I’ve spent quite a bit of time on here reading about how hard it is to find work for new mariners. Do any of you know if joining a union would help with the job hunt? I qualify for AB special now based on my Coast Guard seatime but still have to finish my license. I’m currently stationed on shore and the ships don’t have time run me through drills so I’ll more than likely be attending a maritime training center. All in all I’ll drop about 3-4k to get everything I need but getting kind of discouraged about my job prospects after reading on here. Have any of you joined a union prior to actually working in the industry? If so, did it help you land work? I live in Hawaii and most of the merchants I’ve talked with are members of unions and give me very ambiguous to no direction on how they came about landing their jobs.
I’m sure there is someone on the base you can speak with about jobs after the USCG. To me that would be your best bet
SIU used to have some kind of fast track program for people who came out of the military. It might be a good short term option.
It is hard right now. You may also have a priority for state/ government jobs
I think the site is jobs.gov or something
You can go into the union hall and just ask how long it would take to ship. I’d probably be smarter to have all your paperwork in hand before you go in.
My first sea-going job after the USCG was NOAA. They had a veterans preference. I stayed there till I had enough time for my license. The pay is not the highest but it was not too demanding work. I had lots of time to study for the 3/mate exam.
I went to college on the VA bill after I got out but if I had to do it over I"d get my MMC first and made some money then gone to school.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;157737]You can go into the union hall and just ask how long it would take to ship. I’d probably be smarter to have all your paperwork in hand before you go in.
My first sea-going job after the USCG was NOAA. They had a veterans preference. I stayed there till I had enough time for my license. The pay is not the highest but it was not too demanding work. I had lots of time to study for the 3/mate exam.
I went to college on the VA bill after I got out but if I had to do it over I"d get my MMC first and made some money then gone to school.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I’m giving my GI Bill to my kids, so no going to college for me (already have a BS in IT). I will be retiring as an E7 possibly E8, so I guess I won’t be flat broke. I’m getting everything with my license done while I’m still on active duty and currently have a consultant helping me with all of that. He’s a retired REC employee and told me that Crowley and FOSS were some of the better outfits to try and start with but I keep reading on here about how they aren’t hiring anyone. I’ll look into NOAA and see if I can drop into Sailors of the Pacific office and ask them some questions. Thanks for replies.
[QUOTE=Ozuye;157762]Yeah I’m giving my GI Bill to my kids, so no going to college for me (already have a BS in IT). I will be retiring as an E7 possibly E8, so I guess I won’t be flat broke. I’m getting everything with my license done while I’m still on active duty and currently have a consultant helping me with all of that. He’s a retired REC employee and told me that Crowley and FOSS were some of the better outfits to try and start with but I keep reading on here about how they aren’t hiring anyone. I’ll look into NOAA and see if I can drop into Sailors of the Pacific office and ask them some questions. Thanks for replies.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes things are slow but unless the boats are tied up and the crews are sitting on the beach companies are always hiring. Right place right time.
The towing learning curve is a steep one.
There is a big cultural (if that’s the right word) difference between military and commercial In some cases a hawsepipe ex-coastie is starting out with two strikes against.
Don’t expect good customer service at the union hall. Unless they need bodies a guy waking in off the street is not a customer, he’s a problem to be gotten rid off asap.