How To Get Yacht Steward/ess Jobs

Steward/esses are in charge of the interior of the yacht. They are responsible for guest satisfaction, service, bartending and interior upkeep. Do you have amazing attention to detail and a desire to serve others? Find a job on a yacht as a yacht steward/ess! Here are some other things you need to know to get started:

What skills are required?

If you're going for a stewardess position, captains want to see that you have experience in the service industry. It doesn't necessarily have to be fine dining and silver service, but that would be a huge plus. There are transferable skills that you can bring from land for almost every yacht job! As a yacht stewardess, it's likely that you'll have to take a position as a junior stew before working your way up to becoming a chief stew. Here are some skills that you'll want to know to be a yacht stewardess:

• Housekeeping

• Attention to detail and organization-OCD level detail!

• Any restaurant/service experience

• Bartending

• Barista/coffee

• Laundry - high focus on ironing and proper care of different types of fabrics

• Floral knowledge

• Wine experience - sommelier, or at least a basic knowledge of wines

• Organization and admin experience a plus

• Bonus skills: childcare, yoga, massage/spa experience, event planning

Formatting Your CV

You will want to tailor your CV to the position that you are looking for. Make sure you include all yachting experience in one section and then a separate section for relevant land-based experience. Be sure you aren't making these common mistakes in your CV. Meridian even provides a free CV guide and templates to work from. It's important to know that land CVs are different than yacht CVs. When a captain is hiring, they are going to be looking at your headshot, basic certificates and qualifications, service experience, time at sea, and relevant skills. However, certain skills can't be taught, like your innate attention to detail and a joyful demeanor!

Finding Work/Daywork

Find any day working opportunity you can! What is daywork? Think of it as a one-day internship - to prove your work ethic and get noticed as a stellar candidate for future hire. You must actively search for work in order to rise in the yachting world (ahem, like checking our free Meridian crew portal). Be open to any kind of work, as long as it gets your foot in the door with what you want to do. If you can choose, try to pick daywork that gives you experience in the interior of the boat. Although you may have service and cleaning experience, you'll need to learn the ins and outs of how it works on board yachts. Learn how to do beds and heads (making beds and cleaning bathrooms), laundry, table setting, detailing, and service like a pro. One day, you may even make your way up to chief stewardess/steward!

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