CAREERS: HOW DO WE CHOOSE?

CAREERS

How do we choose? To whom do we listen?

In trying to answer these questions, I am grateful to three groups of people for their help in this short survey.
The first group are 32 Master Mariners (50 to 70+years of age), whom I have called the Ancient Mariners. They went to sea just before, during or just after World War II, and served in the heyday of the liner trades, tankers and tramps and saw the container revolution and the introduction of very large tankers and bulkers.

From this group, we learn that books about ships and the sea were the most important influence in their choice of a sea career. Some of the books and journals showed “modern” ships, but many were about the more historical trades in sailing ships.
Second most important was family, often father or grandfather or both who had been in the Royal or Merchant Navies, or uncles or cousins who came home and told them about their life at sea. Sometimes the influence of family was a desire to get away from them and be independent! Third most important were the people they met or school friends who had gone to sea and were enjoying the life.
Many left home in wartime and there was a sense of duty and the influence of films about wartime action at sea. Schoolteachers were not a major influence, with one notable exception. The Hill Secondary Modern School in Harwich had a charismatic teacher – Commander Brian Lucke – he was inspirational (out of one class of 21, eventually 7 obtained Masters Foreign Going Certificates). Living near the sea or near docks, and voyages on passenger ships and ferries also played their part in fixing their eyes on a career at sea. Careers Masters, if they existed, tried to dissuade those with good school reports from taking up sea careers and tried to steer them into banking or other shore jobs.

The Young Mariners (Under 30 years of age)

Getting right up to date, I am grateful to 32 young mariners contacted through the Honourable Company of Master Mariners and Warsash Maritime Academy, who shared their reminiscences with me.

The major influences were people: family, others they have met and friends. The influence of books was in 6th place. It is talking to people who know the life at sea which creates the interest, very often from an early age.
Another major influence was television – programmes about passenger ships and also the Internet – the websites of major cruise ship companies, showing the lifestyle on board and the exotic places they visit (not to mention the dancing girls). Passenger ship life seems to feature highly amongst the attractions. It is much more difficult to learn about tankers, bulkers and other specialist ships. A frequent comment was money, good salaries (tax free earnings – a complex subject!), travel, and a free education. Another frequent comment was the spirit of adventure that the life at sea provides, compared with an office job ashore.
Careers masters featured very little, but the industry recruiting “road shows” where pupils can meet representatives from the industry – including real seafarers – are a significant influence.

Ancient Non-Mariners (c.50 to 70+ years)

Giving talks about seafaring, and my own career choice, has brought me into contact with a wide range of professional and business people who were non-mariners, and 28 of them shared their observations on career choice with me.
Their career choices included:
• Banker
• Builder
• Engineer (Civil, Electrical, Mechanical)
• Journalist
• Local Government Officer
• Motor Manufacturing
• Optician
• Physicist
• Schoolmaster
• Statistician
• Surveyor

By far the greatest influence was family. The choice of careers for girls in the post WWII era was very limited (shops, secretarial, teaching, comptometer operator etc).
Several families looked for permanency of employment, having experienced some of the “boom or bust” industries where there were frequent lay-offs. Those made opportunities in such areas as local government look secure.
Friends and schoolteachers were next in importance. Careers Masters were more influential with this group, and books and films less so than with the seafarers of the same age. Comments included: luck, fate, chance etc, indicating that it was not a carefully planned and rational decision. A liking for physical work and making things was another comment, and perhaps the best comment of all, from a person who had no need of advice: he was given a Meccano set at a very early age and decided then and there to become an engineer.
 

Conclusions: Lessons for All of Us in Shipping

Ideally, everyone would choose a career that makes use of their talents, is interesting and rewarding. The choice is complex and often takes years to formulate and mature. Choosing the wrong career can be disastrous. It is a brave young person who sets out on a path, realises it is not right for them, calls “Whoa!!!” and starts again. Often young people soldier on in work they do not really enjoy or in which they cannot excel.

We want young people to have all the facts, presented in an honest and balanced way, to allow them to make their choice. This places a great responsibility on all older people, parents, teachers, careers advisers and the industry.

The Industry

The industry should make clear facts available to careers advisers, parents and pupils and not try to hide the less favourable aspects of the job. I think the Round Table with their Shipping Facts website www.marisec.org/shippingfacts have made a very good start. The "Go to Sea!" campaign launched at IMO to attract entrants to the shipping industry is another good initiative.

Shipowners and Managers

 

Your best assets in helping the right young people choose the sea, are your current junior officers and cadets? – look after them! Companies that care well for their personnel reap a reward by attracting recruits from the circle of families and acquaintances of their staff. Too often the senior managers are interested only in reducing costs and the harassed personnel manager is just interested in filling crewing slots, without too much thought for the mariners and their families who are affected.
Seafaring is, for the most part, an “invisible” career, so a lot of effort needs to be placed on getting a proper cross-section of stories into the media and getting junior sea staff to meet pupils age 10 and over, who can relate to them.

For Professional Bodies
 

The Honourable Company of Master Mariners, Nautical Institute, Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMarEST) and other professional bodies, have amongst their members a wealth of knowledge and experience to be passed on to the next generation at work and through contacts with schools and youth groups. For those who have left the sea and taken up jobs ashore, you need to find out what life is like at sea now, if you are to help in the process.

For Parents and Relatives

Don’t just tell yarns about the good old days – or the bad old days for that matter. Find out how it is now and pass on the information.

For Teachers and Careers Advisers

Yours is the most difficult job. You cannot know everything about every career, but at least you should be able to help young people find the information to give themselves a reasonable chance of making a rational choice. Enthusiasm can be catching, so try not to oversell one pathway to the detriment of another.

Thank you to the 92 who helped with this survey. They say two heads are better than I, so 92 must be better still! You may say there is nothing surprising in the outcome, perhaps so, but it does confirm that we are on the right track but have a long way to go.