Oil Rig Jobs

Looking for roustabout job vacancies? A roustabout job is an entry level oil rig job. In theory, you do not need any experience, just physical fitness and strength. If you look pasty-faced and sickly, or look like a 95 pound nerd or a 400 pound obese couch potato, you do not have any chance of getting hired at all. Ditto Mama’s boys or doting Daddies who can’t bear to be away from their families for two whole weeks every month. To get hired as a roustabout, you need to look fit, and you also need to look like someone who has done (or can do) a lot of hard physical work and can handle a certain amount of physical danger. If you think you are tough enough to do the work, here are 10 different ways to look for oil rig roustabout jobs.

Easy and (Practically) Free

The first way has been around for over a hundred years – looking for job advertisements in the newspaper(s). If you live in an oil town, you do not need to look beyond your local paper. If not, you may need to pick up a copy of your state and national papers. If you don’t already subscribe, your local library should have copies you can borrow.

The second way is to use the internet. There are many free job boards where you can post your resume and look for roustabout job vacancies, e.g. Monster. You can also look for the websites of the oil companies for posted vacancies. If you’re lucky, some of them may post vacancies for entry level oil rig jobs. Mostly though, you will only see executive level positions.

The third way is how network (MLM) marketers, real estate agents and some salesmen make their money – talk to friends and family. But don’t forget anyone else you may know – your old teachers, ex-classmates, your grocer, barber, church pastor, etc. Just talk to them and tell them that you are looking for a job in the oil industry. They probably won’t know of any openings, not unless you (or they) are living in an oil town. But if you try, you may hit the jackpot. Some of the people with whom you spoke may know someone who knows someone in the industry.

The first two methods of job hunting are quite easily done, so you should not spend too much time there. It’s a bit like playing the lottery, since almost everyone does them. The third way is often recommended by professional recruiters, since they know most job seekers are too shy or embarrassed to tell their friends and relatives that they are looking for a job. However, it is a very powerful method which many high-level managers and executives use to get their high-paying jobs.

A Bit Difficult and You Need to Spend Some Money

The next method to look for jobs is oil field fishing. Basically, you drive around the oil fields in your state (and maybe your neighboring states as well) and talk to the guy in charge of the oil rigs to see if they have a roustabout job for you. You need to beg, borrow or rent a car, and you need to pay for the gasoline, which is where you spend your money. Of course, if you are living far from an oil-producing region, then you’re out of luck.

This method also needs you to live in an oil town. Basically, you go door-to-door, visiting the office of each oil drilling company to look for jobs. Some of them may kick you out, some of them will tell you to go through the usual channels, but a few will talk to you and may even hire you. Your best friends here are your local trade directory and yellow pages. You can probably find them in your local library, although if you want to go faster you should buy your own copy. You may want to prioritize – call them on the phone and first visit the ones who tell you to come over. If there are no results, then you can go visit the ones who said no on the phone. Don’t give up too fast, because many people change their tunes when they see you face-to-face.

Another way is to look for where the oil workers hang out after work and make friends with them. Simply put, you go bar-hopping and talk to people. For roustabouts and workers on offshore oil rigs, you need to catch the right timing – after they end their tour (of work) but before they head home. For oil rigs on land, that depends on location and company.

Ultimately, these three methods need you to put in some effort as well as spend a little bit of money on information and travelling expenses. You may need to buy maps, yellow pages, trade directories. You may need to buy gasoline, pay for bus fares and phone bills. You may also need to buy plenty of beer. But if you live in an oil town, these are methods which work.

Easy but You Need to Spend Money

The last method of looking for roustabout job vacancies is to pay someone to mass submit your resume. It’s easy and fast for you, but it costs money – typically $50 to $100. Besides spending the money, there are some other problems:

• Some of these companies are crooks – they’ll take your money but not do anything useful
• The HR managers of some oil companies will automatically block their mailboxes unless they are actively hiring

Detractors of mass submission call it spray and pray. While this may be true, job hunting is basically a numbers game. Especially for entry level oil rig jobs, the more resumes and job applications you send out, the higher your chances of getting hired. Frankly, quality only comes in when you have experience and are looking for a high-level executive position.

Despite the risks, there are some major advantages:

• It’s easy for you.
• If you are not living in or near an oil producing region, this could be your only chance of getting a roustabout job (or any other no experience offshore oil rig jobs)
• There are many rigs (in the US) being operated by smaller companies. Many of them rely on advertisements in their local or state newspapers to look for workers. They won’t post their roustabout job vacancies in the national papers or job boards. If you only use the normal common job hunting methods, you will never find their job vacancies.
• The better mass submission companies send your resume to hundreds or even thousands of oil drilling companies. This is usually much better than what most job seekers can achieve on their own.

So, now you have 10 different ways of finding entry level roustabout job vacancies. Remember that the more oil rig job vacancies you can find, the better your chances of getting a job. So do your best to use as many of these methods as you can. Don’t listen to anyone who says there are no oil jobs available – oil companies worldwide are still spending $400 billion to drill for oil in 2009. Exxon, on its own, spends $79 million a day drilling for oil.

RigWorker.com has been helping people find oil rigs employment since 1998.

Click here to find out how we can help you get your resume/cv in front of the hiring managers for the best entry level offshore oil rig jobs.

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