References from previous work and how they affect the chances of going to sea
Automatic translation
As in any other field, a long marine career does not depend only on your working skills. You can be a good specialist, but not be able to build relationships in a team, which can lead to problems with work. In many cases, shipowners and crews will be guided by references from a previous location. And, if you have not received job offers at sea for a long time, perhaps this is due precisely to bad reference.
Reasons for negative recommendations
Naturally, if the employer for some reason sent a negative recommendation about you, this will significantly reduce your chances of leaving the flight soon. Among the main reasons for negative recommendations can be indicated: conflict, alcohol abuse or (even worse) drug use, general incompetence and frequent morbidity. These are not all reasons, moreover, we deliberately do not indicate here such an option as personal hostility (especially on the part of senior command personnel) or deliberate denigration of reputation (this can be done by unscrupulous shipowners in an attempt to keep valuable personnel from leaving for another company) .
Whatever the reason for writing a negative review about you, it means one thing - either you really have problems with it, or you should work hard to prove otherwise. If you are sure that you have not done anything that could give rise to writing a bad recommendation about you, then we recommend either contacting the captain of your last vessel, or directly with the company or crewing. You can state the essence of the problem in writing by requesting more detailed information about the reasons and confirming that you are right. However, this may cause lengthy litigation with the company that spoke negatively about you.
Least chances
The least high chances of returning to work at sea again are for those seafarers who made more serious mistakes in the previous place, for example, broke the law (theft, damage, etc.). Here, be prepared for the fact that it will simply be difficult for you to make at least some progress in your job search. The most appropriate solution here would be not to try to hide the truth or, even worse, to lie outright - you need to try in every possible way to prove your correction and your readiness to prevent this from happening in the future. Although this does not guarantee you a positive outcome.
In addition, in the event that they do not want to take you anywhere due to a negative review, you can demand its verification. This is especially true when you feel confident that a bad recommendation is right and wrong. The positive reviews collected from other companies and crewing companies that you have dealt with during your career as a seafarer will help a lot in proving this. After all, if you were in good standing with other companies and, suddenly, you became bad with one, this will be a clear indication of the illogicality of a negative assessment of you or of the accident of what happened.