In almost any industry, experience now seems to be preferable to even the highest level of academic knowledge. Those leaving university are finding more and more that their degrees are barely allowing them to get a toe in the door, never mind an entire foot, and many are experiencing disheartening rejection after disheartening rejection as employers look for those with experience over grades.
However, those looking for work in the maritime industry are even more likely to need experience as, with a huge number of individuals currently looking for jobs and with safety such a major concern, few businesses will be wishing to take on those with no experience of working at sea when there are others available with a CV full of former maritime employment.
However, all businesses, even those that specialise in work at sea, should avoid seeing experience as the holy grail of personal attributes. Since good maritime training is so readily accessible and relatively cheap to boot, it will be easy to give inexperienced individuals all the skills and knowledge they need in a very short space of time, simply by choosing the right training course. By doing so, you can find the individual that will suit your team (rather than one who will simply be easy to slot in) without worrying about getting them trained up.
Maritime safety training can get almost any individual ready to work at sea in no time at all, and whilst experience may well make the difference between two otherwise perfect candidates, in the end it is personality, work ethics and drive to succeed that should be more appealing to a business than the work an individual has done before.