Jobs Offshore (No Experience Needed On An Oil Rig)

If you are looking for jobs offshore but have no experience, it can be difficult to know where to start. However, it is not as difficult as many people think. Finding and getting the oil rig job is not particularly complicated. It just takes time and effort. The real problem lies in keeping the job once you get it. There is a good reason why offshore drilling contractors are always hiring workers for their offshore oil platforms – the work is very tough and many men find they can’t take the hardship.

So how does a man get oil rig jobs with no experience? Well, if you really have absolutely no experience – never worked at sea, never worked in construction, never worked on a land oil rig – you can only start at the bottom. A slow, steady and sure way is to prepare yourself by spending a year or two on each of the jobs mentioned above. It earns you relevant experience and it toughens you up for a real job offshore on an oil rig.

Of course, you may prefer the less certain shortcut of trying for roustabout jobs vacancies on oil wells in shallow waters near shore. In the Gulf states where there is a lot of offshore oil drilling, there are offshore oil rigs which operate near land. Such oil rigs sometimes hire temporary workers on day rates during periods of high activity. All that the oil service contractor needs from such temp oil workers is a strong back, the ability to follow instructions and the ability to swim so that they do not drown if they fall off the boat transporting them. In many cases, the contractor draws these workers from the state unemployment office. It is a good way to gain much needed job experience on an offshore oil well and can get you much needed contacts for more permanent employment. However, if you are not a resident in a Gulf state, this option may not be open to you.

Roustabout jobs on land provide a different experience from oil rig roustabout jobs offshore. Land-based oil rigs are usually smaller operations than offshore oil rigs. Nevertheless, there are still many features in common between the two, and getting experience on an oil well on dry land can provide valuable skills when working offshore. If you supplement it with job experience on a trawler or Navy or Coast Guard sailor, you will have a much better chance of getting hired for entry level rig jobs compared to someone who just graduated from high school.

Yet another alternative is to gain some kind of useful skill that can be transferred to an offshore oil rig. One such example is scaffolding. In a construction yard, the basic hourly rate is around $4 to $7, and you have to work 12 hours or more. Take this skill to an offshore oil rig and you can expect to earn somewhere around $55,000 a year. If you have a head for heights and are willing to slave away for a year or two to gain the needed job experience, this can be a good option.

Trade skills are also another path on to an offshore oil rig. There are posts for welders, electricians and mechanics on board an offshore oil platform. It helps if you have worked on a land rig before, but actual offshore experience is often not necessary. You can make around $55,000 to $60,000 a year, which is about double the wages on land. However, one disadvantage of such jobs is that career promotion prospects are limited. A common roustabout can work his way up the ladder to roughneck, derreck hand, assistant driller and driller. An experienced driller on a deep water oil rig can expect to make $100,000 a year or more. On the other hand, trade skills tend to be easier to transfer between land and sea, so it all evens out.

There are many paths to oil rig jobs offshore when you have no experience. What is important is your determination and for you to keep an open mind.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Oil Rig Jobs Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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