Captains are the bosses of boats and ships. They let nothing that happens on their vessel go undetected. They watch out for the safety of passengers or cargo on-board and make sure everyone follows safety procedures.
Captains oversee the functioning of all mechanical and electric devices, supervise the navigation of the ship, and keep contact with the destination port and closest coast guard services. In close collaboration with the shipmate, they manage and supervise the day-to-day duties and activities of the staff. Captains are the ones responsible for hiring, training, motivating, and eventually firing members of the crew. The promotion of crew members is the captain's decision as well.
Captains are intimately familiar with maritime law, and they are responsible for making every essential decision during the journey. They have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, as they are required to keep the crew content and efficient and passengers calm and pleased.
Captain Overview
Captain Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a captain. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.11 an hour? That's $35,580 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -2% and produce -1,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Captain Do
There are certain skills that many captains have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, hand-eye coordination and hearing ability.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a captain, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.0% of captains included customer service, while 10.8% of resumes included facility, and 10.4% of resumes included procedures. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the captain job title. But what industry to start with? Most captains actually find jobs in the hospitality and transportation industries.
How To Become a Captain
If you're interested in becoming a captain, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 62.3% of captains have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.7% of captains have master's degrees. Even though most captains have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a captain. When we researched the most common majors for a captain, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on captain resumes include associate degree degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a captain. In fact, many captain jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many captains also have previous career experience in roles such as volunteer or cashier.
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Captain Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of assistant you might progress to a role such as consultant eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title director of food and beverage.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Captain
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Adecco Shift Captain Shift Captain | Adecco Adecco | 01/31/2021 01/31/2021 | $33,39201/31/2021 $33,392 |
Geo Group Inc. Captain Captain | Geo Group Inc. Geo Group Inc. | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $45,90501/23/2021 $45,905 |
Mission Edge Neighborhood Captain Neighborhood Captain | Mission Edge Mission Edge | 01/22/2021 01/22/2021 | $31,30501/22/2021 $31,305 |
Capstone Nutrition Team Captain Team Captain | Capstone Nutrition Capstone Nutrition | 01/13/2021 01/13/2021 | $31,30501/13/2021 $31,305 |
Geo Group Inc. Captain Captain | Geo Group Inc. Geo Group Inc. | 01/07/2021 01/07/2021 | $61,00001/07/2021 $61,000 |
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Captain Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Captain. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Captain Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Captain resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Captains
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Maine Maritime Academy
Castine, ME • Public
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Public
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
8. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
9. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
10. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
Top Skills For a Captain
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.0% of captains listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and hand-eye coordination are important as well.
- Customer Service, 12.0%
- Facility, 10.8%
- Procedures, 10.4%
- Positive Attitude, 8.7%
- Food Preparation, 6.6%
- Other Skills, 51.5% See All Captain Skills
Best States For a Captain
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a captain. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona, and California. Captains make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $62,875. Whereas in Hawaii and Arizona, they would average $55,213 and $46,154, respectively. While captains would only make an average of $45,395 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$62,875
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$45,102
Avg. Salary
3. Arizona
$46,154
Avg. Salary