Finding a job on a yacht

There are four main factors when it comes to finding work on a yacht.

. What . When . Where . How .

Decide what job you want to do.
Remember at entry level you can either get on as cook (but you must be experienced and very good) or you can find work as a steward/ess or deckhand. Once you have decided what job you want to do you need to know what qualifications you need in order to do legally do these jobs onboard. This in depth information is available in the book 'Working on yachts and superyachts.'

Next you must find out when the best time is to start looking for the dream job.
Yachting is made up of seasons. Getting the season and time wrong can mean you end up waiting for up to 8 months for the right job to come along.

Where is also critical to finding a job.
You've got the papers/skills, you got the season right but there is no point in sitting in Marseilles when the bulk of jobs are to found in Antibes, or in Barcelona. Or heading off to Palma, Mallorca when most of the work is to be found in Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean.

There are a lot of options when it comes to how to find work on board a yacht.
Online CV/resumes, crew agents, contacts, emailing cv, bulletin boards, magazines, dockwalking etc. All these do work but in order to maximise your chances of finding work onboard there is a way of getting them ALL working for you so your chances of finding that dream job are massively improved.

(Please note - as someone who has received literally thousands of emails over the years requesting a job on a yacht - PLEASE READ HOW TO WRITE A RESUME which includes what your email cover note should contain.

When applying for a job these are things you must NOT do.

Blank email with attachment - Gets deleted immediately - If you cant be bothered to introduce yourself you can expect to be ignored.

Email cover note contains - 'Want job on yot' - There is no excuse for bad spelling any more.  If your mother tongue is not English there are friends, dictionaries, spell checkers and Google translate.

Email has entire family and life history.  Keep it brief and to the point.  Think of yourself as the crew agent who has 100's of emails like yours.....1,000 words and 10 attachments - don't think so.  Email has attachment so big it takes 20 minutes to download.  Just send in your CV, a brief introduction of who you are what you are looking for and mention that you will call later to confirm your email was received.