First I made an account on OSM (manning agency). Within OSM I ticked that I want to work on cruise ships. OSM has my CV and all relevant data for me to be considered by potential employers. Two days after making my profile I got an email from OSM stating that Carnival Cruise Line is looking for new cadets and asked if I wanted to join their hiring process. I responded yes and got sent to the CCL hiring system. I got automated emails stating that I did meet their requirements for the position. After some time I had a video interview through HireVue where I talked about myself. They ask questions in text form and give you 1 min to think and 2 min to record your response. Questions were general and non technical i.e Tell us about a time when you struggled to complete a project or job, what was the situation and how did you solve the problem? How would you respond if you disagreed with your coworker? Tell us about a time when you had to make a decision, with conflicting or inaccurate information. How would you respond in a situation where two coworkers are disagreeing and in conflict?
HireVue did give you 2 chances to record your answers on each question. If I failed due to speech error I could start over. I did that maybe twice during the interview because I felt the story wasn’t right. I think you get 5 min breaks between each question and you can choose to make it shorter. There are many examples out there on what the HireVue questions are, and they are almost always general in nature and in place to gauge your personality. It’s important to show a positive attitude, dress well, smile, have a professional demeanor and showing personality. The questions do allow you to tell short stories about actual things that happened in your life. A tip is to always be in a location that is well lit up, noice free, distraction free, and where you are alone. Look into the camera. This first step in the interview process is quite easy. Stay calm and present and give a good and lasting impression of yourself.
Next you’ll receive an email telling you if you were successful or not. If you are, then you get an invitation to a psychometric test that takes 20 mins. This test is done unsupervised on your PC. For me this was the hardest step, because there is a pass or fail grade and you’ll have to wait for 2 years to apply again if you fail. The tests vary from reaction test, IQ test, and personality test. Be well rested and focused before starting. Have no distractions and commit to doing this test well. The IQ tests have a right or wrong answer, but the personality test does not. It’s important to be truthful because the test is designed to notice discrepancies in your answers.
If you pass this test then you will get a call from the recruiter via HireVue. Treat this video interview as if it was a physical one. Be alone, in a well lit and noice free environment. Smile and show confidence. She did not ask me any technical questions. She did ask: 1) Why do you want to work on a cruise ship? 2) why do you want to work for CCL?
1) Responded by saying that I’ve always been fascinated by the large number of crew needed that do their absolute best to give passengers a truly awesome experience. And how important it is that both crew, staff and officers do an impeccable job for the whole machine to run smoothly.
2) CCLs values strongly match with my own. I admire how the company is committed to the environment by building LNG powered ships. It shows that the company is strong, adaptable and that it cares.
She did not ask anymore questions after that. She did state at the start of the interview that we will talk about my CV, but that didn’t happen. She started telling me about how much I’ll get paid, how the living accommodations are like, how long the contracts will be and what the next steps are.
After the interview I was invited to an assessment much like the first one, but this one being 90 minutes long and supervised by camera. This however did not happen due to a technical error from their side and I got the job offer without doing this final assessment. I can imagine however, that this test would have been much harder due to its length. The test would probably also assess one’s personality much more accurately.
All in all, they are looking for sharp people with good social skills and with a “can do” attitude. It’s important to be positive and smile. Show that you can provide great customer support even if the work is as a technical officer. The process from OSM to the job offer was approx 1,5 months. The onboarding process from job offer to staring the first contract may take longer.
I wish you good luck.
