As the title say there is a job fair in NOLA this coming Thursday. The ad says they are hiring all positions and I’m looking to ‘restart’ my career as an OS… Big question is, good idea or should I keep digging around the oilpatch? I trust your views.(well, most of em)
A wise man once said that if your phone isn’t ringing off the hook, take the job. At MSC you will have excellent benefits and will get a boatload of seatime to upgrade your credentials.
yea i been down the msc road though, took 4 months to go though the process just for them to tell me some ass ran up some debt in my name…figured they would of run a creidt check earlier than waste my/others time and taxpayer dollars puttin me up in norfolk. as for the seatime yes you will have a buttload of it, i know a bosun at UMG and he said he would quit the maritime feild before going back to msc( out of 2 years was only home 60 days). personally looking back on it im glad it backfired on me a bit, from my experience in Norfolk they are way anal like all gov’t agencies. but then again as seadog said if its the only game in town…have at it and good luck! but im cushy where im at now, i got lucky and got a unlimted ship so nothing has changed really
[QUOTE=suburbredneck;75592]yea i been down the msc road though, took 4 months to go though the process just for them to tell me some ass ran up some debt in my name…figured they would of run a creidt check earlier than waste my/others time and taxpayer dollars puttin me up in norfolk. as for the seatime yes you will have a buttload of it, i know a bosun at UMG and he said he would quit the maritime feild before going back to msc( out of 2 years was only home 60 days). personally looking back on it im glad it backfired on me a bit, from my experience in Norfolk they are way anal like all gov’t agencies. but then again as seadog said if its the only game in town…have at it and good luck! but im cushy where im at now, i got lucky and got a unlimted ship so nothing has changed really[/QUOTE]
So may I ask how bad the debt thing was that disqualified you? My credit is in bad shape right now, just from the last 6 months of being unable to make payments. That’s why I need the paycheck so I can start fixing that mess.
You cannot get the required security clearance with bad credit. Also you can lose the job after you are hired because of bad credit. MSC hired a guy I know after he disclosed his credit problems, but later suddenly took him off the a ship in the Persian Gulf and sent him home because of it. I don’t think MSC has any control over the security clearances; its some other government agency that controls that.
I don’t know how bad someone’s credit has to be before they are considered a security risk.
well from what i remember( all this was a year ago) ANY credit cards/debts(including medical) u have that are NOT showing good intent and actively being paid off you will have just wasted a good chunk of time, best to call them and inquire! short of u having TONS of debt all i think they care is that they are in process of being paid off! if u go up there and they catch ya with bad debt they will give u 3 options IF you tell them before u go to the security board( if u tell them afterwards i think ur pretty much screwed)
- resign on ur own accord and come back later (this one i took)
- get fired by them and kiss ass later to come back
- go before the security board and get denied clearance, and crawl ur way back up a mile high straight vertical mountain of bullsh!t and pray to god they let u back cuz generally this option is the end of ur chances with the federal gonvernment altogether
best advice if u want msc so bad fix ur credit, and come back when ur squeaky clean, if not start pounding on doors lookin for work!
[B]Related Post: http://gcaptain.com/forum/maritime-employment/5188-military-sealift-command.html[/B]
sorry to sit here and rain sh!t all over ya but these people are not playing around…hell i screwed up on a dependent form with a simple mis-spell and had to redo it and go around and bug people to sign as a witness! they want i’s dotted and t’s crossed
[QUOTE=suburbredneck;75592]i know a bosun at UMG and he said he would quit the maritime feild before going back to msc( out of 2 years was only home 60 days). [/QUOTE]
From what I understand of working with MSC, you can pretty much stay with the ship as long as you want. There’s no requirement for time off, but you can take it of course and you accrue paid “vacation” time while at sea.
So… that being said, there are a number of people out there who literally live on these ships by personal choice so that they can make more money.
I have never worked for MSC, but I have a few friends who are working for them and they seem pretty happy with it. I mean, how many other ships get to refuel an entire Navy battlegroup? That’s a pretty cool thing to see if you’ve never seen it…
The Job Fairs are informational only. They do not hire and the recruiters know very little to nothing about upcoming job openings. You will be given informational mailers to compete and turn in. If you complete the mailer for an OS (at the moment) they will send you a letter indicating that there are no openings. You’ll get far more information by visiting their website on your own. http://www.sealiftcommand.com/resources/now-hiring
You can complete the same informational document on line……which will be followed by a letter indicating that there are no openings for an OS. I hope that didn’t sound sarcastic because it wasn’t meant to be.
You may be eligible for their OS apprenticeship program which the recruiters know little about. The apprenticeship program requires prior experience. The last eligibility (selected candidates) list for the apprenticeship program just came out last month and I don’t know when the next one will appear. The apprenticeship program is not advertised on their job opening page. You can find it on their internal site once the program opens again. http://www.msc.navy.mil/
Maybe in another six months….or more. I don’t know. I know nothing. I should be an MSC recruiter. Just kidding. No really!
As far as the Job Fair, it is geared more towards the Job Services / Workforce Investment Act folks. The State Job Service programs are paid for each participate that shows up and signs up for the program. This is how your local Job Service Agencies get their Federal Funding. You have to sign up before the Fair and they don’t care who attends….and they know that with the exception of Supply Utilities, all MSC jobs require prior experience. They don’t care because their funding is more important than the inconvenience of the overwhelming number of participates that will not / do not qualify. It’s a budgetary numbers funding game (pet peeve against misguided and wasteful State Services and taxes …maybe?).
The best thing you can do right now is to utilize your “Job Fair” time and money in getting all your docs updated and back in order (MMD, TWIC, Passport, BST, RFPNW, etc.). Which is ironically is what they will tell you at the Job Fair anyway.
A lot of people leave those workshops / MSC Job Fairs thinking that they will be working for MSC within the next couple of months. They have no documents, no experience and no clue. And that is the fault of the State’s Job Service network, not MSC.
nah good buddy on both counts…he was " forced" to remain as in no replacement for ya you can get off but a whole heap of crap will come ur way, and last year when i was in Norfolk i was talking to a baker who said that they were getting rid of the home-steaders(term limits i guess) and if i recall correctly the east/west coast division and using both in a central pool( still though poolin in San Diego and Norfolk), dunno heard horror over manning issues but when i get there i see 40ish mariners on uncle sams tab in a double tree hilton waiting in the pool for weeks sometimes waiting to get called in???dunno??? still kinda glad it backfired on me… hell my first hitch(UMG) i saw the giza pyraimds,egypt,sudan,las palmas(canary islands) sri lanka. sailed the north and south alantic,red sea, indian ocean,gom,cape of good hope and earned a shellback! i aint knockin it making more by triple here than i did at the airport slinging luggage, just gotta stick with it and jump on the first boat u can…nice feild of work i will be staying here a while!
Thanks Xavier, I had suspicions that it was too good to be true…since the ad said ‘hiring all positions’. You go on the website and they’re NOT hiring OS and state they are ONLY taking apps for open positions (Masters, Chiefs etc.). I had pretty much written it off from the credit check discussion further up the thread. I will probably go into NOLA anyway and hit some of the companies along the river and west bank. Can’t afford Lafourche/Terrebone again until end of the month when I get a small check.
I sailed with MSC for five years. If you like putting up with mates that act like there a five star general with a sword up there ass you might like it. But overall the company part is ok for medical insurance and the hawspipers are pretty laid back but the system sucks i usually did about a 10-12 month hitch but they would only allow me to take 30 days off saying they need A/Bs and when you get to the pool they have over 80 just sitting around waiting for ships. But you will get sea time pretty fast and you can usually get training courses pretty easy so thats a plus. Over all the micro managing sucks and time off sucks compared to days worked. Good luck