29/05/2023
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Top 5 Mistakes people make on a Yacht CV:
1. Poor Headshot or no headshot at all.
The headshot is one of the most important elements of a successful yacht CV.
In a recent survey of 200 Captains by the Triton Captains said that the headshot plays a big role in their decision factor of whether to call a candidate or not. “I hate to judge a book by its cover, but I personally look at the candidate’s picture first,” said the captain of a yacht 120-140 feet in yachting more than 20 years. “For some reason, I feel that I can tell if that candidate has a good personality or not. I know it’s not the best way to pick someone, but I think the yachting industry has made it that way.”
Size matters! Do not put a small photo on your CV. They want to see you so make it large enough.
Wear a yacht type shirt. A Polo type shirt is overwhelming the best. Colors other than white seem to be doing better because they provide more contrast to you and create more of an impact on your CV.
Do not wear sunglasses or big jewelry.
2. Too much or too little.
The Kitchen Sink:
There is a balance between having too much information or not enough. One of the most common mistakes is to “ kitchen sink” your CV with as much information as possible. This usually creates a CV that is overcrowded and hard to read. The thinking is that you are going utterly convince them that you are the right candidate by giving them an overwhelming amount of ”evidence” that you are the right person. In the end it just ends up being…overwhelming. Prospective employers will just not want to try to sift through all of that information usually. Try to be more concise and use the most substantive info, and make sure all the information is easy to find and easy to read. If it is…they will keep reading.
Bare Bones:
The other most common mistake here is not to have enough information. Just putting the boat or job, position, and dates is not enough. Even you just put something basic under it like “ Performed all deck duties required.” That does not tell them enough. And the candidate that goes further explaining what they did…
“ Cleaned and organized Bosun’s locker, cleaned decks using two part cleaner, stripped and varnished railings, performed watch duties underway, helped Chef in the galley as needed”
…will go further that you most likely.
3. Top 50% Rule.
Most employers only scan CV’s for 6-8 seconds when they first receive them. That is because they typically a huge amount of CV’s after posting a job. So they scan them to eliminate as many as they can to get done to 10-15 candidates. So you need to have all the right information in the top half of the first page so they can get a good idea about you quickly:
1. Photo
2. Personal Info
3. Position seeking
4. Objective
5. Contact info
6. Certifications and licenses
7. Skills
4. Poor or drab layout and presentation.
More than 60% of the 200 Captains surveyed in the Triton survey said that layout, formatting, and conciseness drew them to a particular resume/CV.
Your CV should never be longer than two pages. 95% of the time it should be two pages. If you have at least four work histories you should be on two pages. If you have over 10 you should consider dropping some. Any work histories over 10 years should probably not be included. Most employers are concerned with the last 5-7 years.
The information should not be crowded and it should be easy to find. Using text boxes is a good way to organize your information. Using a color theme can also help you and your information to stand out.
5. Basic mistakes
Edit your work and don’t be lazy or they will think you are!
Always edit your CV to check for spelling, and grammar errors. Spell and grammar check are easy, USE THEM!
The most common error I see in this area is the dreaded update errors of a CV. This is where a CV goes from one font style or formatting to style to another because the candidate did not check, or did a copy and paste of information and got it wrong. This shows poor attention to detail and stands out right away.
