As an aspiring yacht stew or deckhand, a huge part of the job-hunting process is networking and searching online for potential job opportunities. It is increasingly important we cover the red flags you need to be mindful of when applying for jobs online, especially through social media pages.

In this episode, I share 7 ways to spot red flags with yacht crew jobs!

1. Don’t meet in a non-professional setting
   If the job is local to where you are and the captain is asking to meet in a home or hotel environment. This screams alarm bells. Don’t do it! An acceptable setting could be at a restaurant or coffee shop, however, if it was a bar I would be cautious as it will probably involve alcohol. Always tell people where you are if you are going to meet a stranger. Unfrotuanltey I’ve heard of girls being asked to visit hotel rooms etc. and it has turned out to be scam and very creepy. Unfortunately, there are people out there so you just need to be careful. 

2. Check the captain’s email address.
   Look to see if the captain has a legitimate email.  If they are insisting on Whatapp, ensure you ask for their email too.  This email can be something like a captain@my-yacht name.com 
   
3. Follow up the captain’s or person in contact withs story
   For example, they say the boat is located in Genoa Italy,  I would then research what the names of the ports are in Genoa, jump onto Marine Traffic a very useful free app that tracks each and every boat around the world, I would use this to see if the boat is in either of the two ports in genoa. It’s a little bit of an investigator work but well worth it. Sometimes captains won’t reveal the name of the boat until the final stages of the interviews, this is pretty normal as boats are confidential however if you are in the final interview stages you should know by now and be able to put your investigator hat on and do some research.
   
4. Check the communication
   What is their tone and communication like? If they are using words like babe or sexy.  It’s a no! This needs to be a professional work relationship, I would not want to work for a captain who used these terms. Remember you have to trust your captain, he’s in charge of crew you want someone who is professional and you don’t feel creeped out by. 

5. Are they asking for photos?
   What type of photos? I’ll tell you now some boats want photos, I’ve been asked before for full-length uniform photos (mainly from strict yacht management companies) and when I first started in yachting I was asked by my first captain to send pictures of me doing what I love. It was his take to see if I was a party animal or enjoyed things like watersports etc. of course I caught onto this and sent photos of me with my family, hiking, yoga, and wakeboarding with a wet suit on. Of course, there were no bikini shots and this is totally unacceptable to send your captain. Please don’t ever feel obliged to send “bikini” photos or anything similar.
   
6. If you’re worried, check with crew agents
   These are the professionals who know a lot about each boat around the world, they may be able to give you insight into the boat and whether or not they feel like it’s legitimate or fake. Don’t be afraid to ask.  Louise from YPI crew has a great database and is always happy to help with any questions regarding this.
   
7. Not having any contact with the chief stew or captain prior to joining the vessel

If you have only dealt with the crew agent and not actually spoke to anyone on the boat I would be thinking twice about joining this vessel.  Why? Because to me that says they do not care what crew they employ they just need crew to come on board asap, more than likely they have a very large crew turnover so that’s crew coming and going because the boat probably has terrible owners or is not well run at all. Longevity speaks for itself in yachting, if you have had crew on there for a while it’s a really good sign of a good boat. This is one question I encourage you to ask in the interview phase, how long have the crew been onboard? If they have a lot of positions available or crew less than three months. That’s a bad sign and I would be thinking twice about joining. 

Have a question about getting started in the industry? DM me over on Instagram @theseaworthystew