jobs after graduation

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silver1streak1

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Hi everyone, I've been interested in attending Kings Point since I was a 9th grader. My cousin will be graduating from Cal Maritime in April, '08. She said a lot of past classmates are having a hard time finding sailing jobs. Is this true for everyone? I would appreciate any information. Thanks
 
According to what I’m hearing of late, third mates and third engineers are in high demand with oil companies right now. These companies like to recruit from the maritime schools & KP and often hold recruiting events. At KP in the Spring of each year, maritime big names set up their tents with information to attract the soon to graduate. Maritime jobs rotate through the union halls due to some of the non-permanent positions. Many KP grads start there and stay with the unions for their entire careers. Many move on to become leaders in the corporate world, world-wide security companies, politics, heck, even doctors!

Some shipping companies require extra certification beyond the license obtained at graduation so this sets back a few people while they seek those certifications in order to work for those companies. As with any industry, times slow & other times go like gang-busters. Most likely anyone currently seeking a maritime job today can find something. May not be the 100K glamour job they thought they would get as a new grad, but there are jobs to be had out there with some unearthing.

As to a KP grad finding a job, most seem to make a lot of connections while out on Sea Year & have a great understanding of what’s out there after graduation. It may take longer for some in finding where they belong. KP gives the tools needed to do this though. MSC is one route that looked really good to my son after sailing aboard the USNS Comfort & they’d told him that he’d have a job the day after he graduated & they even gave him contact information. He was pretty pumped about it. But at the end of the day, he’s staying true to his goal to serve as a Coast Guard Officer.

Good luck to you with your future & if you end up at KP, don’t worry. Be happy. You will find a good job. Perhaps when KP2001 gets some time, he can add his 2 cents. :smile:
 
I haven't heard any grumblings from recent grads or any of my classmates (now 7yrs out) as to difficulty finding sailing jobs if they want one. There have been some people who maybe wanted to sail with the more difficult of the unions to get jobs with and had some initial difficulties, but I think most people who want to sail are able to find the jobs. The best way to set yourself up for a job sailing after graduation is to get all the extra qualifications you can get while at school. This includes getting your Tankerman PIC (allows you to sail on Oil Tankers) and I think there is now a way to get your LNG qual's to allow you to sail on natural gas tankers as well. Overall the best thing to do is to not close any doors while at school.
 
I know of a KP young lady who has just passed the QMED & has 5 job interviews coming up. She's pretty awesome. The Jamz took advantage of gaining some of that extra certification as well. He obtained his Tankerman PIC while aboard a MSC oiler. As KP2001 says, you never want to close a door of opportunity to give you more choices later down the road. Plus, your resume will kick butt! :D
 
Those are some pretty intense seas in that video. Real fun stuff when you're trying to get a shower.

Video never reflects the true size of the seas though, which is a little disappointing when you're trying to show everyone how rough it was. The messy bridge helped though.
 
LITS, a question that is sorta kinda off topic but does relate to all ships & crews working out there:

When watching the entire 7 minutes of the video, I heard one of the Mates say that those swells were nothing like he'd ever experienced in the Pacific. Perhaps he was new at the job with not much sailing time or it really doesn't occur all that often out there. Have you heard of these incidents happening much out there? Son was often in 20 to 30 ft. swells in Latin America so I guess I'm just wondering.
 
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OUCHIE! Really does look like someone put them in a giant dryer & gave them a permanent press cycle. :biggrin: Surely it was some kind of pop-up giant swell/storm. Those guys are pretty awesome at sailing around the rough weather so I would imagine those guys felt like Dorothy leaving Kansas meeting the Wicked Witch along the way. Wahoo what a ride they took.

Many thanks for the links. That KP Cadet aboard will probably remember his journey when he's pushing 100 years old.
 
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