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Career and Crew

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January 25, 2010

What do ‘standing orders’ really mean?

How many crew members have been left feeling uncomfortable when their captain gives an order but they aren’t sure exactly what was meant by it?

You don’t want to appear naive or difficult, so you don’t ask.

Not asking is a huge mistake.

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December 28, 2009

Helicopter training for crew up in air

Capt. Kostas Andreou stands on the helideck of M/Y Allure Shadow with his arms outstretched. Because each movement he makes is a signal to the helicopter pilot, he’s careful not to reach to his belt to switch between his aviation and marine radios. Instead, he’s got a switch wired on his finger.

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November 23, 2009

Keep your resume out of the trash

Do not make a captain hunt for information that should be easy to find on any résumé. A résumé needs to have categories and be clear, clean and crisp in each category – like you look in your résumé photo.

Personal Information

October 1, 2009

Experienced stews offer Top 10 advice, skills, tools of the trade

Crew Unlimited, a crew placement agency based in Ft. Lauderdale, surveyed the stews in their database about all things having to do with the interior and performing stew functions. The following are the top 10 responses for some of the survey questions:

October 1, 2009

It will take time for lost wealth to return to yachting

As I read the August Triton, as I do every month, I sat back and thought, don’t yacht crew get it? Don’t they know what state the yachting industry is really in? Even if the economy bounces back in the next 12 months, the lost wealth needs to be built up again before the large checks are flowing through our industry again. In other words, I think a lot of crew think of this as a temporary slow period when it is, in fact, an industry contraction.

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August 26, 2009

Do you have the crew tools to succeed?

Yacht crew must be able to demonstrate resilience in the face of unpredictable obstacles.

OK, you need to say this out loud to yourself: "I must be able to demonstrate resilience in the face of unpredictable obstacles.

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July 22, 2009

Here’s your interview checklist

This is the second of two articles about preparing for and excelling in a job search. This article focuses on the interview; last month’s article focused on resumes.

June 24, 2009

Resumé: Get it right when you write it

Several speakers at The Triton’s spring Expo in April offered valuable information for yacht crew. This is the first of two articles offering tips on resumés and interviewing.

 

March 25, 2009

Setting the table for a career on land

Yacht crew have specialized skills that they can transfer to careers on land. So to offer more job options to crew, American Yacht Institute in Ft. Lauderdale has teamed with an estate management company to train those considering a shift to land.

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February 23, 2009

Proper decorum can help you land a job

Great, you have the interview for a job on a yacht. Now what do you do?

Here are my suggestions. When you go to the interview you should look and sound like a professional. I know you will say this is common sense but from my experience not everyone has common sense.

December 26, 2008

Praise works: Give it when it’s earned

What is feedback?

It’s simply information given to and received by people regarding their behavior. Note I said behavior, not character.

December 26, 2008

Trip to St. Thomas leads to yachts, naturally

The saga of Leslie Hudson is a classic sea tale of a female protagonist who suffers the indignities of misfortune, the vicissitudes of fateful decisions, and the perseverance of a true heroine. (I have already sent my script to Hollywood.)

November 24, 2008

Charter marketing consultant position excites ex-stewardess

Alicia Carstens, 28, spoke exuberantly of her new position at Crew Unlimited Yacht Charters in Ft. Lauderdale as a charter marketing consultant.

"I start on the 16th of November. I can’t wait."

November 24, 2008

Ink can stink

Long-time captain Martyn Walker has an easy explanation for the tattoos he wears.

"That’s what sailors did 25 years ago when I went off to sea," he said of his tattoos: Popeye, an anchor, a dolphin and a sailing ship.

October 29, 2008

Family plans led Booysen to become a yacht broker

John Booysen is a yacht broker at Merrill Stevens in Ft. Lauderdale, with eight years in this challenging field. Prior to joining MS, he worked at Allied Richard Bertram. When asked how he found his way to this career, he gives his characteristic broad grin and responds, "the honeymoon was called off."

Now I am curious.

October 29, 2008

Will U.S. election impact careers?

Statistics by Lawrence Hollyfield

Despite the nationality-limiting nature of the American election process, nearly all international yacht crew surveyed last month not only know who is running for U.S. president, but had a preference on who should win.

September 24, 2008

Driving captains bananas

A good resume is great, but what is your attitude?

As a yacht captain who has made his share of mistakes over the years, I clearly and honestly understand that I am only as good as the crew I work with. So, obviously, I want to recruit the best people for the job.

September 24, 2008

He’s out of the galley on a two-wheel dream

Former yacht chef Ray de Sousa talked about his current entrepreneurial success – Yachting Cycle Trader – that promises to hook yachties up with their dream motorcycle and export it to their home country.

September 24, 2008

How to identify a leader

Last month we identified the nine traits to look for when grooming someone for a leadership position on your vessel.

So how do you go about spotting thin in your current employees or in job candidates?

There are four methods:

August 25, 2008

How to identify and develop potential leaders

More than 76 million Americans – the Baby Boomers – are approaching retirement. Only 44 million are in the pipeline to replace them. As a consequence, within the next two to 10 years, employers across the United States in virtually all sectors and industries will face a potential crisis of leadership.

August 25, 2008

Make resumes captain-friendly

My chief stewardess on a 118-foot yacht was going on vacation so I put an ad in The Triton’s classified section online. We needed a freelance stew for a week.

I learned a few things as I looked over those resumes, including one that did not have a name on it. So I have a few suggestions on what a captain looks for in a resume.

July 28, 2008

Follow-up on Yachtmaster qualification

After first writing about the Royal Yachting Association Yachtmaster Offshore (Power) qualification in the April edition of The Triton, I decided to follow up with additional information.

The reaction I received regarding the April article was mostly favorable. (Admittedly, candidates who chose exam day to tell me, the examiner, that they didn’t like it could be accused of poor timing.)

June 25, 2008

A family tree with roots at sea

He heard firsthand stories about Teddy Roosevelet’s great fleet from his father, stories of adventures at sea and an exotic life he could only imagine.

He knew early on that was the life for him.

Capt. Jim O’Neill, who has been a captain for 50 of his 77 years, made the right choice. And he still remembers the stories.

May 30, 2008

Insuring your license can provide financial safety net

Most U.S. Coast Guard-licensed officers will agree on one thing: the U.S. Coast Guard has become much more aggressive in investigating marine accidents and incidents.

More worrisome, license suspensions are often the outcome.

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April 29, 2008

Captains laud teamwork boost

Amazing isn’t a word usually associated with crew training. Neither are really good or great.

But those are words captains used to describe the team-building training they received from Crew Synergy, a relatively new leadership training business geared specifically to megayacht crew. And they credit that training with giving them their best charter seasons to date.