TravelDuties

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.

If you are considering a career with a cruise line, you’re in good company. Cruise ship traffic continues to rise and employment opportunities remain quite good. Even in these days of economic turmoil so many people want a respite from their troubles and daily grind; a six-day cruise is one way they are finding temporary relief.

From the customer’s standpoint, taking a cruise isn’t always smooth sailing. Even the most opulent cruise line can run into problems with passengers getting sick or a trip cancelled due to bad weather. Some problems cannot be prevented, but a curious industry trend can be. What do I mean by this? It is those extra fees passengers sometimes incur when taking a cruise. Yes, an ugly trend is emerging in the cruise industry — charge your passengers various fees on top of their regular charges. Why would this concern you, the cruise line employee? Well, for one good reason: you could be in the firing line of a disgruntled passenger who wants you to explain their padded bill.

Thanks to an article appearing in the Kansas City Star (reprinted from the San Francisco Chronicle) I have learned that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has a habit of padding customer’s bills. According to the article, extra fees including a daily $10 “service charge” is added to each bill, an amount that cannot be removed. Although the fee is used as way to tip employees, the cruise line passenger has no way of controlling disbursement. This means that if the person who turned your sheets daily did a good job, but the person serving your food has done a poor job, everyone shares equally. I’m not saying that tipping isn’t important, but if you read the article closely you will see that a “non-mandatory” fee is now mandatory. Besides, why should the person doing a good job get the same tip as the one who isn’t?

NCL isn’t the only cruise line tacking on fees. Princess, MCS Cruises, Carnival, Holland America, Cunard, and Costa Cruises all add on daily fees with Disney, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity leaving these fees up to the passengers. While it may sound like a good idea to ensure that cruise line help get their tips, there isn’t a guarantee that the monies will flow directly to the employees. In fact, in cases where a 15% bar fee is added to the bill, many bartenders are reporting that they never see any of that money.

Passengers shouldn’t be surprised that other fees are routinely added including fuel surcharges to cover the cost of higher fuel prices and mooring at foreign ports. Worse, many of the fees are per day and per person, extending even down to an infant whose food allotment would be brought onboard by the parents and whose use of most any other onboard services would be neglible.

So, are you still interested in a cruise line opportunity? Don’t let my fee revelation deter you, but please understand that some of the practices of your employer can leave a sour taste in the mouths of passengers. As long as you aren’t on the receiving end of someone’s wrath, then working on a cruise ship needn’t be an unpleasant experience.

With 2007 now in the history books, you’ve probably have been taking stock of your career and wondering if what you are doing now is what you want to do with yourself for the rest of your life. Granted, it can be difficult to look that far in advance, but if you are unhappy with your current job, then considering other possibilities right now is the way to go.

Cruise Line Employment Is Booming

The cruise line industry continues to grow at a record-setting pace, as leisure travelers realize that they can vacation in style without busting their budgets. This is good news for someone like you who may be looking for a change in 2008. However, one question remains: how can you find work? That’s easy — please keep reading for some great tips on finding the cruise ship opportunity that is right for you.

TravelDuties — Without shame, I must say that this website has been a good source of information for people who want to work on a cruise ship or yacht. We have links to all of the major cruise lines and tips crafting a resume, writing a cover letter, getting your references together and interviewing. We may not be the biggest site on the internet, but we hold our own.

Cruise Lines –  One of the best resources are the cruise lines themselves. In fact, we highly recommend you visit the various websites of the major cruise lines. Learn if they are hiring, what jobs are available, when open houses will be held, and find out about all of their procedures for obtaining employment. When in doubt, go to directly to the source.

Job Sites — The major job sites feature some very good opportunities. I like Indeed, Monster, Career Builder and HotJobs to name a few. Sometimes the cruise lines will only share current openings on the job sites as that is where most job seekers can be found.

Internet Search — Using Google, type in the words “cruise ship jobs” and you’ll get a bunch of results. However, I must recommend extreme caution as a lot of sites are junk and some are scams.  Buyer beware — never pay someone to find work for you.

Ultimately, finding work in the cruise industry will depend upon you. Your knowledge, personal energy and zeal will go a long way toward helping you make a career switch. Why not make 2008 the year you took to the seas? Your cruise line career awaits you — seize the opportunities and you’ll be ocean bound before you know it!