Has anyone worked for JaRaf inc.

[Mxmr]

I recently applied through this company JaRaf inc. based in Florida. When I first sent an email to them I was a little skeptical about them but they actually got back to me saying they'd like an interview for a cruise ship job. I was wondering if anyone has any contact with them and if they should be trusted. Thank you

[paulears]

Somebody might be able to help, but we're pretty up on Southampton and other UK ports, but although you didn't put it in the profile, you are in the US I think - so a mainly (but not exclusively UK) forum might not know the smaller players your side? However - don't give up, somebody may well have heard of them.

[itiba]

In the absence of any first hand advice I thought I might chip in...

Obv don't send any money up front

Other techs will have this company listed on their CV so some clever googling might be able to reveal some contacts or ask for names during the interview

In the UK we have 'Companies House' who are a government organisation who maintain a directory of all limited companies which is publicly accessible - is there a similar US organisation than can be checked with?

[ImagineerTom]

Getting "an interview" isn't difficult (all companies providing ship staff are essentially agents so need to constantly replenish their pool of available candidates) once you've been through that you may then get an interview with the cruiseline itself, even that isn't especially difficult. Actually getting through all the medicals/visa's and being offered your first ship (via a legally binding contract) is the difficult step that comparatively few people make it through.

 

As others have pointed out, never pay ANYONE any money at all, no matter what they say/suggest. If you are offered a job you'll have to get a medical and a few background checks but you'll be able to choose your own provider for these, pay them directly and even then you'll only need to get these things when you've actually been offered a proper contract. Be wary as there's literally hundreds of scams out there where agencies tell people they can get you a job on a ship then basically scam you for admin fees / interview fees / processing fees / clearance fees, etc

[sameness]

If you are interested in the cruise ship jobs, you may as well go straight to the cruise lines themselves. Most of them have easy enough to find contacts for the entertainment departments, Royal even have their own Productions website, as do Carnival

 

Looks like JaRaf are hiring for Carnival based on the positions they are advertising for.

[Mxmr]

Thanks these are all really helpful.

 

[chelgrian]

Thanks these are all really helpful.

 

If this is US based it's worth asking on the controlbooth forums rather than the blueroom. Unfortunately there is no US wide equivalent of Companies House as incorporation is the responsibility of state governments. In this case the company does actually seem to be incorporated in Florida see

 

http://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/SearchResultDetail/EntityName/domp-p10000050004-f68feced-b9e3-41b0-860c-583092ac28bc/Jaraf/Page1

 

there are also several similarly named companies with the same people listed which are older and inactive.

 

Usually anything of significant size is incorporated in Delaware due to business friendly legislation there. There are some pay for access aggregators like Hoovers that bake all the information from as many states as possible in to one database.

 

Echoing what other's have said this looks like an agency and you might well be better off applying to the cruise lines directly.

[Jivemaster]

Find the cruise lines that you want to work for, than look at their websites til you find their recruitment pages. Look at what is on offer, see what the necessary skills are and see what skills you can offer. See whether the lines want to recruit directly or through agencies.