Going by the quote, by Jonathan Winters, "If your ship
doesn't come in, swim out to meet it", clearly portrays the thought
process of a seafarer today who is at his peak of frustration as being a victim
to the malpractices that are currently plaguing the shipping industry.
Any graduate cannot directly take
up a shipping career, he has to first complete maritime education from a DG
approved Maritime Training Institute. It is recommended to all the aspirants to
avoid falling prey to any agency, company or 3rd parties which are
not approved by DG shipping. There are “premium” charges, rather called as
illegal service charges which non-recognized agents and even slam ship
management companies demand from freshers by promising them lucrative
opportunities.
Several maritime jobs websites
provide an online platform to job agents to post fake advertisements. As there
are no accurate means to scrutinize their credibility, these websites land up selling
personal details and resume of candidates without providing them with proper
job descriptions and addresses of the companies, thereby unknowingly encouraging
scam job postings. It is difficult for a new seafarer to identify fake
advertisements at the first glance, however one can stay alert of such
malpractices by not entertaining imposters who are faking themselves as company
representatives, or people who ask for huge amounts in return of job placements
without proper offer details, or even job portals displaying Ads of almost all
companies in India but address and contact details are unavailable.
Most ship management companies
have very transparent and professional hiring procedures for new candidates.
However, there are a few who knowingly or unknowingly engage in malpractices.
The most common practice is to provide a future joining date after a month or
two, and then later just inform the candidate that the joining has been
delayed. Sometimes these delays are extended beyond four to six months or even
further leading to an extremely frustrated candidate who has now lost faith in
the company. Ship management companies sometimes also appoint fleet managers
who post ads under fake names providing their contact details or sell the
information to an agent who would in turn seek a hefty commission for a job
opportunity, thus making the hiring process a lucrative business for the few who
are involved. To avoid this practise, it is important that companies should
take a thorough background check of the agent before his appointment.
The job scam industry is active
due to several aspects, of which financial crises affecting the industry stands
to be majorly blamed. However, there are other factors that are also
contributing; such as fake promises and improper guidance to the maritime
students at the start of their career, imbalance in demand v/s supply of mariners
caused by increase in number of maritime academies and passing graduates and
reducing number of jobs, reducing number of fleets by shipping companies, lack
of quality standards in education and training of new candidates where the
focus is more on quantity of academic clearances.
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