These are the reasons why men and women in known countries including the Philippines that supplies great number of seafarers to the world’s shipping industry are queuing-up in manning agencies hoping to land a job at sea. In the archipelagic country like the Philippines, seafaring job is an attractive opportunity because first of all it is free to apply; only that credential and competency are the one strictly required.
Foreign employers represented by manning agencies mostly located in Metro Manila Philippines, are implementing these rules or policies to protect all applicants from paying placement fee and to maintain the high standard of qualification of all seafarers. In this particular issue, it seems that the rules or policies are good and beyond question the fact that it implies favorable advantage to all stakeholders.
Indeed through this long-established system, seafaring jobs continue to grow except that also through this means, under-the-table transaction of applying for a job at sea has long been part of the system and likewise increasing in numbers. And why is it so? The problem can be traced to the air-conditioned offices of manning agencies with people milling around as crewing managers, assistants, secretaries, or even utilities stricken with “emphatic crewing syndrome.”
The syndrome is exacting that the rule run like these: “whom you know, not what you know” “back-up me you,” “protégé,” “patronage,” “close connection” and other forms of “empathic crewing syndrome” the one that “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.”
This is an open secret in the crewing industry; an exposed and disgusting wide-opened “sea chest” of “emphatic crewing syndrome.” Applicants near the seat of “office power” easily hurdles the quest of getting a job at sea and immediately deployed even without the appropriate credential and competency. Others, who have no connections but qualified are feted to the worst kind of treatment especially RATINGS.
The RATINGS or the lesser mortals in the seafaring industry are the most affected by this kind of ignominy. They are subjected to some kind of immeasurable hopelessness, desperation or failure because applying for a seafaring job is a long & tricky rough sea to hurdle irreparably effected by the “emphatic crewing syndrome.”
