Jeffrey Patrick Hendren
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So you want to work on a cruise ship

5/29/2018

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I often get questions via social media looking for advice on getting a cruise ship job.  I noticed that once my job title changed from “Learning & Development” to “Human Resources” I started to get a lot more messages related to advice on how to land that cruise line job. 

The main advice I have is that everything is done online these days.  Especially for the larger brands in the industry there is nobody to call, you have to start the process online with the companies website.  All major cruise brands have a careers tab on their main website.  Start there and research what job you might be interested in.  Make sure to pay close attention to the hiring requirements, as many positions require a minimum required amount of education or experience.  

Depending on the country you are from, you may be redirected to apply through a hiring partner/agency.  Large cruise lines employ crew members from over 80 different nations and the only way to handle that many applications is to contract out the initial recruitment to hiring agents in the local country.  Most cruise line websites will direct you to the local hiring partner if in fact your country is using one.  Be sure to follow up with them and they will carry out your recruitment process from there.

When I was in the hiring process I did as much research as I could about shiplife.  I highly encourage anybody considering a life at sea to do the same.  There are dozens of videos on YouTube and many blogs and articles from crew members that can paint a picture for you.  At the same time, take everything with a grain of salt, some of the videos and articles may be from disgruntled employees,  seek out the content that talks about life at sea. 
The process can be long, you will need to find some patience as you can go weeks without hearing any updates.  Just keep calm and wait.  In other cases things might move quickly, especially if there is a significant need for your position. 

Have some cash ready.  During the recruitment phase if offered a position you may have to secure several foreign Visas, most especially a US C1/D Visa or an EU Schengen Visa.  Also, you will have to complete a pre-employment medical exam which varies greatly from one country to the next.  For example in the United States and Canada the price can range from $600-$900 and an approved medical is valid for 2 years for most positions, licensed marine officers are required to renew on a more frequent basis. 

When you get to the interview phase it is important to make a good impression.  You do this by ensuring you research the company, the role and know what it is all about.  There is everything you need to know available to you online, google, YouTube and even instagram can help you with your knowledge. 

Good luck!
​

Jeff

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Behind the scenes on a cruise ship

5/25/2018

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What is my job really like? check out my recent interview below with @cruisebe 

https://www.cruisebe.com/life-on-a-cruise-ship-for-the-crew-human-resources-manager
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How can social media effect your brand?

5/25/2018

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I have written before on social media use, misuse and abuse, targeted more as a tool kit for HR Managers.  I also have written about personal brands “what is your brand”.  The other day something very interesting happened to me.  I was scrolling my facebook feed as most of us do and I came across a meme that jumped out at me (posted below).  I was instantly horrified and sad at the same time, it’s 2018 for crying out loud and considering the massive wave of gun violence in the United States I found it very distasteful.

Then I saw who posted it.  A comedian, jokester, YouTube star that I had followed since his career first started, In all his videos and posts he has always stayed away from politics, religion, etc.  I always looked up to him for that and thought being a younger guy he would be for equality and inclusion.  I posted a comment on the thread basically sharing my upset and disappointment, then I read the hundreds of comments.  There were a small few bigoted comments in support of the meme and post but there were many dozens and dozens that clearly felt the same way I did, many with the comment “unfollowing you”.

Lance is a very popular YouTuber and I never expected him to reply to my comment and I was still so dumbfounded that someone would post something so mean.  I took to twitter, Lance has over 826,000 followers there, mine is measly but the power of social media can be amazing.  I shared the meme, tagged Lance in it and spoke out about how bigoted and hateful this was and that there are children all around the world that kill themselves because they aren’t accepted for who they are. 

Lance responded.  He immediately apologized and shared with me something that I had already assumed.  Lance is his own business and social media is his platform so he does have staffers that help to manage his various social media platforms, one of them had decided to re-share the meme from another site and Lance had no idea it was even posted.  Lance immediately regained my respect as a fan of his, he was so upset about it and assured me this was nowhere close to his outlook or opinion.

This was an interesting lesson though and Lance and I had a back and fourth text discussion about it.  He “is” his own brand as @Lance210, in his face on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.  The general public has no idea if it is him posting, or someone doing it for him, with an impressive 11.3 million facebook followers he has earned a lot of fans, this is his income.  Social media gurus make money from many of these platforms it is literally their careers.  The lesson here is that even ONE tweet, post, pic or meme can tarnish your brand, badly.  How many hundreds or even thousands of fans unfollowed Lance that day?  

Some fans were so outraged they reported the post to facebook internal security as an inappropriate post.  Imagine the impact if his page had been shut down by facebook? You just lost the ability to communicate to your 11.3 million fans who are your customers and who you rely on for your well being.

In this day and age, it does not matter if your brand is just about you, a small company or a large corporation with thousands of employees.  One single post to social media can damage that brand, very quickly.  Lance managed it very well, reacted immediately, apologized and investigated how it all happened in the first place.  If I am one of his customers then he did the absolute right thing and went into customer recovery mode, I am an even more eager fan than I was before. 

So where do we go from here? Education, Education, Education and ensuring that we closely monitor what we are posting ourselves and what others might be posting on our behalf.  I always ask myself before I post anything “would my mother be proud of me for posting this?” If I cannot give an emphatic YES, then I don’t post it.  If you are a blogger and you have help managing your social media image make sure they know your moral code and brand standard.  

Let me know what you think, feel free to comment below.

Practice Safe Social Media,

Jeff

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Like I said, Lance is actually a cool funny guy.  Check out one of his recent prank videos here.  You can follow him as @Lance210 or Lance Stewart. 
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So you want to work on a cruise ship? - My experience

5/15/2018

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I have two things to say, #1 I never thought I would end up working in human resources and, #2 I never thought I would end up with a career based at sea.  Human Resources was vilified and made to seem scary when I was in high school and my family business was a yachting and marine service company.  I thought HR was scary and the inner rebel in me automatically avoided the family business. 

I am not sad that my life has taken several personal and professional diversions over time.  But, I know that HR is not scary and evil and I also know that my heart belongs to the ocean.  It may have taken a few years but I am happy and proud to say I am “back in the family business”. 

How did I get here? Well, that is actually a funny story, at least to me.  I have a close friend that for years has fantasised about working on cruise ships and after both of us were in a bit of an emotional slump career wise I finally said “ok, thats it! I am coming over on Sunday with food and we are going to apply to the cruise lines”.

Sunday happened and with our laptops out, resumes and cover letters updated we applied to a couple of our favourite companies.  We were both in the same role in another industry and ended up applying for the same role which was in Training & Development.

Monday morning… We BOTH received responses from our most preferred company asking to complete online personality testing.  We did that right away and both passed.  The next steps were phone/skype interviews with the recruitment professional before we would progress to the direct hiring manager.  We did our interviews on the same day, mine in the morning and his in the afternoon. 

Success! we both passed the screening process to this point.  The next step was to do a teach back (facilitate a mini training session) via Skype.  Not an easy task over Skype at the time! I had to use several devices to ensure I had all my bases covered.  Skip to a couple days later and I had passed the interview, my friend, had not… I was devastated for my friend because really, this was their idea. 

Once you pass the interview process you have to complete intense background checks and a very thorough medical exam.  Some of this is out of your own pocket and the medical exam, at least in Canada was about $800.  I was then offered a start date! after some back and fourth and trepidation on my part I left my office job for the last time in March 2015 and have not looked back since.  I love my life at sea and yes, it is a lot of work to get here.  I think it is worth it and is the most rewarding work I have ever had the pleasure to do. 

If you feel like getting your feet wet… join me!  I will follow up with another article more specific to job hunting for careers at sea. In the meantime, just check out all the various websites and or speak to your local hiring partner. 

May the winds be in your favour, 

Jeff



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