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.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) believes that the number of cases involving missing cruise passengers, sexual assaults and other criminal necessitates that action be taken.

Quoting Simitian, “We’ve got air marshals on planes with a couple hundred passengers, but we’ve got no one on board the cruise ships with 10 times the number of passengers.”

The peace officer’s salary would be funded by a one dollar per passenger, per day tax and he or she would also server as a licensed marine engineer to make sure that the cruise ship complies with environmental regulations, a cause Simitian has championed.

Cruise ships do hire their own security officers, but lawmakers are concerned that this isn’t enough. Some have suggested that security staff are looking out for the interests of the cruise line instead of the safety requirements of cruise passengers.

California’s portion of the $35.7 billion annual cruise industry is $1.9 billion. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Long Beach and the top embarkation points in the state, representing 14% of all U.S. traffic.

Simitian’s bill comes on the heels of an incident involving a Sacramento resident who claimed she was raped while taking a cruise. She contends that the cruise line insisted that she collect her own evidence. The alleged attacker has never been charged in this case.

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!