5 Ways to Find a Job at Sea in the Philippines

Image by Shipping Wiki

Finding a job at sea in the Philippines is extremely hard nowadays because of the overflowing supply
vs demand especially for the ratings and support level. Not to mention the yearly 20,000 cadet graduates while the industry can only absorb 5000.


However, it's a different story for the officers.The demand is high because of the lack of experienced officers to fill the fleet of the growing shipping industry worldwide. The result, those who are licensed but didn't act yet accepts a very low salary in exchange of acting as an officer.

Don't be discouraged though because there are many ways of applying to the shipping and manning agencies here in the Phillippines, you just need patience and perseverance to get accepted into one.

Here are the ways to apply:

1. Seaman Jobsite

Seaman Jobsite is the most popular online job posting and job seeking platform for Filipino seafarers and manning agencies in the Philippines. You can find vacancies and its details here posted by the manning agencies themselves. It's easy to use just register and upload a resume if desired, search for vacancies and apply online or personally.

Image by Seaman Jobsite

2. Stroll on T.M Kalaw

TM Kalaw is known as the capital of the shipping and manning agencies in the Philippines. There is also a place of everyday massive hirings at the sidewalk just along the Jolibee. A lot of Filipino seafarers standby there to spot for job opportunities.

Image by Macky Ramirez

3. Apply online

Take advantage of the technology! You may email, text or call all of the shipping and manning agencies in the Philippines if you know their contact details. Here's the updated list of licensed shipping and manning agencies by Philippine Overseas Employment Administration(POEA).

Screenshot from POEA website

4. Apply personally

The traditional way, the list of licensed shipping and manning agencies have the address included. Apply to these companies and agencies one by one. There's over 400 so don't lose hope, there's a saying that "While there is water at sea, there will be jobs for seafarers"

5.. Join seafarer groups on facebook.

There are many seafarer groups on facebook with active thousands of members in it. Sometimes job openings are posted there, you don't want to miss those. Here are the following groups to join for.

• Association of Filipino Seamen in Facebook(Over 20,000 members)
• MARINO-FILIPINAS INC(Over 20,000 members)
• GLOBAL PINOY (FILIPINO) SEAFARERS (GPS)(Over 18,000 members)
• UNITED FILIPINO SEAFARERS(Over 19,000 members)
• TINIG NG MARINO(Over 25,000 members)

It'll be beneficial to all if you share what works best for you, feel free to comment it below.