Yacht Crew Careers Through the Ages

Whether faxed or digitally uploaded, the resume process is just one part of getting a yacht job that has changed through the decades. Thirty years ago, the U.S. Postal Service delivered CVs, newspapers printed employment classifieds, and people used pagers.

“When I got a beeper message, I had to find a pay phone and call them back,” Chef Zan Morgan said of his start in 1999.

The yacht support industry was growing. The Fort Lauderdale scene centered around 17th Street, where captains scouted candidates at the now-demolished Chuck’s Steakhouse. Crew agencies and crew houses were on the rise.

“I stayed in someone’s house, crew houses were not a thing then,” Morgan said. He visited placement agents daily with homemade cookies to get to know them better. Crew put their printed CVs in a notebook in Smallwood’s Yachtwear for captains.

“I would move mine to the top every other day because the captains won’t go down to the next pages,” Morgan said. “It seems so easy today.” 

Today’s new tools do not mean it’s simple, said Stew/Pastry Chef Lena Verbytska.

“You follow Facebook groups, WhatsApp, and Telegram chats, register with crew agencies, and apply through industry job websites — again and again,” she said. “It can be overwhelming, and sometimes, all your experience can be overlooked if the right photo doesn’t catch attention.”

She equated the search to finding the perfect life partner: You do everything, but it comes down to luck, timing, and your network.

“With so many applicants, the competition is fierce,” Verbytska said.

Stew Amy Redman diversified her resume to include cook, au pair, and interior designer. She has a cooking channel, and has STCW, mixology, barista, advanced service, and wine training. But she knows that the thing that matters most, is actual experience. She emails daily.

“Mostly, I am not hearing back,” Redman said. “I do get the odd email saying, ‘We received your email.’ But generally, they don’t reply.”

“Don’t get discouraged,” said her veteran yacht friends. “Everyone has to go through it.”

Now Redman’s emails say, “I know you’re not looking now, but please save my CV.”

Ami Ira might not have gotten her crew job in today’s yachting climate, she said. Several decades ago, she worked at Bimini Boatyard & Grill in Fort Lauderdale and had no boating experience when a yacht broker customer got her a job.

“That is a rare scenario,” she said. “But, it can still happen.”

Now owner of Blue Oceans Yachting Powered by Crew Unlimited, she has worked in crew placement since 1993. She said more of today’s crew need skills like the ones Verbytska and Redman have. The majority don’t have them.

“To generalize, they don’t have any work history, they are here out of high school, they haven’t shared a dorm room, they don’t know how to make a bed, or cook an egg,” she said. “They bring little more than enthusiasm. And there is no work ethic.”

A big issue is that captains say most junior stews or deck crew need six months of experience.

“How do they get experience if they don’t have experience?” Ira said. 

Capt. Mike Wiener, a 25-year veteran, works primarily through word-of-mouth referrals.

“Back then, I called Chapman Sea School to see if they had any graduating crew that might be a good fit,” Wiener said. 

Veteran Capt. Gil Pinkham also depends on personal relationships.Years ago, crew agents personally knew both captains and crew.

“They could say, ‘I’ve got a perfect guy for you’ or ‘You would fit in good with this boat’,” Pinkham said. “Online is not a crew agency; where’s the love there?”

Beverly Grant did her first Atlantic crossing in the 1970s as a cook.

“It was a terrible trip, but I didn’t know it,” Grant said. “I was so naive and so willing. But from that trip on, I decided, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

She worked on yachts for 25 years, then moved into crew placement, where she interviewed chefs by having them cook for captains and brokers in her kitchen. Several trends concern her. She said career longevity has declined. She and her contemporaries saw yachting as a lifetime career, but today’s crew might not be in for the long haul.

“Many crew are coming in with Below Deck expectations,” Grant said. “It is not all sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a lot of hard work.”

Now, there are more management companies, she said. They hire younger captains, pay less, and control more. And she thinks the pay is getting worse.

“I look at what I made in the 1980s, and it has not elevated,” she said. “But expectations are there.”

Another change is the hiring process.

“Now it is management companies,” she said. “It used to be the captain with owner involvement. There is a separation, legally, because so much is corporations now.”

But the yachting lives on. Chef Morgan is still in yachting and estates.

“If people are open to new horizons,” he said. “You never know what happens next.”

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