Yachting is one of the few careers that translates well into land based home management. Some clients even ask for the “yacht experience” in their homes as a request when setting up private services.
Do you ask yourself: ‘What will I do after my yachting days are over?’ This is a dilemma that many yachties are faced with when they’ve considered their future. You’ve loved your yachting days of course – all that travel and so many highlights and many faces coming into and out of your life. Not forgetting the great friendships made, the good money, the tips and all the amazing stories you’ve collected.
At some point however, you know that you’ve got to move on from life at sea. Travel and living out of a suitcase has lost its appeal. After a while you may just want to put roots down, maybe get a dog, lead a regular life and have a permanent address. Perhaps even give yourself the possibility of a relationship, or marriage and kids. More than anything you might just want some control over your life again, be able to make the decision about your work hours and be able to accept that invitation to a party, friends’ wedding, family event or plan a holiday.
Leaving yachting is a big decision. As an ex-yachtie arriving back in Australia after seven years working as chief stewardess on charter yachts, I wasn’t sure who or where to approach. I knew that I had a very unique skill set but it was difficult to put this across to recruiters and employers who weren’t familiar with the superyacht industry. Like many ‘returned yachties’, I tried a number of different avenues for jobs with the aim of continuing my service career and forging a professional future on land. After trying this and that, I had to fall back on my administration skills to find work, but it wasn’t the direction I wanted to go in.
I eventually took the plunge and created the crew training and recruitment agency Superyacht Crew International back in 2006. I was determined to create great training and be the kind of recruitment agency that I wanted to use when I was yachting. I did the hard yards to travel overseas to boat shows and events to meet clients in order to put together the client base and flow of work that the business enjoys today…
Read the article at: A career after yachting – SuperyachtNews