facebook and yachting

This week I received a message on my Dockwalk.com account, it invited me to get into contact wih a saucy sounding lady I think called Mary.  Before I had a chance to think that I should perhaps have reconsidered that provocative photo I use on my profile, I found out that another Dockwalk.com member had received the same message.  I was then told that as many as five hundred members had received a message from Mary.  Now she is either really keen on finding a fella or some half wit has played a trick on all of us. 

I don’t think that Mary exists at all, in fact, I think that Mary is probably a Ukranian schoolboy or a Hacker from Wales who has found a way of getting our bank account details if we reply to Mary’s open invitation for love.

The fact remains that I bet there were one or two out there were a little disappointed to hear that Mary was not offering exlusive commitment.  Let’s be honest, it is no way to start a relationship!

International Yacht training

It is just so easy these days to communicate with each other.  Social networking is to communication today what morse code was many years ago.  The fact is that it makes it easy, affordable and accessible to everyone, but, yacht crew particularly benefit, as staying in touch with one’s friends and family is far more important when stuck on a boat in the middle of a busy charter when you can’t afford to use a cell phone.  Or just when you want to share a particularly exciting experience.

What is interesting is that people are still perfectly happy to tell complete strangers all sorts of personal information on their Facebook pages.  After the boatshow parties of late and the general fun that was had by all, it is interesting to see how people portrayed their particular brand of fun.  Frankly, it was good to see people enjoying the very social side of yachting, but it is worth remembering that many people can form an opinion of your personality by looking at your page.  If there are too many pictures of you draped half naked a cross a bar with a cigarette in your hand it cannot be good if your resume says you are a non smoker who likes the occasional social drink.

I would not advocate completely changing your personal ‘home page’, but I would suggest people remember that any of the social networks can be a great sales tool that could be applied to help you get ahead in the present competitive jobs market.  If a stranger has one page to get an impression of you, just make it a good one!