The Easiest Way to Discover Your Land Job - Including Better-Paying Jobs
If you know you don't want to do your current shipboard job on land, then this blog is for you. Read all the way to the end – as this blog applies for all hotel shipboard positions.
When you've spent years working onboard, figuring out what else you could do on land isn't always straightforward, especially when you don't want to continue doing the same type of work. But there's something you've already developed throughout your shipboard career that could open far more job opportunities than you realise: your transferable skills.
Transferable skills are skills you've developed in one job, role or industry that can also be used in another.
Most roles onboard involve communication, problem-solving, organisation, teamwork or working under pressure to some degree. And after years of doing your job, you've probably become pretty good at several of these.
But here's what makes this so valuable, those skills (and many others) are not exclusive to ships, hospitality or even the travel industry. They're needed in all sorts of jobs, across completely different industries. Which means the skills you've spent years developing onboard could be exactly what another employer is looking for, even if their business has absolutely nothing to do with cruise ships.
Let me show 3 incredible reasons of how your transferable skills can help in figuring out what type of job to do next and then carry on reading to see exactly how this works for 3 shipboard positions.
1. Find Land Jobs That Could Pay Closer to What You Earn Onboard
One of the biggest concerns with figuring out what job you can do on land is how much will you earn, and will it be like your ship salary. You start looking at the obvious land equivalent of your current job, see what it pays and for some will think How am I supposed to live on that?
If you want to find land jobs that could pay closer to what you earn onboard, you need to stop looking only at the land equivalent of your current shipboard job. Instead, start exploring different roles and industries that require the transferable skills you've already developed onboard. This way, you're no longer limiting yourself to the salary ranges associated with your current occupation.
For example, if you're a Bar Waiter who has spent years recommending drinks, upselling premium products, building relationships with guests and working towards revenue targets. Through that experience, you've developed transferable skills in sales, persuasive communication, relationship building and understanding customer needs.
Those same abilities are valuable in the real estate industry, where you could explore positions such as Property Sales Consultant. Instead of recommending drinks, you'd be helping potential buyers find suitable properties, building client relationships and working towards sales targets. It's a completely different industry that uses many of the same transferable skills, with the potential for higher earnings depending on your location, experience and commission structure.
If earning something closer to your shipboard income is important to you, your transferable skills can help you explore jobs and industries you might never have considered looking at.
2. Find Completely Different Jobs Without Knowing What Job You Want
You know you don't want to do your current shipboard job on land. Great. But what on earth do you search for when you don't know what you want to do instead?
Most people start by typing their current job title into an online job platform. Unsurprisingly, they end up looking at different versions of the same job they're already doing.
This is where you can change how you search.
Instead of searching only by job title, start searching by your skills. Your transferable skills, along with your hard skills, give you different search terms that can lead you towards completely different roles and industries.
For example, if you work in Shore Excursions, you might naturally search for jobs using terms such as Shore Excursions Staff, Tour Guide or Travel Consultant. But what happens when you start searching using your transferable skills instead?
One of the skills you may have developed in Shore Excursions is event coordination. Try typing that into a job platform instead of your current job title. You could discover completely different positions, such as Events Coordinator, Conference Coordinator or Corporate Events Assistant, across industries you may never have considered.
And that's the real advantage of searching through your skills. You're no longer limited to jobs you already know exist. You're using the skills you've developed onboard to discover entirely new career possibilities.
You don't need to know what your next job is called to start discovering what it could be. Your skills can help you find it.
3. Change Industries Without Throwing Away Years of Ship Experience
When you've spent five, ten or even twenty years working onboard, the thought of leaving ships and moving into a completely different industry can feel like starting your career all over again. After everything you've worked towards, the last thing you want is to feel as though you're back at the bottom, with years of experience that no longer count for anything.
But changing industries doesn't mean leaving everything you've achieved onboard behind.
Think about how much you've developed throughout your shipboard career. The responsibilities you've taken on, the challenges you've overcome, the problems you've solved and the experience you've gained along the way. All of those years have helped you develop skills, knowledge and capabilities that go far beyond your current job title.
And this is where understanding your transferable skills becomes so valuable. They help you recognise which parts of that experience you can take into other roles and industries, even when the work itself looks completely different from what you've been doing onboard.
Instead of looking at a new industry and thinking you have to start from scratch, you can begin recognising what you already bring to it. You might need to learn new systems, develop industry-specific knowledge or gain additional qualifications, but that doesn't take away from the experience and abilities you've already spent years developing.
You're not throwing away your shipboard career. You're taking what you've learned, what you've achieved and the skills you've developed, and using them to build the next stage of your career on land.
Let's See What This Look Likes In Reality:
We've covered three ways your transferable skills can help you find different opportunities on land. Now let's look at how this could work with three different shipboard positions.
Example 1: A Guest Services Officer Looking for Better Earning Opportunities
Imagine you've spent years working in Guest Services. You're at the heart of the ship's guest operations, handling everything from guest enquiries and resolving complaints to coordinating with multiple departments, assisting with embarkation and disembarkation, and helping ensure everything runs smoothly throughout the cruise. But when you start looking at similar positions in hotels or other hospitality businesses on land, the salaries aren't quite what you had in mind.
This is where your transferable skills could open up some interesting possibilities.
Throughout your shipboard career, you've developed skills in customer relationship management, conflict resolution, problem-solving, communication and handling complex customer enquiries. You've also gained experience coordinating with different departments, managing operational requirements and working with people from all over the world.
Now, imagine taking those skills into an entirely different industry.
For example, you could investigate becoming a Global Mobility Coordinator, helping international companies manage the relocation of employees between countries.
These positions can involve coordinating travel arrangements, communicating with employees and external service providers, managing documentation, organising relocation schedules and resolving unexpected problems.
Sound familiar?
Although you'd need to develop knowledge of corporate relocation procedures and potentially immigration requirements, many of the coordination, communication and problem-solving skills you've developed onboard could be relevant.
And because you're exploring opportunities in corporate services rather than limiting yourself to hospitality, you can investigate completely different salary ranges and career progression opportunities.
And that's just one example. Your Guest Services experience could also lead you to explore positions such as Corporate Events Coordinator, where your experience coordinating departments, managing schedules, organising activities and handling unexpected changes could be equally valuable.
The point is that your experience doesn't have to lead to another front-desk position and your transferable skills don't limit you to one alternative career. They can open opportunities across several different industries, each with its own salary ranges and earning potential.
Example 2: An Entertainment Host Who Doesn't Know What Else to Search For
Imagine you've spent years working as an Entertainment Host (Cruise Staff). You've hosted everything from bingo and trivia to theme nights and deck parties. You've entertained hundreds of guests, encouraged people to get involved, mingled with guests at different events and helped create memorable experiences throughout their cruise.
But now you're thinking about leaving ships, and you know you don't want to continue working in entertainment. And let's face it, searching for Entertainment Host or Bingo Caller on a land-based job platform isn't exactly going to open up a world of new career opportunities!
So, instead of searching for another entertainment-related position, start looking at the transferable skills you've developed onboard. Think about everything involved in your job. You host activities, speak confidently in front of large audiences, encourage guests to participate, organise events, adapt when plans change and keep people engaged throughout an activity.
Through that experience, you've developed transferable skills in public speaking, audience engagement, event coordination, communication, adaptability and group facilitation.
Now imagine using those skills as search terms rather than searching for another entertainment position.
Searching for group facilitation, event coordination or public speaking could introduce you to positions such as Corporate Events Coordinator, Training Facilitator or Community Engagement Officer.
Suddenly, you discover opportunities in corporate training, community organisations, education and other industries that you might never have considered.
You're no longer searching for another entertainment job. You're discovering completely different career possibilities by searching for the skills you've developed while doing one.
Example 3: A Cabin Steward Who Wants to Change Industries Without Starting Again
Imagine you've spent eight years working as a Cabin Steward. You're experienced, reliable and good at your job, but you're ready to leave ships and don't want another housekeeping position.
You find a Facilities Coordinator vacancy and initially dismiss it because you've never worked in facilities management. But then you read the job description. The employer wants someone who can organise daily workloads, maintain standards, identify and report maintenance issues, coordinate with different departments, manage supplies and respond to customer requests.
Now think about your shipboard experience.
You've spent years managing your own workload, maintaining strict cleanliness standards, reporting maintenance problems, monitoring supplies, coordinating with other departments and responding to guest requests.
You already have experience with several of the responsibilities the employer is describing.
Of course, the position might also require facilities-management software, contractor coordination or technical knowledge that you haven't developed yet. Those are things you'd need to investigate, but you've discovered something important.
You may never have worked in facilities management, but that doesn't mean you're entering the industry without relevant experience.
And that's how knowing your transferable skills can help you recognise opportunities you might otherwise have dismissed.
We've explored how a Bar Waiter, Shore Excursions Staff, Guest Services, Cruise Staff and a Cabin Steward could use their transferable skills to investigate completely different opportunities on land. But what about your position?
Now, What Could Your Shipboard Position Lead To? I've created a free guide to help you explore exactly that! It will show you where your transferable skills cantake you
Inside, you'll find over 50 different shipboard positions across departments including Revenue, Housekeeping, Guest Services, HR, Entertainment, Beverage and Culinary.
For each position, I've identified up to 10 land-based jobs worth exploring based on the transferable skills associated with that role.
And we're not just talking about hospitality jobs. You'll discover opportunities across different industries, including positions you may never have thought to search for.
The guide also explores how your transferable skills can help you broaden your job search, investigate different earning opportunities and recognise the value of the experience you've already developed onboard.
So, whether you have absolutely no idea what you want to do next or you're simply curious about what else you could do, this guide will give you plenty of ideas to start investigating.
Your next job doesn't have to look anything like your shipboard job for your shipboard experience to help you get it.
