Jobs for older seamen just starting out?

i’m 60 years old. don’t look it, don’t feel it, don’t act it. i know it seems a little late to be trying to become a seaman and work on tugs, but i need a career change, love being on the water and already live an alternative lifestyle.

wondering if my age is going to be a problem with getting documentation, and then actually getting into the union and getting hired???

No, as far as getting documentation is concerned, USCG does not discriminate in theory or in fact. Unions -I can’t say as I never joined. As far as companies discriminating, that’s difficult to say. Are you healthy and can you pass the physical? Companies may give you a strenuous physical challenge test (I recall carrying sandbags up a ladder and being strapped to a range of motion machine). They can’t legally discriminate based on age provided you meet their physical requirements. However, they will figure sub silentio how many years you could give them in return for the amount of training you will likely ask for and receive. It could be an intangible and unacknowledged hiring factor. Also a tug AB should probably be in good physical shape, just to survive, but there are fat people on tugs as well. I’m 58 but had my documents long ago. Best of luck.

I use to work for the State’s unemployment Insurance program. I was also involved in hiring workers when the economy took a down turn. Younger workers were more ambitious. Older workers were more reliable. Sort of like a turbo charged engine vs a naturally aspired engine.

Sorry to say however…we found that 50 was the cut off age a which point employers start to discriminate. I remember conversations with workers approaching 50 and those over 50. Those approaching 50 saw the writing on the wall and were desperate to find something before the big five oh.

By-the-way, it was standard procedure to not look to closely or ask to many questions concerning efforts to seek work of those of older workers. Those over 60 had their claims coded so that no one would ask for documentation of their work search.

So if a State agency admits to the knowledge of age discrimination by employers than you can bet it is real. Life’s a bitch…than you die.

Good news though, the older workers do find work in their field of interest. It just takes longer.

We had a party for a co-worker that just turn 65. He doesn’t look old. He doesn’t act old. He is our best worker. I can’t see why anyone would discriminate against him. But if he was out of work…State unemployment would flag his claim as an individual that would find it difficult to find work.

Now we do have an individual that is 85. Now she “IS” old and she jokes about working until the day she dies. But she is at work early every morning and she has saved up enough sick leave to take off for the next couple of years. Her secret to longevity…“I exercise and eat a good and hardy breakfast every morning”.

That’s what I call a Tangent. I must be getting old.