If you're thinking of pursuing a career aboard a yacht, or any other kind of sea-related work, there's a great way to test the waters (no pun intended) before making a potentially life changing commitment. You can easily get a summer job working afloat. The boat in question might not be a luxury yacht, but no matter. You will gain valuable experience and pick up boating skills that will put you in good stead later on if you do decide to make the sea your career.

Get a Boat Job This Summer
By Dan Sevets

Even if summer is already upon you, it's not too late to get a job working on a boat. A summer job afloat is a great experience for anyone, but especially if you have dreams of one day making a permanent career aboard a vessel such as a luxury yacht.

College students on summer break will find themselves welcomed as crew members wherever there are tour boats plying a harbor. If you have experience in some aspect of boating, the jobs open to you will span a wider range, but even if you're a complete newbie on the docks, you can probably find some kind of short-term employment.

Even if you're a long way out of college, many kinds of boat jobs may be available to you. The key, regardless of your background or skills, is to be enthusiastic and willing to learn.

Are you a history buff or a nature enthusiast? If you are particularly knowledgeable about your local coastal area, you could perhaps hire on as a tour boat interpreter or guide. Besides having a store of facts and trivia about the area, you need to have the ability to share your knowledge in a way that the average tourist can understand and enjoy.

The best way to find boat jobs is simply to walk the docks. Talk to everyone you meet. Get to know deckhands and captains; ask around about available openings. "Dockwalking" is by the far the best way to find informal crew member jobs.

Who knows? A summer boat job could be your first step in an exciting career at sea -- perhaps even a career on some multimillionaire's superyacht.

Yacht jobs will pay you to see the world. This lifestyle is open to you regardless of your background, age, or experience. How To Get A Boat Job is a page of free information on where to find deckhand jobs and how to get hired aboard one of these luxury vessels.

One resource that reveals hidden secrets to gaining a plum position as a superyacht crew member is The Dynamic Deckhand (http://www.deckhands.info). I hightly recommend it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Get-a-Boat-Job-This-Summer&id=2415832

 

Every large vessel has a variety of crew job types. On a superyacht, they typically include a chef, one or more stewards (or stewardesses), an engineer, a first mate, and of course, the captain, along with deckhands possessing an assortment of skills and specific tasks.

Deckhand Employment - Pick Your Spot on the Boat
By Dan Sevets

When people ask me to give them insider deckhand employment tips for working on a luxury yacht, I tell them that  first and foremost they should decide what position they think they would truly enjoy. Once they know that, they can work on getting the experience as well as the professional certification they will need for that particular job.

A huge super yacht might employ a crew of 30 or more.  Everyone aboard is expected to perform at least one job very, very well; most, though, will actually be jacks (or jills) of all trades.  On a vessel at sea, whether it's a magnificent yacht or a humble fishing trawler, every crew member must have a wide range of skills.

Here are the most typical deckhand employment possibilities:

Deckhand: This is the most generalized of crew positions and is the place that most people start in a career aboard a boat. Your duties could range from maintenance to deck cleaning to driving a tender to ferry VIP guests to and from the yacht. No two days are ever alike for a deckhand!

Steward (or Stewardess): This is a form of deckhand employment that typically involves waiting on the yacht owner and his guests. This could mean serving drinks, leading recreational activities, helping keep interior spaces nice and shiny, or any of a myriad other tasks centered on making sure a boat's passengers stay happy the entire trip.

Chef: A yacht's chef prepares meals, obviously, and also may be solely responsible for keeping the galley clean and well-arranged. A chef will also be in charge of the very important task of purchasing and stocking provisions in enough quantity and variety to last for a long trip, if necessary.

Boat Engineer: A boat engineer is a deckhand with specialized expertise for working on a yacht's engines. The engineer sees to, through ongoing maintenance as well as repair when needed, that the vessel will never be dead in the water. As you can imagine, this is a highly important job.

Captain: Everyone knows that a captain not only drives the boat, he's the boss of the rest of the crew. To be a captain of a super yacht requires lots of training and years of experience, but keep in mind that many of the best and most respected yacht captains started out as a regular deckhand. The path to a super yacht captaincy is within anyone's reach who keeps his sights set firmly on it!

First Mate: Most big luxury yachts have a first mate as well as a captain. A first mate is the captain's right-hand man (or woman), and is the one who daily supervises and directs the crew. First mates must be able to do pretty much everything that a captain does and have an intimate knowledge of every other crewmate's job, too.

You can begin your path to deckhand employment through the ages-old practice of "dockwalking" -- talking to all of the yacht crew that you are able to meet. You can also visit a hiring agency, found in most ports of call, that specializes in hiring for mega- and super yachts.

A superyacht job is open to you regardless of background, age, or experience. Deckhand Employment Tips is a page of free information on the requirements of different crew member jobs as well as on how to get hired aboard a luxury vessel.

One highly recommended book that blows the lid off the insider methods for gaining a plum position as a super yacht crew member is The Dynamic Deckhand, available at http://www.deckhands.info. Be sure and check it out.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Deckhand-Employment---Pick-Your-Spot-on-the-Boat&id=2413869

 

Despite what the headline above might lead you to think, this isn't about "visualizing" your goal of getting hired to work on a super yacht, or "manifesting" a new life floating around on the world's oceans.  I'm not putting down such an approach. If they work for you, that's great.  No, I'm talking about something far simpler and more concrete: making a decision in advance as to what type of boat you would like to work aboard.  For some people, it might not be a luxury yacht.  It might be a tour boat or a fishing vessel, for a couple of examples.  The main point is:  If you are clear about your goal, and it is more specific than merely, "I want to work on a boat," you will naturally channel your energies into doing the things that lead to accomplishing your objective -- and not waste time on activities that lead away from it. Following is an article I recently wrote on the subject:

Boat Deckhand Jobs - Which One is Right For You?

By Dan Sevets

I frequently run into people who "just want to work on a boat." They don't have a particular type of boat in mind. All that matters, in their mind, is that they love the sea and live to spend a life afloat. Any kind of boat job would suit them fine - they think.

But hold on! I've worked as a deckhand on many types of vessels all around the world. Take it from me, serving drinks to celebrities and millionaires aboard a luxury yacht is a world apart from hauling nets of crabs onto a fishing boat in Alaska. Yet both are "boat jobs."

Admittedly, this is an extreme example of the divergence in boat jobs that you may encounter when looking for employment at sea. But it's something to think about if you're one of those who is sure that they "just want to work on a boat."

For most people, working on a luxury yacht - especially one of the superyachts - would seem far preferable to the life of an Alaskan fisherman. But there are certainly some folks who would prefer battling the elements aboard a fishing  boat to having to dress in a uniform and tiptoe around all the social niceties involved in catering to a yacht owner and the owner's VIP guests.

I've worked on a fishing boat and it's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything, but it's not something I wanted to do forever. I've also worked on a tour guide boat in the Bahamas, and on a boat ferrying divers to the coral reef that lies off the coast of Belize. These are also boat jobs that you might want to consider.

The right boat job is not the same for everyone. The right one for you depends on your personal interests as well as your skills and experience. For example, if you are SCUBA certified, you would probably find your niche on a diving boat. If you have a gift for gab and really enjoy dealing with crowds of people (some folks do!), your ideal place might be on a tour boat pointing out the landmarks of a busy harbor to gawking tourists.

The best advice: First decide which boat deckhand jobs intrigue you the most, then do whatever you can to obtain one for at least one summer. If you find it's not the right job for you after all, you can go on to experience a different one next year.

And if, like me, you decide that the best crew position possible is that of being a deckhand, steward or stewardess, chef - or even, eventually, first mate or captain - aboard a superyacht, then welcome to my world.

A yacht crew job actually pays you to see the world. Superyacht crew members working are living the best dream of all. This dream is open to you, too, regardless of your background, age, or experience. [http://www.squidoo.com/BoatDeckhandJobs]Boat Deckhand Jobs is a page of free information on where to find these jobs and how to get hired aboard a luxury vessel.

Picture yourself visiting exotic ports of call from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to beyond. Picture yourself enjoying free food and lodging while afloat and earning a great salary to boot. (You could even find romance while working as a yacht crew member -- it happens!)

Sure, there's competition for these dream oat jobs. But there are ways to make sure that a boat's captain or the yacht crew hiring agency chooses you, even if you have less experience than the next person. A book that blows the lid off the insider methods for gaining a plum position as a superyacht crew member is The Dynamic Deckhand.

Dan Sevets has seen the world aboard boats of all kinds. He invites you to join him in the best job of all.

Original Article Source: Boat Deckhand Jobs -- Which Is Right for You?