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THESE COMPANIES HIRING NOW
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Thousands of Men and Women Needed To Fill High Paying Jobs In Oil and GAS ( see positions available below )
Now that we seem to be heading into a recession, are you wondering if oil rig companies are still hiring? Well, that depends. If you happen to work in the office, your prospects aren’t too bright. But if you work in the field, the good news is that there are still plenty of drilling rig jobs. For example, Noble Corporation is bringing 5 new oil rigs to production around 2009-2011, and will need 1500 vacancies filled. When Transocean and GlobalSantaFe merged in 2007, they reported an order backlog of $33 billion. Recession or not, that is still a lot of work waiting for workers to complete.Why oil rigs are hiring in a recession
In recent years, China’s government has been lambasting Americans for rampant consumerism, living beyond their means and causing instability in the world economy. And yet, IEA analysts say that China will replace the U.S. as the world’s largest energy user by 2020. In fact, they predict a 600% increase in the number of cars in China by 2030. Ironic, isn’t it?
Whatever you may personally think of India and China, these numbers are a very strong reason for oil rig companies to continue investing in oil exploration and new oil rigs. And given that so many drilling rig jobs are being filled by graying workers hired in the 1970s who will be reaching retirement age in the coming few years, your prospects of getting oil drilling jobs remains strong. oil rig companies are still hiring for drilling rig jobs: 1) demand for oil from China and India replaces the slack from the America; 2) workers hired in the 1970s retiring soon.
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
1.Roustabout
Roustabout are general laborers. They provide the brawn and handle most of the heavy lifting and cleaning. They mostly work on the main deck of the oil rig. When necessary, they may be asked to help the roughnecks on the drill floor. Salaries range from $45,000 to $55,000 a year. The next step up from roustabout is roughneck.2. Steward
This is another unskilled entry level position. Stewards help out in the kitchen, clean up the accommodations and do the laundry. If they do their jobs right and make an effort to improve themselves, they may eventually find themselves becoming a cook or camp boss themselves. This is one of the lowest paying jobs on an oil rig, at only $45,000 per year.
3. Rig Welder
Welders carry out the day-to-day repairs on an oil rig. They also build new metalwork when necessary. When there is a big project, the oil services contractor will hire additional welders for the duration of the project to speed up its completion. Unlike roustabouts Rig Welders may need some form of trade certification (CITB in the UK, AWS in the US). These certifications are rigorous and need to be renewed regularly. Typical salaries are around $60,000. Compare this to the average salary in the manufacturing sector - $30,000 based on 2004 statistics.
4. Scaffolders
Scaffolders move from rig to rig as needed. Some oil companies require their scaffolders to hold a trade certification. Unlike roustabouts, their work is done high up on the oil rig. When comparing the different jobs on a rig, this is one of the more dangerous ones, which explains why they can easily earn up to $60,000 per year. Compare this to the construction industry’s rate of $7 per hour.
5. Radio Operator
Generally considered an easy and boring job, especially by those who handle the more back-breaking labor on an oil rig. On the other hand, it is a vital job, which explains the $60,000 salary.
Usually ex-nurses, responsible for the sick bay and medical supplies. Salary: up to $70,000.
Required qualities:
Good communications
Good organizational skills
Computer skills
Knowledge of offshore safety laws
This post has a lot of responsibility, which explains the $80,000 salary for an entry level job. On the other hand, on some rigs, it can quickly become a mid or senior position - especially after a major accident, e.g. after the Alexander Kielland platform collapsed in 1980, or the explosion on Piper Alpha in 1988. Both were in the North Sea.
One of the few positions needing a university degree - usually a BSc in Chemistry. Responsible for the drilling fluids used, installing equipment and collecting samples during ongoing drilling. Their most important duty is probably to monitor the level of dangerous gasses which can cause the well to blow. This is why there are always 2 mud loggers - to cover the rig 24/7. Those who do well are quickly promoted to data engineer within a 1/2-year to 2 years. Salary? $70,000 - $80,000.
Maintains the stores, orders and receives stocks. Needs to know how to use the computer. Unlike the comfortable post of an army storeman, an oil rig storeman may need to check incoming cargo even in the middle of the night. Salary: $60,000.
He paints the oil rig. This is not a job for someone afraid of heights. Some of those painting jobs need to be done while suspended from a harness hoisted by a crane. Considering how much iron and steel there is on an offshore oil rig, surrounded by all that salt water - there is always something which needs painting. Salary: $58,000.
Helps the mechanic to maintain and repair all the machines, including the diesel generators and rig floor equipment. Like the painter, some of their repairs will be done suspended from a crane. Salary: $58,000.
Maintains and repairs the electrical equipment on the oil rig. This includes changing the light bulbs. Like the painter and mechanic, some of his work will be done while hanging from a crane. Salary: $65,000.
These 12 jobs are generally considered entry level jobs on oil rigs. The roustabout and steward only needs minimal education, and does not require any kind of trade certification. The other positions need you to show some trade skill, or need a diploma (electrician) or degree (mud engineer).
Roustabout jobs are the entry-level jobs on oil rigs. On most oil rigs, you work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for 2 to 3 weeks at a stretch. Working as a roustabout is back-breaking and dirty - you do everything from cleaning and painting the oil rig to mixing the drilling mud and even moving supplies and equipment around the oil rig. On the other hand, practically everyone who matters on board the oil rig starts out as a roustabout, so you have no right to complain.
For English-speaking workers, there are three main places which hire people for roustabout jobs - Canada, US and UK. Alberta in Canada is still short of people, so it is easiest to get hired there. As long as you are tough enough and show the right attitude, many companies will be willing to pay for any courses or certifications which are required.At the moment, it is also fairly easy to get offshore roustabout jobs in the US, especially in the Gulf Coast region. In some places, it is as simple as showing up at the temp agency. As in Canada, many companies badly need workers and are willing to pay for any training and certifications required. As a rough guide, your employer will send you to get your in offshore medical certificate, offshore survival certificate and helicopter underwater escape training certificate before you even set foot on the oil rig. After that will probably be a 2 or 3 week course induction course on your duties aboard the oil rig.
UK residents have it tougher. Most employers want you to show your BOSIET offshore survival training certificate, offshore medical certificate, and what the Brits call a GreenHand course. All told, taking getting all of these could set you back 3500 pounds, depending on where you take these course, and there is no guarantee of a job. The offshore scene there is surprisingly small - you really need to know the right people. Most of the jobs are off Aberdeen, so if you live elsewhere you really do not have a chance at all. For new hires without connections, the ex-armed forces personnel find it easiest to break in. British servicemen have a kind of skills conversion course which helps them get offshore oil jobs. Frankly, UK residents who want to break into the oil industry are better off looking for jobs in Alberta or the US Gulf Coast states.
When you apply for roustabout jobs, remember to highlight work experience which involves manual work and mechanical work. If you have any survival training or something like the BOSIET or HUET certificates, highlight these as well. Remember that roustabouts do a lot of manual labor, so do NOT brag about your university degree or some other highly technical skill - the employer may reject you for being over-qualified. Some companies now want you to prove that you have completed your high school education. Regardless of who you work for, there will be frequent drug-testing, especially if any accidents happen.
Working Conditions Offshore
You’ll work the same hours as the rest of the oil rig crew - 12 hours on, 12 hours off. Normally, once you set foot on the oil rig, you won’t leave for another two weeks. After that, you get two weeks break, and then the cycle repeats itself. However, be careful to confirm this with your employer - there are cases of 4 weeks on/4 weeks off and even 6 weeks on/6 weeks off.
Where are the jobs ?Oil employment
is hot! Despite rhetoric from USA, Saudi Arabia as well Iran, the price of oil remains above $100. Is it any wonder that oil companies are still hiring? In the USA, unlike many countries, smaller independent companies are hiring for oil rig jobs. Oil rigs are mainly operated by wildcatters, the risk takers and entrepreneurs of the oil and gas industries. These lean, efficient companies find and produce oil, but do not refine or sell it. With demand for oil remaining strong, every oil company is trying to gear up their production. Unfortunately, everyone is facing a critical worker shortage due to an aging workforce. Due to the oil busts in the 1980s and 1990s, oil employment was cut in half from nearly 600,000 workers in 1985 to just 300,000 workers in 2001. Most of the oil company jobs today are held by survivors of the last oil bust, around 40 to 50 years old. Considering the intense work schedule on most offshore drilling jobs - 12 hours a day for 14 days, followed by 14 days off - many of these workers are a bit too old to maintain the same punishing pace of work.Thousands of offshore drilling jobs are in the Gulf Coast areas, the main oil producer in the US today. Oil employment requires very physically fit workers, independent, and able to handle being away from their families for extended periods. The work is physically demanding - workers in their 20s are preferred. If you have actual oil rig job experience, your chance of getting hired is virtually assured.
Due to the strong demand for workers in the oil and gas industry, oil rig job salaries are high and benefits are excellent. Accommodations on oil rigs are very good, with cable TV, gym facilities and free meals provided. However, the cabins can be cramped, with 4 persons sharing each cabin. While the jobs are undoubtedly exist, most oil companies still prefer to hire inexperienced workers. Even if you do not have relevant experience, you still need to show some familiarity with offshore drilling jobs in your cover letter and resume. In short, you need to do some reading up before you start looking for jobs. If possible, try to talk to workers already in the industry to get a feel for what life is really like on a an oil rig.
US job applicants will get their best start by using proven oil rig employment placement services. In contrast, UK oil rig job applicants have a harder time than their US counterparts. Placement services for oil rig jobs are less sophisticated. Having the right contacts and being known by the right people is still the most important factor to getting offshore drilling jobs. UK residents are probably better off if they look for jobs in the US and Canada.
With the price of oil remaining high, this is the best time for inexperienced persons to gain a foothold in oil employment. Thousands of oil company jobs in the Gulf Coast areas, with thousands more once Alaska is (re)opened up for exploitation. Go north to Canada and you will find even more oil rig jobs.
THE DIRTY TRUTH
Oil field employment - in high demand, pays well, many perks and benefits. Right now, only the gambling and tobacco industries can compare. Unfortunately, an oilfield job is not without its downsides. Not only that, but anything involving lots of money brings out the dark side of human nature.
The Good Points About Oil Rig Jobs1. Excellent Salaries and Benefits
An oilfield job pays well - very often twice the salary in another industry. For example, rig welding jobs pay $62,000 while the same job in manufacturing only pays $30,000 (2004 statistics). Construction laborers earn $24,000 to $44,000 (in 2009) while roustabouts earn $45,000 to $55,000.
University graduates are not left out - in their 2008 meeting, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ April 2008 reported that graduate students (Masters and PhD degree holders) receive salaries ranging from $80,000 to $110,000. This did not include sign-up bonuses. Just five years earlier, in 2003, university graduates only earned $55,000.
2. Excellent Prospects
Whether oil sells above $100 or below $60, oil rig companies continue to hire new people. A UK report (2006) on the oil and gas industry highlighted major shortages in managers, professional and technical staff. Oil and gas companies do not have enough technicians, riggers, scaffolders and engineers.
Even in August 2008, CNN Money journalists reported that three decades of under-investment in oil rigs and personnel was leading to a shortage of experienced oil workers. Too many experienced employees are hitting their 50s and 60s. Like it or not, the oil companies need to hire people if they are to stay in business. The offshore drilling company, Noble Corporation, needs to fill 1500 openings for 5 new oil rigs. Other drilling service companies face the same problem.
Many oil fields have reached "peak oil", that is they are past their prime. Oil companies need to find new oil fields - causing oil prospectors to be in high demand. Companies need to quickly replace their graying and retiring petroleum geologists hired in the 70s. Unfortunately for them, a trained petroleum geologist needs 4 years just to get his basic degree. After that he still needs two to five years to get his graduate specialties like Sedimentology, Geophysics or Structural Geology. Out of 20,000 undergraduates studying geology, less than 3,000 manage to graduate.
Overall, jobs in oil field won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
The Bad Points Of An Oil Rig Job
1. Lousy HoursOil field employment has lousy hours. A typical shift lasts 12 hours, and woe betide you if you get assigned the night shift. On top of that, you don’t have weekends, especially if you work in an offshore oil field. That’s 2 weeks of work, 12 hours a day, before you get a break. It takes a tough man to handle this schedule.
2. Marriage Breakups
Many people working in oil field jobs find their marriage in trouble due to the uncommon schedule. Many women can’t handle the reality of not seeing their husband for 14 days straight, then have to deal with him full-time for another 14 days. Unless they have fathers and brothers who also work in oilfield jobs, or live in a community of oil workers, the strain of handling jealous gossiping neighbors eventually poisons their relationship with their husband.
3. Danger
There is a good reason why an oil field job pays double - danger. Working on an oil well is dangerous compared to working in a factory or warehouse. There is the fact that the drilling rig could blow up, or the offshore oil platform could collapse or sink, not to mention that they are often popular terrorist targets, as oil workers in Third World countries can testify.
4. Inhospitable Environments
You can’t find oil in your backyard anymore. New oil fields have to be found in more and more extreme environments - Alaska, north Canada, Siberia, the North Pole and South Pole, the deep oceans. These are NOT comfortable places to work. On top of hard physical labor, you have to deal with sub-zero temperatures, gale-force winds, ice and snow. Only a masochist would enjoy this kind of environment.
Unfortunately, when it’s not freezing cold, it is hot, humid and sweaty in some African jungle, or blazingly hot like a furnace in some Arab desert.
The Ugly Things That Happen With Oil Rig Jobs
1. Scams
Wherever there is lots of money involved, there will be conmen. Oil field employment is no different - the high pay means that many job seekers become desperate. They become easy prey to conmen who promise them easy jobs, and end up paying thousands of dollars to these scammers.
A common ploy is to send you an email offering an oilfield job, but ask for your personal information, including your bank account number. To make it more genuine, the conman may conduct a telephone interview or interview you through instant messenger. Regardless, you will find yourself a victim of identity theft.
Similarly, if they ask you to send them $2000, or $5000 to facilitate your visa or some other paperwork, this is also probably a scam.
A genuine employer will never ask you to send them money. Neither will a job recruitment agency - they will be paid by the oil drilling company.
This doesn’t mean you never have to spend any money when looking for oil field employment. If you haven’t been able to find an oil field job for a while, it may be worthwhile spending $50 or so to get your resume written by a professional. Spending another $100 to hire a company to submit your resume to thousands of oil drilling service companies and contractors may also be advantageous.
2. No Place To Stay
Finding an oilfield job and getting hired is just the beginning. Unless you are a local, you may have problems finding a cheap place to stay. Many towns near a booming oil field find their property values and rentals shooting through the roof. Even if you have a caravan or mobile home, you may have difficulty finding a place to park it.
If you do not want to fritter away all your salary on a place to stay, you need to be prepared for a long commute.
3. Finding Oil Field Employment
Finding jobs in oil field are easier said than done. 80% of oil field job seekers only do these four things:
Submit their resume to a free online job board like Monster
Submit their resume to a recruitment agency or their local (un)employment board
Scan newspaper advertisements
Visit the websites of the major oil companies to look for oil vacancies
Unfortunately for them, the people who get hired are the 20% who go the extra mile:They let their friends and family members know that they are looking for oilfield jobs and ask for leads They go oil field fishing - that is to say the drive around to look for oil fields and talk to the people who manage the rigs They find the contact number, email or office address of the thousands of oil service contractors and ask if there are oil vacancies They pay specialized companies to mass submit their resumes to thousands of oil drilling companies They spend time where the hiring managers and oil rig workers hang out
Oil field employment pays very well, but the hours suck, and it is often too hot or too cold. On the other hand, if you are tough enough to stay the course, you could wind up retiring rich, owning your own home free and clear with your mortgage cleared off.
TIPS
You have put in a lot of effort to get your first oil drilling job. Once you get hired, here are 10 tips to get you started off on the right foot.
1) Be humble. Start from the bottom, just like everyone else on the oil rig, even the rig manager.2) Be prepared. There are no stores on an offshore oil rig. Make sure you bring along enough toiletries and cigarettes (even if you do not smoke). You can trade the extras, or "bribe" a seasoned colleague to teach you part of his job. As mobile phones usually do not work on offshore, take along a prepaid card. You will need to find out who the phone service provider is on board your oil rig.
3) Clear up any personal issues before you leave shore. Communications can be expensive if your rig does not have mobile phone coverage. Offshore phone services like Petrocom charge up to $5.00 a minute, so your prepaid cards could run out pretty fast. Unless you have a life-threatening emergency, you will be stuck on the rig for weeks (depending on your contract, possibly up to 6 weeks). You should realize that transport on and off the rig is strictly controlled, as ferrying an employee to shore by helicopter costs thousands of dollars.
4) Get some basic knowledge of maritime law and protocol. An offshore oil rig comes under maritime law and is treated as a sea going vessel. Protocol on board resembles that of a commercial ship - the toolpusher or rig boss and the drilling company representative serve as co-captains of the rig. Law breakers will be turned over to the coast guard.
5) No drug use. If you have a drug habit and cannot give it up, do not get an oil drilling job. Rigs test employees regularly for drugs, so you will be quickly found out and fired. Apart from that, laws in your host country will also come into effect. If you are found with drugs in your personal effects, you could face the hanging penalty for drug trafficking in oil rigs off the shore of countries like Malaysia and Singapore.
6) Buy enough life insurance. While safety is a high priority on modern oil rigs, it never hurts to be prepared for the worst case, especially if you have family members dependent on you.
7) Be prepared to travel. You will usually be far away from home in a remote location for several weeks. After all, there is a reason they are giving you all that extra salary.
8) Make sure you are single or have a stable marriage. More than one employee has found himself divorced due to the odd working hours and long hitches. If you are married, make sure you can trust your wife to keep your household affairs running.
9) Be prepared to work hard, no matter how rough the weather condition is. Also be prepared to work for demanding supervisors. An oil rig costs thousands per hour to operate and has no room for slackers and layabouts. More importantly, offshore rigs are often isolated away from civilization and any serious mistakes you make could cost the lives of your colleagues.
10)Get a sense of what the industry is all about. Check out books such as "A Primer to Oil Well Drilling" in your local library. Make sure you have the right expectations of your colleagues and bosses on board the oil rig.
Follow these 10 tips for your first oil drilling job, and you will find things going smoothly. Flout them, and your career will be in choppy seas.
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