Any US mariners sailing foreign?

[mtskier]

Hi,
Wondering if any of you can help me make sense of the USCG vs STCW credential/license mess. I'm trying to figure out what a crewing manager for a company like Bourbon or Van Oord would expect to see from my STCW. Does listing OICNM 1600 Near Coastal mean anything to them or should I list OICNM 3000 Ton ITC, etc. Do they want the list of certificates such as MedPro, Adv. Fire Fighting, GMDSS, ENav, ARPA, etc.
Open post or PM is fine.
Thanks for your help!
MTSKIER

[New3M]

They'll probably want the provisions of the STCW agreement that you are qualified for - II/1, IV/2, etc. That should give them a lot of the information about your qualifications that they need.

[john]

They will basically want to see that you meet the criteria for the flag state they operate under. So your first job is to find out what flag their vessels are flying then visit that registty's website and start looking at both their requirements and their license conversion process.

The other thing a company is looking for is a high return on investment. If they pay you X in salary and Y in benefits and your work ethic (and knowledge, training, ability to perform...) is Z then they are only going to hire you if Z-(X+Y) is higher (or they think it's higher) than their current employee pool. Having to pay American's health insurance is a big negative for Y for example and X is certainly higher for you than an Indian mate. The other problem is that the rest of the world is scared of being sued by an American mariner.

So if you want to work foreign flagged first start at the flag state's website then spend some answering their first question "Why should we hire this guy?".