Your Guide to Creating a Seafarer Resume Online

Does the thought of sitting down and writing your seafarer resume when you're looking for your next job at sea fill you with dread and exhaustion? Do you wish there was an easier and less time-consuming way to contact new crew managers or manning agents and grab their attention?

If so, you’re reading the right blog post and you've come to the right place!

That's because here at Martide we make it easier than ever before to search and apply for seafarer jobs, and then keep track of the jobs you've applied for with our user-friendly website and mobile app.

To apply for any of our seafarer jobs all you need to do is follow these two easy steps:

1. Register a free seafarer account with Martide.
2. Add your information to your Seafarer Profile - this is where your online resume for a seaman is stored.

The best thing about this is that when you’ve created your seafarer profile and filled in all your personal information, that’s the one and only time you’ll ever have to fill in the majority of the info.

After that it will be quick and easy to add new skills, work experience or other details that may have changed

And that means it will be quick and easy to apply for as many jobs at sea as you like through Martide's seafarer job site. So let’s get started!

How to create your online seafarer resume

First of all, create a Martide account if you don't already have one or log in to your existing account. You can do that at martide.com.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Seafarer Resume

The first page you see will be your My Jobs page where you'll see past, current and future contracts and their status. It looks something like this:

Over on the left hand side you will see My Profile. Click on this and you will go to your profile page. It looks like this:

When you first log in, your profile will be empty - all of our images show a made-up seafarer who we are calling Adaline.

The first thing you will want to do is add your profile picture. This is important so that crew managers and manning agents can see who you are - it's always good to have a face to put to a name!

And like any seafarer CV or resume, we suggest using a photo that shows you in a professional light. You could be in uniform or working gear, or it could be a headshot.

Read more: How A.I. Can Help You Write Your Seafarer Resume

We also recommend getting someone else to take the photo for you if you don't already have a suitable picture - selfies don't look very professional!

Now, on to the rest of your seafarer profile and online resume.

The sections in your seafarer profile

Your profile page is broken down into sections. It's a long list and it might seem like it will take some time to fill in, but trust us, it will be worth it!

We will explain what each section means below.

These sections are your:

• Overview: Personal Details and Last Employment
  
• Work Summary
• Employment
• Work Experience
• Education
• Contacts
• Special Skills
• Physical Specifications
• Emergency Contacts
• Next of Kin
• Preferences
• Languages
• Bank Account
• Medical Examinations
• Vaccinations
• Visas
• Assessments
• Certificates
• Training
• Licenses
• Travel
• Endorsements
• Custom Documents
• Employment Contracts
• Payslips
• Appraisals

Most of these sections are automatically filled in by the crew manager or manning agent so you don't have to do anything.

It’s really easy to fill in or edit any of the other sections - just click the little pen icons on the right of any of the sections or the +Add buttons at the bottom of the sections - see the image below:

The sections should all be self-explanatory but below is a run through of each, including some of their highlights and what they mean for you.

Overview
This section shows your personal details and also your last seafarer job. You can edit your personal information. To do this click the 3 dots in the right hand corner of the section and then Edit. You can also download your photo:  

Work Summary
The Work Summary is also filled in for you. It's an overview of your rank(s), the type of vessels you have worked on and what engines you have experience with (if any.)

Employment
This section is automatically filled in as well, so you don't have to do anything. It shows the ranks you have held, the vessel types you have worked on, the dates of the contract, the employer, and the current status.

Work Experience
Probably the most important part of any seafarer resume. Make sure prospective employers can see your experience in the shipping industry by adding your previous seafarer jobs.

Information here includes your current or previous ranks, the ship management company and agent, vessel names, vessel types and the vessels’ specifications such as DWT and engine.

You can also add the start and end dates of contracts. If you want to edit info at a later date, or delete it, you can also do this here. In addition, you can also upload a copy of your CV to this section.

Read more: How to Build a Resume for a Seaman Online with Martide

Education
Let the shipowners and managers or manning agents who might be considering hiring you for their jobs at sea see how qualified you are by entering your education and qualifications.

Information in this section includes your school or maritime academy, area of study, degree type and start and graduation dates. Again, if you need to edit or delete any of this info at a later date, you can.

Contacts

This section shows your home address and phone number. You can also add your social media accounts here if you want to.

Special Skills
This is where you can shine in your resume for a seaman! Add any special skills or talents that set you apart from other seafarers in this section.

It’s completely up to you what you say here - maybe you have experience in handling specialist machinery such as excavators or with LNG fuel, or perhaps you want to let everyone know about something you were singled out for being exceptional at in a previous role.  

Physical Specifications
Obviously you'll need to be kitted out with work gear when you land a seafarer job and the all-important physical attributes segment requires you to enter information about your height and weight, and your shoe, collar, cap and overalls sizes.

You also need to enter your blood type, and your hair and eye color. You can edit any of this information if it changes at a later date.

Emergency Contact 
We need to know who to get in touch with in the unlikely event that anything happens to you while you're away working at sea so we ask you to enter the name, contact number, address and relationship status of your chosen emergency contact.

Next of Kin

On a similar note, this section shows your next of kin's name, relationship to you, address and phone number.

Preferences
Because we want to help you find the seafarer jobs that are right for you, we also let you enter and edit information about your preferred vessel type and contract length.

You can include your preferred minimum and maximum DWT and engine, minimum and maximum salary, preferred contract length and your availability date in this section of your online seafarer resume.

Languages Spoken
Being proficient in English is important in seafarer jobs and this is your chance to impress an employer by showing them how many languages you can speak and your proficiency in them.

In your Martide seafarer resume online you can add the languages you speak and select whether you’re a beginner, elementary, intermediate, upper intermediate, advanced, proficient, or native speaker.

You can add more languages if you learn them, edit them if your level of skill has changed or even delete one if you’ve forgotten how to speak it!

Bank Account
At Martide we understand that you may not want all of your salary paying into one bank account.

That’s why when you add your banking details to your seafarer resume, we’ve created a handy feature that allows you to include a percentage figure if you wish your salary to be split between accounts. You can state what % you want to be paid to each account and you can enter as many bank accounts as you like.

Medical Examinations
The medical documents and certifications you have contain vital information for shipowners and managers. The Martide platform lets you securely store them online, all in one place in your online resume for a seaman.

Enter details about the documents you hold and upload a copy of them to your profile. You can edit the details if needed, and remove any that you no longer have. You can also add as many attachments to a single entry as you need.

You can download a copy of the documents by clicking the blue down arrow. You can also see who else can see this info by hovering your mouse over the padlock icon.  

Vaccinations

This section is automatically filled in. You do not need to do anything. It shows your type of vaccination, number, brand, country and date of issue, and date of expiry. 

You can download a copy of the documents here too.

Visas
Seafarer jobs usually require you to have visas for travel and you probably won’t be going far without one! So don’t forget to enter details about the visas you hold and upload a copy of them to your seafarer resume and profile.

You can edit the details if needed, and remove any that have expired. You can add as many attachments to an entry as you need.

Assessments

This section is automatically filled in. You do not need to do anything. It shows your type of assessment, total score, and the vessel/contract it refers to.

You can download a copy of the documents by clicking the blue down arrow.  You can also see who else can see this info by hovering your mouse over the padlock icon.   

Certificates
There's a lot of documentation that goes with working in a seafarer's job, we know! The good news is that once you've uploaded copies of all of your certificates you won't have to do it again. They'll all be stored safely in your online seafarer resume.

In this section you can upload copies of the certificates you hold, such as your Personnel with Designated Security Duties, Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting, and Elementary First Aid certificates.

This section shows your type of certificate, number, country and date of issues and the expiry date.

You can download a copy of the certificates by clicking the blue down arrow.

Training

As you know, seafarer training is a big part of your career at sea and crew managers will definitely want to know what training you have undertaken. 

Here's where you can impress them by adding your type of training, number, country and date of issues and the expiry date.

Had risk assessment training? Know how to navigate in ice? Attended a lathe machine course? Know the fundamentals of LNG fuel? Here's where you can display your knowledge to give you a great chance of being hired for cargo ship jobs.

You can download a copy of the documents by clicking the blue down arrow.  

Licenses
Your licenses also appear in your online seafarer resume and Martide user profile. Employers and manning agents will need to check these and you can add and upload copies of as many as you hold.

Travel 
Just as you need visas for traveling for jobs at sea, you'll also need to upload copies of your seaman's book and passport.

Copies of these will go in the Travel section, and they make it quick and easy for employers to check that you have the right paperwork in order to be hired for one of their vacancies.

Endorsements 

Now you need to upload copies of your endorsements in this section, as well as the country of issue and the dates of issue and expiry.  

Custom Documents

This section will be filled in for you and it shows your type of document, number, country and date of issues and the expiry date. As always, you can download documents if needed.

Employment Contracts

This section is automatically filled in and you do not need to do anything. It shows the vessel name, your rank, type of contract, effective from, start date, length and salary.

Payslips

Those all important payslips! In this section of your online seafarer resume you'll be able to see the vessel name, your rank, contract dates and the assignment/vessel. And of course you'll be able to download your payslips when you need to. 

Appraisals

And last but not least, the Appraisals section which shows the type of document, the date of the appraisal and the attached document - which you can download as usual.

As you can see, there is quite a substantial amount of information, but as we said at the start, once you've filled in the majority of it, you'll be good to go to apply for as many seafarer jobs as you like!

A few notes about your seafarer profile

1. Entering much of the above information into your resume for a seaman is mandatory because crew managers and manning agents will need to see it to be able to consider you for their seafarer jobs. However you can choose not to enter certain information such as your social media accounts if you would prefer to keep those private.
2. The information you enter in your profile is used to help you apply for jobs quickly and easily - once completed you won’t have to fill out all your details every time you apply for a vacancy. It makes applying for jobs at sea much easier!
3. You can add to and edit your Seafarer Profile at any time by clicking on any of the little pen icons or the plus signs (+) in any of the sections. That's great for updating your new skills and latest work experience and helping your online seafarer resume stand out from the crowd!  

How to set your seafarer CV and profile to private

We've also made it really easy for you to set your seafarer profile / seafarer resume to public or private, depending on your circumstances.

To see you options, click the Private button at the top of your profile page:

When you click on that you will see a pop-up box like this:

Click on the option you prefer right now:

Public: 

When in Public mode, your seafarer resume and profile info can be found on Martide by crew managers and manning agents who are looking for crew for their jobs at sea

Private:

When in Private mode, your seaman resume cannot be seen in a search - this does not affect any previous applications and employers and manning agents that you have replied to can still contact you about their seafarer job vacancies.

How to change your password and email address

We know, we know - it happens. You forget your password or you change your email address and suddenly you can't access your seafarer profile or resume for a seaman.

The good news is, it's easy to reset your password and change your email address in Martide if you need to.

To reset your password or the email address linked to your account, click on your profile picture in the top right corner. In the drop down box click on Settings and you will see Change Email or Change Password:  

Click on either Change Password or Change Email and you will be taken to the relevant page where you can easily change your password or link a new email address to your account.

We hope you’ve found this post useful but if you’d like to read a longer version with more screenshots and step-by-step instructions you can check out our support guide to creating a seafarer resume and user profile on Martide right here on our support website

You can also read a quick and easy guide to changing your password or email here:

• How to change your email
• How to reset your password

On our support site you’ll also find some other handy information such as how to find a seafarer job with Martide and how to use your inbuilt messages feature.

If you’re done completing your user profile and online resume of a seaman and you're ready to start applying for jobs at sea, why not head on over to our seafarer jobs list and see for yourself just how quick and easy it is to apply for seafarer jobs with Martide!

You can also apply for jobs at sea through Martide when you’re on the go with our free mobile app which we’ve developed especially for seafarers.

Android users can download the app through Google Play and anyone with an iPhone or iPad can get it from the Apple App Store.

Good luck with creating your seafarer online resume with Martide and we look forward to seeing you onboard soon!

This post was originally published on July 29th 2019 and last updated to reflect changes in the design of the seafarer profile page on October 26th 2023.