Offshore Oil Rig Jobs
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• Are you ready to say goodbye to the monotony of the typical 5 days on, 2 days off, day after day, week after week of a mediocre, no chance for advancement, land locked job?
• Are you willing to go where the work is and are you willing to work? How would you like to get around a bit and put some excitement in your life for a change?
• Maybe even a little international travel?

What would it be like to:

"ENTRY LEVEL" makes it all possible

Don't be dismayed if you don't live near the Gulf of Mexico or even in the US. Most offshore oil rig work is structured so you get a week off for every week worked. Maritime and special service companies follow different schedules. Whether you get travel pay or not depends on what your job is and who you work for.

US rig hands live in every state of the union and don't mind an interstate commute once a month (sometimes less) in order to live in their native areas. The same is true with Canadians and foreign rig hands. Known as expats, they work all over the world, fly back and forth to the rig (usually on a 28/28 rotation) and enjoy a truly unique lifestyle.

• Offshore oil rig jobs pay TWICE AS MUCH as comparable land based jobs. US entry level rig jobs start between $1600 to $2600 per week. Some pay more, some less. 

• Upper echelon positions pay that much per day. At one time everyone was entry level looking at their first hitch. If this is your first attempt for this kind of work, don't feel alone.

Things are tough right now, no doubt that. The economy is terrible and people are being laid off by the thousands. The good news about the oilfield is crude has passed $58 a barrel break even point.  That does not mean much unless you know that at $58 a barrel it is profitable for companies to restart all the projects that had been shut down when it was in the 30's and 40's.

Every time crude goes up just $1 a barrel, HUNDREDS of new jobs are created offshore. Every day recruiters are looking for new faces. In fact, almost 375 NEW OFFSHORE JOBS are added online just last week. You just have to know where to find them. If you think things are bad, how would you like this guy's job? His company is always shorthanded.

Humor aside here is a note of caution: What we've been seeing a lot of lately are people who have been laid off from high paying land based jobs thinking they can go offshore and start out at $100,000 plus per year. Regardless of what anyone else claims, this is not so.

Because this is not a robot driven site we're in a position to offer personal assistance in a way you will not find elsewhere. In spite of today's uncertainty, good oil-field help is still hard to find. Ask any recruiter.

The more common entry level positions are:

If you want to apply for something other than entry level, by all means do so. Keep in mind you might well have the skills required for the job, but until you can say yes to "do you have any prior offshore experience" you will be required to start at entry level.

Rig personnel get "run off" (fired) on a regular basis. Others get fed up and quit. Some have pressing family business and have to leave. Employee turnover for mobile offshore drilling units (MODU's) is 3 to 4 times higher than comparable land based jobs. This is why there are always jobs available offshore.

I have always recommended (and still do) to take whatever you can find initially just so you will be offshore. If you are working in the galley, and a rig position becomes available you are qualified to fill, you will be in the perfect position to apply for that job.

Many rig hands have been hired this way. Being on the rig in any position is a BIG step in getting a job more suited to your qualifications. Even in the most basic of entry level positions you have additional career benefits:

If you take a maritime entry level job as a deckhand on a crew boat, supply or utility vessel, you will spend a lot of time offshore unloading and loading equipment and supplies. Again, this will allow you to observe drilling / production operations and give you a chance to talk to the guys on the rig about any available openings.

Like I said earlier, these jobs are not as easy to come by as when crude was at it's record high but they are still there. It takes motivation and a strong willingness to "do whatever it takes attitude" AND the persistence to do it over and over again. For those of you suited for this kind of work, a job on an offshore drilling rig or crew / supply vessel will be right up your alley.

Accommodations

Accommodations, like wages, vary from company to company, location to location and rig to rig. One thing which will remain the same is the cost. It will cost you nothing, accommodation and meal wise, to work offshore.

Food and lodging are provided by the employer. Here are the experiences and advice of one young man from Texas who successfully used the resources of this site and got himself an entry level position. This individual had no prior experience.

Keep in mind this good fortune does not happen to everyone. Some new hires end up on a rust bucket six months from the scrap yard. So what? If you get 6 months on a rust bucket you will be considered as having that all important "offshore experience".

Even with this current recession, especially for all who live in Canada and the US, if you are not working in the oilfield - it is not because there are no jobs.

These pages were written to give the green hand a realistic look as how to go about getting an offshore, oilfield, oil rig or maritime job. They come from many years of personal experience, working in both US and international waters.

Beginning as a worm (green hand) and working my way up to rig welder, welding inspector, crane operator, maintenance foreman and ending as a crane superintendent in charge of other crane operators.

At one time I was just as green as you, had NOT A CLUE as to what this was all about but knew it was something I wanted to do. I'm living testimony my recommendations work. The basic requirements are simple but getting the job will require a very determined effort on your part. Having the following will be helpful:

• Having a decent job I absolutely LOVED
• Earning a nice wage
• Being part of something that is important
• Having some decent opportunities to move up the ladder

  And Best of All - Working only 6 months out of the year!

There is one thing I can tell you that is 100% true and can be verified by anyone who has ever worked out there. Working offshore is like NOTHING you will experience in any other type of job.

• You will either love it or hate it
• It will not take you long to find out

Age Requirements

Minimum - 18 in the US and Canada.

Maximum - I get this a lot. How old is too old? Some of you are up in your years and are wondering if you might be a bit over the hill. I can share some light on this from my personal experiences.

The last time I went out I was 52. Even though I was the next to oldest guy on my crew, I could still hook it up with the young bucks. It was a land based job but offered the same pay and benefits as offshore. I took it because I wanted to get the feel of the industry one last time before I retired and this was exactly the opportunity I needed:

I got teased a lot about what an old guy I was to still be working and that I needed to be in a home for the aged, etc. On my first yearly evaluation I was told "I was old, slow and tired out easy." How about that for positive input from management? I was doing a great job, but that just goes to show the mentality of those in "management". Some things never change.

I was fortunate to get the job, having had major back and knee surgery from an accident I sustained while working on a jack up rig offshore Nigeria. As safe as everyone tries to be, offshore is a very dangerous place to work.

If you choose this as your career you will run into some very backward thinking individuals. Hunker down, do your job to the best of your ability and don't let anyone push you around. Work is work. Pull your share of the load and everything else will be OK.

Whether you are too old depends on you. Any offshore entry level job is going to be physically demanding. You will be working a minimum of 12 hours a day, rain or shine for at least 7 days straight. You know your capabilities and limitations better than anyone.

There are times of inactivity, sometimes even days of it. Mostly there is day after grueling day of 12 hour plus shifts, doing hard ass manual labor. Depending on your location and the time of year, it will be:

• Not too hot, not too cold with a nice breeze and good cloud cover - perfect conditions
• Hotter than hell's kitchen and not a breeze for days
• Nonstop rain, freezing temperatures and 50 MPH plus winds
• And that's just the weather!

If you think you can do it, give it a try!

Documentation / Schools

If you work anywhere in the US near offshore oil rigs, boats that service the rigs or docks / helipads where people and supplies leave to go offshore you will have to have a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC card) issued by the US government. This is a mandatory credential and you will not be allowed near any of these facilities without one.

Also, consider applying for your US Coast Guard Merchant Mariners Document (MMD) as soon as possible. More and more companies are requiring you to have one of these before they will talk to you about offshore employment. It's best to have one or at least be in the process of getting one.

There are lots of schools that give classes for offshore workers. While completing any of these courses is not a guarantee of employment, it will demonstrate initiative on your part will put you ahead of the thousands of others trying to break into this industry at this time. Also, these schools are in day to day contact with employers. Information on where to go for these documents and shools is found in chapter 13. Here is a brief outline of courses offered to oil riggers:

• IADC Rig Pass

• Helicopter Safety

• Well Head Maintenance / Safety

• Rig Floor Safety

• Man Overboard

• Crane Safety / Cargo Handling

• H2S Orientation / Safety

There are colleges in Louisiana and Mississippi that allow you to pursue your chosen degree while working a 7/7 oilfield schedule.

Catch 22 - And this will be THE KICKER for a lot of you

If you are like the average person working in the typical land locked job you are probably chomping at the bits to get out there. The trouble is, no matter where you apply and how much you plead your case about what a great hand you will make if given the chance, the answer you keep hearing over and over is "Sorry, but since you have no PREVIOUS offshore / maritime experience we will not be able to hire you at this time." How do you plan to overcome this?

What do you do? How do you break in? These were questions I asked myself when I started my offshore career many years ago. Once I found the answers, I kept accurate notes about my experiences. Eventually I put all this together and created "The Complete Offshore Employment Handbook."

How about that? I wrote my very own book. AND what I did even inspired a few others to write books of their own about particular circumstances in their life. If you are interested on how I went from oil rigger to author, read chapter 5.

There are a lot of sites claiming to have the "in" for offshore oil rig jobs. Me? I've been there. During my offshore career I've sailed the oceans of the world (moving rigs) and watched many a sunrise and sunset standing on an offshore platform with nothing visible except sky and water.

In my time I weathered out out least 3 dozen hurricanes. If you want to see mad chaos in action, be offshore when hurricane evacuation starts. Official hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico is from June 1 to November 30. Quite a few months in there, quite a lot of hurricanes and quite a lot of evacuating.

The most I ever evacuated in one year was 3 times. You don't just shut one of these rigs down and go home. Once the alert is given, it takes days to prepare a rig for evacuation. All the pipe has to be pulled out of the hole and racked back, anything lose on deck has to be secured and all engines and power generating equipment has to be shut down.

Having worked as a rig welder for many years, I did quite a bit of "securing the deck". The most common way to do this is welding whatever needs securing to the deck. This involves quite a bit of rod burning. Sometimes others with welding experience pitch in and help. If you are the welder you have to keep your eye on these guys because some will weld it way too much. Whatever gets welded has to eventually be cut loose. Enthusiastic helpers can make a lot of extra and unnecessary work for you if you don't keep your eye on them.

THEN, once the rig is secured, you have to wait on transportation. If you are lucky you will get a chopper. But more than likely you will not be lucky as the rest of the Gulf is doing the same thing, hunkering down and preparing to evacuate. You might get a bird. If not, that 2 hour chopper ride will be a 12-14 hour boat ride in some pretty rough seas.

The fun part is if you evacuate the company will put you up in a a motel or hotel until the all clear is given. You will be paid for this time, usually. There are some companies that will try and cheat you out of your pay, but most will not.

Hurricanes are funny things, you never know what they are going to do until they do it. They will stop and not move for days, make drastic and unexpected turns and even go backwards. During hurricane season one might blow through, the all clear is given, and about the time you get back to normal operations here comes another one.

It's not uncommon to evacuate the rig, go to a shelter till the storm blows over, go back to the rig and then have to turn around and evacuate again. All the while the pay goes one (with most companies). Working offshore is fun and exiting for sure, but is also one of the most dangerous occupations in existence. Keep this in mind if this is your first go.

I hope I have provided insight and answered some questions about what working offshore is all about. It is a job like none other, a much different world than most people are familiar with. The way to go about getting one of these jobs is to contact companies engaged in offshore operations, let them know what your skills and background are and that you are available for work. Complete details are found in chapters 14, 15, 16 and 17.

If you are interested in obtaining your personal copy of "The Complete Offshore Employment Handbook"  I've got some great news for you. This one of a kind publication is given as a FREE BONUS when you subscribe to our Direct Access subscription services.

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Thanks again and have a blessed day!

Cpt Ron
OffshoreGuides.com