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What nobody tells you before you sign

Every recruitment page tells you the good half: the travel, the places, the people you will meet. All of it is true. This is the other half — the part that is nobody’s job to tell you, written by someone who spent twenty-five years on the inside. Nothing here is a warning against going to sea. It is what I wish somebody had told me before I did.

1. Silence is usually an answer

“My application has said under review for three weeks.”

Most applications are never formally rejected. The file simply stops moving, and nobody writes to tell you. People wait months on a status line that was never going to change.

What to do. Treat three weeks of silence as a no and keep moving. Apply in parallel, not one at a time. And if you do get a reply that reads like a rejection, read it twice — people miss them, because they are written politely.

2. The medical is usually yours to pay for

A seafarer medical is required before you join, and in most cases the candidate pays for it up front. Costs vary widely by country and clinic.

What to do. Before you book anything, ask in writing: who pays, is it reimbursed, and which clinics are accepted. Get the answer in an email, not on a phone call. A company that will not put it in writing has told you something.

3. Nobody charges you to get hired

A legitimate employer or crewing agency does not ask candidates for a placement fee. Fees for a medical or a visa are normal; a fee to be considered, to be “registered”, or to be put forward is not.

What to do. If you are asked for money to be given the job, stop. Ask what the payment is for, in writing. Check the company independently rather than through any link they send you.

4. You may be offered a rank below your shore experience

Years in a good hotel do not always transfer at the same level. Many people join a step below what they did ashore, because the operation is unfamiliar and the ship wants to see you work first.

What to do. Decide in advance what you will accept and why. Taking the step down deliberately, for one contract, with a plan to move — that is a strategy. Taking it by surprise, on the day, is how people end up resentful for nine months.

5. You find out how it really runs after you sign

The dress code, what to pack, what the cabin is like, what the internet costs, how the hours fall, what you may and may not bring — most of this arrives after the contract is signed, sometimes on the day you join.

What to do. Ask before you sign, in writing: hours and rest pattern, uniform and what you must bring yourself, and whether the cabin is shared. Nobody will think less of you for asking. The ones who never ask are the ones who arrive with the wrong suitcase.

6. Shore leave is not guaranteed

Being in a famous port and getting off the ship in it are different things. Depending on your role, the schedule and the manning that day, you may see very little of the places on the itinerary — and in some roles that can run across a whole contract.

What to do. Ask how shore leave works for your position specifically, not in general. Then go with your eyes open, and plan the trip you want around the port days you can actually take.

7. Embarkation day is when people decide who you are

No job description mentions it, but on turnaround day almost everybody moves luggage, and the polite version of the job description quietly becomes “whatever is needed”. It is long, it is physical, and it happens before you have found the toilets.

What to do. Wear shoes you can stand in for six hours. Eat before it starts. Put nothing else in that morning. And do it once without complaining — because that is the day the people above you decide what kind of crew member you are, and it is very hard to change their mind later.

8. There is a proper way to raise a problem

Every ship under the Maritime Labour Convention has a complaints procedure, and you are entitled to use it without being punished for using it. It is written down, and you should be shown it.

What to do. Find out on day one where that procedure is and who your first point of contact is. Use the channels in order, keep your own dated notes, and keep it factual. Going to social media first usually costs you the argument, even when you are right.

One honest note. Terms differ enormously between companies, countries and ranks, and they change. Nothing here is legal advice and nothing here describes any one employer — it is the pattern across a career, written so you know which questions to ask. The answers must always come from the company you are joining, in writing.