What a captain (or chief engineer) reads first
Engineering is the one department where a ticket gates the job before anyone looks at the person. A recruiter filtering a database is filtering on exactly the certificate line, so it goes first and it states its scope.
- The tickets, with scope. MEOL(Y), AEC 1 and 2, Y4, Y3, EOOW. List AEC alongside MEOL even though one leads to the other, because recruiters search on both and AEC is named in adverts in its own right.
- Engine makes and power. Twin MTU 16V 4000 at 2,720 kW each tells a chief engineer more than a paragraph. So does the gross tonnage of each boat, because tonnage is what the ticket is measured against.
- Breadth of hands-on systems. At second-engineer level, breadth sells better than management claims. Gensets, HVAC, watermakers, hydraulics, black and grey water, refrigeration, tenders and outboards. A chief wants to hand you a job and leave you to it.
- Yard periods. A refit inside a role is often the strongest thing on a mid-career engineering CV. Give the yard, the duration and what you actually did, as a bullet inside the vessel entry it belongs to.
- The trade behind it. A diesel fitter, refrigeration engineer or auto-electrician arrives with more directly transferable skill than most sea time confers. That history gets real space, written in marine language.
The sample above is a fictional second engineer with a heavy diesel apprenticeship, three boats showing progression from a split deck/engine role to sole engineer to second under a chief, and one yard period written properly.
The certificates this role needs
- STCW Basic Safety Training and ENG1, dated
- AEC 1 and 2: entry level, small yachts and support roles. Keep it listed
- MEOL(Y): the standard junior engineer ticket. Chief on smaller yachts, second on larger
- Y4, then Y3, Y2, Y1: the yacht chief engineer ladder, each with a higher tonnage and power ceiling
- EOOW for the commercially endorsed watchkeeping route
- PDSD, and HELM at senior level
- F-Gas / refrigeration, high voltage, welding and similar trade tickets widen the roles you fit and belong under certifications, not education
State the ticket you hold. Do not write what it entitles you to as if it were settled; tonnage and power limits are revised, and a chief engineer will know the current figures better than the CV does.
How to write the experience lines
One line per boat: role, M/Y, name in bold, length in metres and gross tonnage, private or charter, Month Year dates. Then fragments. Engine make and kW, generator count, systems, yard periods, watch rotation.
- Before: Responsible for the maintenance and repair of all engineering systems on board, ensuring the vessel operated safely and efficiently at all times.
- After: Twin MTU 16V 4000 mains (2 x 2,720 kW), three Kohler gensets, two watermakers, PMS on IDEA. Duty engineer rotation on charter, bunkering, black and grey water, HVAC and galley refrigeration call-outs.
- Before: Worked as a diesel mechanic servicing engines and generators for a range of clients.
- After: Field service on Cummins QSK and KTA engines in mining and marine: overhauls, fault-finding, commissioning. Planned maintenance on a fleet of 30 generators to 1,500 kW.
Reasons for leaving in one clause: "left for a larger boat and a 2nd Engineer role under a Y2 chief" is a career; the same move with no reason is a question mark.
If your CV still reads like a land trade CV, upload the CV you have and it is rebuilt in this format: tickets first with scope, vessel lines with GT and kW, the personal block, two pages.
Three mistakes that bin this CV
- A ticket implied that is not held. Writing "Chief Engineer" on a 500 GT boat with an AEC, or listing a Y4 that is "in progress" without saying so. Chiefs and agencies talk to each other; this is the one that ends a career rather than an interview.
- Systems claimed, none named. "Experienced across all engineering systems" is a sentence a chief skips. Name the engines, the gensets, the watermakers, the PMS.
- The trade buried as "previous employment". Four years of field service on 1,500 kW generators is not unrelated history. It is the reason a chief will trust you with a top-end overhaul.
For the general rules on what goes where, read what to include in a yacht CV. Engineers are not exempt from the crew-fit test either: keep the hobbies line.
Where this role goes next
Deck/Engineer or Sole Engineer on 35 to 50m, to 2nd Engineer under a chief on 55 to 80m, to Chief Engineer as the Y-tickets come through. Each step is gated by a ticket and by tonnage on the page, so the CV should make both easy to find. Rotational 2nd and Chief roles are common on larger yachts and worth stating as a preference if it is one.
Salary
Published crew-salary guides put second engineers in a wide band that starts in the mid thousands of euros a month and rises with ticket, tonnage and rotation, with chief engineers on large yachts well above that. Reported ranges vary widely; verify with an agency for the ticket and boat size you are targeting.
