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Your resume is your passport to a successful career transition, especially if you're a former crew member setting sail for onshore employment. In a competitive job market, the quality of your resume can be the deciding factor in landing your dream job. Whether you're an experienced professional or a newcomer to the onshore job market, these invaluable resume rewriting tips will help you not only stand out but also effectively communicate your qualifications.
1. Quality Over Quantity
Former cruise ship crew members often possess a treasure trove of skills and experiences. However, the key is not to overcrowd your resume with every detail. Instead, focus on showcasing the qualifications most relevant to your desired onshore job.
TIP: Highlight the skills and experiences gained during your time at sea that directly relate to onshore job requirements. Emphasize adaptability, customer service, and teamwork skills.
2. Keep an Outline Handy
Maintaining a detailed resume outline listing all your qualifications, including unique skills and experiences from your time at sea, serves as a valuable resource. It aids in tailoring your resume to specific onshore job applications.
TIP: Use this outline to easily reference your cruise ship experiences and skills when crafting tailored resumes for different onshore positions.
3. Farewell to the Objective Statement
Objective statements are outdated and often irrelevant for former cruise crew members transitioning to onshore roles. Replace them with a professional summary that highlights your adaptable nature, strong work ethic, and transferable skills.
4. Frontload Your Best
Capture the reader's attention by placing your most impressive and pertinent information at the beginning of your resume. Use bullet points to describe your accomplishments. Focus on quantifiable achievements and responsibilities. Use clear headings and bullet points to make the information easily scannable.
TIP: Include a dedicated skills section near the top of your resume. List the skills that are most relevant to the job you're applying for. This gives recruiters an immediate sense of your capabilities.
5. Select the Right Format
Choose a resume format that aligns with your onshore career goals. Simplicity is key; an easy-to-read format ensures that hiring managers can quickly understand your qualifications and experiences gained during your cruise ship career.
TIPS:
Creative or Infographic Resume: This format uses visually engaging elements, such as graphics, charts, and icons, to present your information in a unique way. Creative resumes can be effective for certain creative, marketing or design-related roles. Check out our webinar on Infographic Resumes.
Targeted Resume: This format involves creating a customized resume for a specific job application. You tailor your qualifications, skills, and experiences to match the requirements of the job you're applying for. It can be in chronological, functional, or combination format. Use a targeted resume for each job application when you want to ensure that your resume aligns perfectly with the specific job's requirements. It's time-consuming but highly effective for demonstrating your suitability for a particular role.
6. Embrace Conciseness
Keep your resume concise, focusing on your most relevant onshore qualifications. For former cruise ship crew members, this means emphasizing customer service, teamwork, and adaptability skills developed during your time at sea.
TIP: Demonstrate how your cruise ship experiences have honed your skills for onshore roles, such as conflict resolution, teamwork, and multitasking.
7. Link It Up
Include links to any onshore-relevant certifications or additional courses you've completed during your transition. Showcase your commitment to enhancing your skills for the onshore job market.
TIP: Highlight any certifications or training programs you've undertaken during your transition, emphasizing your readiness for onshore employment.
8. ATS Awareness
Recognize the importance of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in many onshore job applications. Tailor your resume with keywords from the job description to increase your chances of passing through ATS filters. Never put your picture, age and birth date.
TIP: Make sure that your resume includes industry-specific keywords related to your cruise ship experience, ensuring alignment with onshore job requirements. You can also use use online ATS testing tools to see how well your resume performs in different systems such as Enhancv and Jobscan.
9. Prominent Contact Info
Place your contact information prominently at the top of your resume, including your name, phone number, and email address. Ensure that you have a local address if you've recently relocated from a cruise ship.
10. Design for Skimmability
Craft a resume that's easy to skim. Use bullet points, headings, and a clear, organized layout to make it simple for hiring managers to see your relevant qualifications quickly.
Organize your resume with clear and concise headings for each section, such as "Summary," "Work Experience," "Skills," and "Education." Use a larger font or bold text to make these headings stand out.
TIP: Ensure there's enough white space around text and between sections. Crowded text can be overwhelming, while white space makes your resume visually pleasing and easier to navigate.
11. Keep It Recent and Relevant
Prioritize your most recent and relevant onshore work experiences. Show how the skills developed during your cruise ship career translate into onshore job success.
12. Craft Strong Achievement-Focused Bullet Points
Use action verbs and quantify your achievements in your onshore work experience section. Showcase how your customer service excellence and adaptability positively impacted your onshore roles.
TIP: Provide concrete examples of how you exceeded customer expectations and contributed to the success of onshore teams.
13. Quantify Your Accomplishments
Numbers speak volumes. Use metrics and statistics to quantify your achievements, especially those related to customer satisfaction and problem-solving.
TIP: Highlight metrics such as passenger satisfaction ratings, revenue increases, or efficiency improvements from your cruise ship experience.
14. Embrace Non-Traditional Work
Highlight any non-traditional onshore work experiences, such as freelance gigs or temporary roles, that demonstrate your versatility and adaptability. Offer a brief description of the non-traditional work experiences, particularly if they are from industries or roles that may not be well-known to the employer. Provide context to help the reader understand the nature of the work.
15. Prioritize Honors and Achievements
While academic achievements like GPAs are less relevant for onshore positions, highlight honors and awards that showcase your commitment to ongoing learning and skill development.
16. Showcase Soft Skills
Demonstrate your interpersonal skills, adaptability, and teamwork through concrete examples. Provide evidence of how these skills contributed to your success during your cruise ship career and are applicable to onshore roles.
TIP: Use examples from your cruise ship experience to show how your soft skills positively
impacted passenger satisfaction and onboard teamwork.
17. Include Certifications and Licenses
If you've acquired relevant certifications or licenses during your transition, ensure they are prominently displayed on your resume. These credentials validate your qualifications for onshore employment.
TIP: Showcase any certifications or licenses gained during your transition, such as hospitality or safety certifications.
18. Address Career Gaps Intentionally
If you have gaps in your career history due to your transition, explain them briefly and positively. Emphasize how your experiences during this period contributed to your readiness for onshore employment.
19. Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
Errors can be especially detrimental during a career transition. Proofread meticulously to ensure your resume is free of typos, grammatical mistakes, and formatting issues.
20. Save It Wisely
Save your resume as a PDF or Word document to ensure compatibility with various systems and to preserve formatting, making it accessible to potential employers.
21. Name Your File Clearly
Give your resume file a clear and professional name, such as "YourName_Resume_Position Applying For.pdf," to ensure easy identification.
22. Keep Your Resume Outline Updated
Regularly update your resume outline with new onshore qualifications and experiences to stay prepared for future onshore job opportunities.
TIP: For more resume-writing insights and advice, read this article.
With these tailored resume rewriting tips, you'll be well-prepared to craft a standout resume that bridges your cruise ship career with your onshore employment aspirations. Your adaptability, customer service excellence, and diverse skill set developed at sea will shine through, setting you on course for a successful transition to onshore employment.
🎥 Watch the webinar video here:
In this informative session, we covered essential topics such as quality over quantity, selecting the right resume format, optimizing for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and much more. It's an excellent opportunity to gain insights that can make a significant difference in your job search.
If you're interested in exploring exciting career opportunities and open positions, be sure to check out our Career page. We have a wide range of onshore job listings that might be a perfect match for your skills and aspirations.
🌐 Visit Our Career Page
If you have any questions or want to express your interest in any of the positions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at apply@ship2shoreemploy.com.
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