r/tuglife • u/CraftyProfessor7636 • 25d ago
Entry level deckhand
hello all I’m looking for some tips or insight. I’ve applied to almost 50 companies for a deckhand position. I’m green, no deckhand experience but I’ve got like 7 years of construction experience working a job that did home renos. I’ve only started applying maybe 2-3 weeks ago but my results haven’t yielded much. I’ve received rejection emails from over half of my applications and haven’t heard anything from the others. Ive called the others but when I call they just say “we will email you if we’re interested”. On Facebook, people say everybody is hiring and it’s so easy to get hired right now so I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’ve got my Twic, valid clean DL, no felonies.
Im in middle NC but I’m to the point where I may just hop in the car and drive to Louisiana or Kentucky and go in person handing out resumes. I just don’t exactly know where to look. Can somebody tell me what the best parts of Louisiana/mississippi/Kentucky would be best to drive through to hand out the most resumes? I’m open to working any hitch length up to 30 days and will travel anywhere for crew change. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated, thank you.
Update: Got a job 😎 it was a company that I really wanted to work for as well. It’s a location that I have a bunch of family in and the company benefits are great. I probably submitted 70 applications - had 4 interviews - 2 rejections from the interviews and 2 offers.
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u/mazzullaball 25d ago
Don’t go south. Other way my brother.
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 25d ago
Any suggestions? You talking like New York? They got companies up there that hire green folks with only a twic? I was under the impression you’d have to have ya mmc for most of the harbor jobs up there. I genuinely don’t care where i go as long as I can get something. I’ve got my mmc docs submitted, one of the recs just emailed me letting me know they’ve got my med cert, haven’t heard any updates on my mmc yet though.
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u/Beaverboy89 25d ago
You could try Stasinos marine horrible company to work for and they blow through deck hands like no one else lol but they do hire green deck hands. I wouldn’t recommend it but if you are desperate you could try them
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 25d ago
Thank you for the suggestion. I honestly will go anywhere even if it’s a shit company for shit pay just so I can get that experience and foot in the door because I know a year from now I’ll have enough experience to go wherever else without much trouble. I don’t have my mmc but I talked to the guy there and he said they put guys in the shipyard till their credentials come in.
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u/Beaverboy89 25d ago
Ahh okay man don’t go to the shipyard!! They will work you like a dog for 250$ a day lol. 12 hour days every day for three weeks straight. Unless that sounds appealing I was at the shipyard for 1 week and had so much rat shit on me from pulling the ceiling off one of there fucked up tugs. But yeah you need an MMC. It’s integral to getting a job on a tug if you don’t have that you can’t get onboard till you get one.
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 25d ago
Noted. Yeah the guy on the phone said it’s hard ass work so I would imagine it is high turnover especially if it’s doing nasty shit like that. I got an interview with a company Monday and waiting to hear back from a couple others I have reached out to. If I don’t have a job secured in a week or two then I’m just gonna drive out to Louisiana or Paducah and drive down the river handing out resumes. I got family in both states so it wouldn’t be too difficult to do. If I still can’t get a job, then I’ll just thug it out in a shipyard like that for a bit.
I’ve also been applying to only inland river jobs because of the whole not having my mmc yet. I heard that most inland river companies you only gotta have your twic for and that mmc is mainly required if you want to work Bluewater.
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u/Besotted_Sailor 20d ago
Give H&L out of Hauppauge a shot while you’re beating brush in NY. Pretty good outfit, not stingy with OT, always doing federal contract and need guys willing to travel
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u/Logo126 24d ago
What makes you say Stasinos is horrible? I’ve got a buddy who works there and loves it
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 19d ago
Maybe he just meant the shipyard. He mentioned in another reply to me that he worked in the shipyard and hated it. Probably different animal entirely working on the boat than in the yard
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u/Potential_Mission369 23d ago
Yo, what I’ve reached out to them like five times and they always just ghosted me😭
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 19d ago
I called them and the guy I spoke to told me they were bringing two boats on in the next 6 months and I haven’t heard back since submitting my resume so that’s probably why, they just aren’t actively hiring at this time
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u/Sea_Performance_2274 3d ago
congrats! im also thinking of joining. how much your salary you got in your contract? and any tips?
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 3d ago
So the company I got on with, the pay is a little over $300/day. And then you get off day pay as well that’s a bit lower than the day rate on the boat. Ends up coming out to around like 80k/year plus fantastic benefits that definitely put me over 100k total comp.
Tips as far as getting a job? Just call people man. Stay on there asses. This company I called them like 2-3 times over the course of about 2 weeks. Another company I got an offer from, I called about 4 times, calling them every few days until they finally gave me an offer. Can’t rely on just throwing online applications out. They just go into the void. Gotta go in person to these companies and knock on doors, if that’s not feasible like if you live an area too far from anywhere to do that, then start calling phones. Look the companies up on LinkedIn if they have a presence there and look for recruiters or hr people. The best person to speak to is going to be the port captain or hiring manager. Don’t pester and annoy them, like don’t call them daily or multiple times a day unless they say to call back at a certain time. But after putting an application in, call maybe a 1-2 weeks later and then maybe twice a week or once a week minimum after that until they tell you yes or no.
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u/Sea_Performance_2274 3d ago
omg its like $9k/month i did not thought that junior deckhand earns that level. i was thinking arround 2k-3k / month.
i dont have any previous experience in this field. im 18y old , do i have chance of getting selected?
im also thinking to apply for junior deckhand.1
u/CraftyProfessor7636 2d ago
Yeah it’s like 8500/month gross and then 800/2 weeks on off time. I can’t speak for blue water tugs but most companies on the river aren’t going to pay that. There’s only a couple that pay deckhands that much. I had no prior tug experience either. I had some ship experience from my time in the navy and I come from a construction background but that was it. 18 is a fine age. Most companies prefer to hire somebody young because it is definitely a young man’s game. I’m nearly 30 and just getting started and most didn’t want to give me a shot due to my age.
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u/boofinem 24d ago edited 24d ago
Hey bud. I’ve worked for a good handful of Inland river companies. Most of them say on the job listing you need to live within 150-250 miles of either the Mississippi/ Illinois river or from their facility
That being said if you were a chief or a pilot that goes out the window.
Other than that if you get on a locking river, line handing is extremely dangerous. Learn to throw wraps from afar, keep your hands out of the kevel/timberhead and when the line quits talking you’re in danger
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u/Temporary_Trade_7372 22d ago
look into dredging companies for the time on the water you are looking for. But being new I am not sure those shift will be available to you. do you have other credentials besides a TWIC ?
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u/CraftyProfessor7636 21d ago
Not currently, just my twic. I’ve completed the whole process and submitted everything for the mmc and med cert, just playing the waiting game now. I’ll work on any type of boat in any location, I believe I have applied to a few dredging companies. Only been able to get 2 interviews so far in a month with 50+ applications put out, and one of those interviews I received a rejection from.
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u/Temporary_Trade_7372 21d ago
keep at it - get on LinkedIn and see if you can get to the recruiters who are looking to staff their ships.
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u/No-Reputation-7843 25d ago
Paducah Kentucky, almost all the river companies have an office and boatyard there. Do you have your twic card or applied and have a receipt? If not this is why you're getting passed over.