I want to become a deck officer at a ship, with my end goal being a master, and Chevron is definitely a company that stands out. I’ve been researching and I found out about their cadetship program. Where can I apply for the program? I’m on the website and I really can’t find anything.
Secondary questions:
Would I need to go to a maritime school first after high school, or can I just apply to their program?
Will the cadetship program help me become a third mate and get me on the road to other positions like second mate, etc?
Usually the cadet shipping programs are set up as a graduation requirement for US maritime academies, and are arranged through the career services department of your school. So you would need to finish a certain amount of course credits before you could join as a cadet.
In other countries it may work differently, sometimes the company will sponsor a cadet trainee and hire them on direct after graduation. This is not normally the case in the states though.
I actually have a similar question like this. I too want to be working for Chevron. I may be going to SUNY Maritime for my education to get there, does SUNY Maritime have anything that could help me get to Chevron?
Ah. Is this because Cal Maritime has a program or something that can get you to Chevron or is it just that most Chevron crew come from the West Coast compared to the East Coast?
You should probably contact Chevron directly. It appears to be a program on its foreign flag vessels, and does not lead to U.S. issued mariner credentials. I do not think this program is approved by the U.S. Coast Guard.
It appears to follow an apprenticeship model with Chevron providing the training and placement of cadets on their ships. While common elsewhere, the U.S. generally does not use this model. In the U.S. mariners qualify for the credentials either by attending a maritime school such as the 7 maritime academies, or by the “hawsepipe.” In a hawsepipe progression, mariners do not serve as a trainee/cadet, they work as a regular member of the vessel’s crew. They obtain the required training on their own time, and often at their own expense.
Chevron opens up the application for cadet on their main careers website. I assume you have to apply on their website and then coordinate with the school. I’ve only seen former cadets of Chevron, Polar, and ATC get hired as new graduates. Chevron shipping’s crewing is run out of California, and Cal Maritime probably has a relationship with them that other schools don’t have.