TravelDuties

For a traveler, there are probably few things greater than a relaxing vacation on a cruise ship.

If you’re thinking about finding work on a cruise ship, however, don’t expect to have the same experience. Working on a cruise ship can be tough. Here are a few things to be aware of before you decide to dive right in and find work on a cruise ship.

Long Hours

Life on a cruise ship is about long hours working to make everyone on board’s vacation as pleasurable as possible. When you start working on a cruise ship you’re essentially “at work” for 24 hours a day until your contract is up.

Speaking of the contract, be prepared to not have any days off until the agreed upon term in your contract is over. Do a good job on board and you’ll probably be offered another contract. Perform in a lackluster fashion and expect to be going home and never coming back.

Living Conditions

Are you seasick or afraid of close quarters? You might want to reconsider working on a cruise ship. Living on a boat for weeks, or months, straight is not the same as living on the mainland. If you don’t think you can handle being at sea that long then maybe you should look at other employment options.

The internet has changed the way people research and apply for jobs, a phenomenon that has been gaining strength over the past decade. Career Builder, Monster and Indeed are some of the largest portals featuring jobs while local online classifieds and craigslist are some other options for job seekers.

Unfortunately, just because an opportunity is posted to a respected site, doesn’t mean that the job is decent or even real. Employment scams abound and job seekers should be diligent when applying for any job. Some are obvious and outright lies while others are much more subtle, even couched in truth.

How Can I Avoid Being Scammed?

The following tips can help you avoid being taken by a con artist:

Advance Fee — In exchange for work or for a list of job opportunities, someone will want you to wire money to them for special access to “available” opportunities. Unfortunately, your Western Union wire will be received and kept by an unscrupulous party leaving you $100-200 poorer.

Resume Blasting — For a set fee, someone promises to “blast” your resume to thousands of employers. The thinking here is that more people will find your resume, increasing the chances you’ll get hired. Even if the company follows through, most email accounts will recognize this ploy as spam.

Other Variations — Of course, just as soon as you figure out the two most popular scams, others will crop up which are usually a variation on an existing theme. Some will seem much more legitimate, inviting you to a hotel for a career session. While there, you’ll learn about possible job openings, but they may not be with that employer. You don’t need to pay an agency to find work that you can obtain on your own!

Use Wisdom

If responding to an online ad, you’ll want to make sure that the job:

• Actually exists.

• The company or person interviewing you has the authority to actually hire you.

• The job is located in the US (or Canada) and you have the right to work for the company. Even if the ship is registered in Panama or elsewhere, they are subject to state or federal oversight, including for employing staff.

Never go to an interview that doesn’t sound right or accept a job where someone wants you to pay them with the promise of paying you back later. Legitimate companies keep everything above board while scammers skirt the truth and leave you wondering.

Ultimately, go with your intuition and avoid those “employers” who promise something that sounds too good to deliver.

Thanks to the internet, one business trend appears to be falling out of fashion. Thanks to the internet, this same trend still seems popular with marketing savvy individuals.

What am I talking about?

Business cards — those 3.75 x 2.25 card stock tools that have been long favored by business folks the world over.

Despite the fact that the internet is connecting people like never before, thereby making the exchange of business cards seem like a moot issue, there are reasons why you should still have cards of your own.

3 Reasons Why You Need A Business Card

Business cards are still useful and for the following reasons:

• When applying for a job, particularly one where a hard copy of your resume is requested, sending a business card out with your cover letter and resume is smart thinking. Lots of employers use business card scanning software and, yes, the trusty Rolodex is still used by some managers.

• If you are heading to a convention or job fair, a business card comes in handy. Certainly, handing a copy of your resume off to a potential employer is wise, but so is exchanging cards with your peers. I’ve attended conventions where I’ve handed off scores of my cards within just a few hours time — a terrific and cheap networking tool!

• Your personal contacts can also use your business card. How many times have you been out and about, meeting up with someone and found that you didn’t have a pen handy to give them your number? A business card eliminates that need, making it easier for you to share contact information with friends.

Business Card Prices Are Cheap - Online

Business card prices are very cheap, with the best deals found online. Lest you think that I’m making a plug for an affiliate site, I can assure you that I am not. Simply “google” a search for business cards and a number of companies will pop up on the search engine results pages.

I’ve used VistaPrint in the past and have visited the Overnight Print site as well. Staples, Office Max and other some other print shops offer cards too, but the best deals clearly can be found online.

Photo courtesy of Steve Woods — just make sure that your card isn’t blank!