

How To Secure A Maritime Job Interview

A good cover letter does one thing; gets you that all important maritime job interview! You can think of it as a sales letter – capture the reader’s attention with a good headline, a short description of the product (you) and what it (your skills) has to offer the company and the motivation behind the application.

Finally, you end with a ‘call to action‘, which makes it clear how the company can reach you and when you are available for further communication.

Persistent but patient

When applying for a job at sea, as well as anywhere else, it is important to have a positive mindset about the whole process. Some companies may reply within days, others may reply in a within weeks, while others might not reply at all. It varies from company to company, so don’t let it get you down. If you are feeling unsure, it’s totally acceptable to contact the company, just to ‘touch base’ and see how the process is going and if you are being considered for the position. BUT, only do this once and only after the deadline has passed.

If eventually you are not offered the position you applied for, keep going. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not good enough for the job. It just means that someone else was a better fit. Luckily, there are new job openings to apply for every day!

Use SailNord.com regularly

At SailNord.com, we collect job listings for sailors and we get new job listings several times a day, everyday! The jobs are in all maritime sectors and every level of the hierarchy, so it would be a good idea to check our website regularly, if not daily!

Should you not have time to check The Northwest Maritime Academy & SailNord.com on a regular basis, you could sign up to our monthly newsletter, It’s a short email.

Bonus Tips:

At SailNord.com we like to under-promise and over-deliver, so here are two bonus tips, for applying for a job at sea.

1. Working at sea is considered to be one of the most dangerous careers in the world! Therefore, every sailor needs to complete some mandatory safety courses, as well as multiple other courses related to each sector. If you have already completed these courses, when applying for a maritime job, you are automatically ahead of some of your competitors!

One of these mandatory courses is the STCW and we would advice you to at least get familiar with it. You can read about the STCW courses here.

2. Your potential employers are not only interested in your qualifications and/or work experience; they also want to know who you are as a person and what it is like to have you as an employee. While they could simply ask you in person, they know you are unlikely to mention weaknesses that could potentially cost you the job. Therefore they would ask you for references instead.

Everyone can find at least one reference (former employees, teachers, friends etc) but not all references are equal. When applying for a position, always consider if you know someone who already works for that company – insider references are always the strongest!
Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to have a reference within the company they are applying to. When that is the case, try to get a reference from someone in the same niche or at least in the same industry. And always consider the rank of your reference!

In the next article, we have made a short guide on ‘How To Create a Maritime CV‘, which is critical to every job application, so keep reading and good luck with your job applications!

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