How to Find Your First Yacht Chef Job

I've literally been hired every single way possible — through an agent, word of mouth, a fellow yachtie, LinkedIn and even Instagram. So take it from someone who's tested every channel: here's where first jobs actually come from.

Be where the boats are

You cannot break into yachting from your bedroom. The industry runs out of hubs — Antibes and Palma for the Med season, Fort Lauderdale for the Caribbean and US, and Australia/New Zealand for the South Pacific. Get yourself to one at the start of the season (spring for the Med, autumn for the Caribbean), stay in a crew house, and be visible. Crew houses alone are worth their weight in gold — half the jobs I've heard about came through someone I met over a beer.

Register with the agencies — properly

Crew agencies place most of the professional jobs. Register with all the big ones, keep your profile complete and your photo professional. Then here's the bit most people skip: check in. A polite call or visit every week keeps you at the top of the pile. Agents place people they remember.

Daywork is the front door

Dayworking — short paid stints helping a boat — is how green crew prove themselves. You might be polishing stainless or helping in the galley for a delivery. Do it well and you're suddenly "someone the crew knows" when the chef position opens. A huge number of first contracts start exactly this way.

Make yourself findable

Your CV needs to be yachting-format (photo, tickets, one page of relevance), and your food needs to be visible. A simple Instagram portfolio of your actual cooking does more than any paragraph about your passion. I was one of the first to document behind-the-scenes of a yacht chef's life, and it has brought me real work — this industry looks you up.

Say yes to the imperfect job

My first boat job wasn't a superyacht — it was a dive boat in Cairns feeding 135 guests and 20 crew. That "unglamorous" job gave me sea legs, references and 1,000+ dives, which landed me my first yacht position: a chef/deck role on a 30m cruising New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Zealand. Persistence paid off, and it will for you too.

The season is short and boats hire fast. Be there, be prepared, be easy to hire.

I cover the exact agencies, hubs, CV format and timing inside Become a Yacht Chef — Module 1 is free.