Roustabout Vacancies At Offshore Oil Rig Companies
Are you looking for roustabout vacancies at offshore oil rig companies? These entry level offshore oil rig jobs are clearly in demand by job seekers. They require no experience, yet often pay 50% to double the salaries of equivalent work on dry land. Not only that, but there are frequently generous bonuses in times when the oil industry is booming, even for those not of managerial rank.
So what’s not to like? You have to work hard, but you get high pay with no experience needed. Roustabout jobs are nearly ideal jobs for those who are more inclined to physical action and do not want to go to college. While they are technically menial jobs like that of laborers, it can also be argued that many office jobs do not require any more ability to think than work on board an oil rig does. Most of the work done in an office is pretty routine and can be done by anyone with a high school diploma. Most of the people working in an office never use any of the knowledge or skills they learn at college, and so they have no right to look down on physical work like that of oil rig roustabouts.
In the long run, the prospects for offshore oil rig companies are rather bright. Even during the latest recession, the price of oil did not drop below $60 per barrel. Even though the economy is said by experts to be weak but recovering, the price of oil is hovering around the $70 level. (Edit 20-Aug-2012: CNN reports that the price of oil at $95 per barrel despite the limping worldwide economy.) The reason for this high price is due to fundamentals.
What are these fundamentals that are keeping oil prices high (and keeping the prospects for roustabout jobs bright)? There are actually several parts to it. The first is that all the oil fields which are easy to drill (on dry land or near the shore) are running out of oil (hitting peak oil). The second is that the large oil companies have not been finding as many major new oil fields as they need to in order to keep up with the structural growth in the economy. The third reason is that the world’s economy is becoming more and more wealthy and industrialized. More and more people in Third World countries (especially India and China) are becoming rich enough to own cars and other material goods which directly or indirectly need oil.
Overall, prospects of oil rig jobs in the oil industry are bright. At least, it’s bright if you are working offshore. But who are these offshore drilling companies that are hiring? Where do you find these roustabout job vacancies? Well, two of these companies are BP and Exxon, or rather … the oil services companies that are doing the actual drilling for BP and Exxon. BP just found a new oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. Exxon found two (or three, depending on who you ask) new major deep ocean oil fields off Brazil. Of course, these are fairly new discoveries and you should not expect to see them come online for a few more years. However, there are older offshore oil fields that were discovered five or ten years ago and are only coming online now.
When looking for any job, the first and most basic step that everyone tells you to do is to check the job boards (like Monster) and the newspaper job advertisements. During good times (for the oil industry, which is a different beast altogether than a good economy), this is a good and simple strategy. It can get you a job on an offshore oil rig fast, and you don’t have to do too much work looking for a job.
The problem, of course, is that times are not always good. Even then, there are oil rig jobs available. For example, Exxon reported to their investors that they were spending $150 billion over five years (from 2009 onwards) on oil exploration and production. They were actually telling their investors that they were going to spend a lot of money right in the middle of a major recession. That means they expect to make even more money than they are going to spend. Remember that where there is money, there are always jobs.
So the second job hunting strategy is networking. Talk to everyone you know. Tell them that you are looking for roustabout vacancies on an offshore oil rig. It will be embarrassing. It will take guts. Some of the people you talk to will just laugh at you. They will tell you that there are no jobs during a recession (They are wrong. There are always jobs, you just need to know where to find them). Some of them will try to dissuade you. They will say that oil rig jobs are dangerous (It’s true, but that’s why you get paid the big bucks). Basically, talk to your family and relatives, talk to your friends, ex-classmates, ex-teachers, even talk to your barber and local grocers. The point is not that one of them will know where to find an oil rig job. The point is that one of them will know someone who knows someone who is hiring for a roustabout vacancy. Unless you are lucky, it is not easy, and it is not fast, but it is free.
The third strategy for finding roustabout vacancies is to go where all the offshore oil rig workers go. Most offshore oil rigs in a certain area share a common location where they pick up and drop off their offshore roustabouts. Men, being men, will hit the bars and pubs after work, especially when they have just finished a two week tour of duty where they are not allowed to touch a single drink. So what you want to do is make friends with the bartenders. A good bartender will know when most of these workers come in to drink. He will even know which of them can make hiring decisions. He will also know which oil services companies are hiring, and which are firing. He will be able to introduce you to Joe, who had been complaining that he had to cover for other people because they quit. He will be able to tell you to avoid Jack, who is facing a lay-off. Like the second strategy, this is something that takes time. But in bad times, if you go the extra step, you will do better than those who only do what everyone else does.
Finding roustabout vacancies at offshore oil rig companies is not rocket science. There are not many jobs which pay you $50,000 a year without needing a college degree or any specific work experience. There are always oil rig jobs … IF you know how to find them and IF you are willing to do the extra work needed to find them.
But don’t forget that you are not the only one applying for these jobs. Make an effort to learn more about the oil industry in your area. It’s one thing to be inexperienced, it’s another to be the most clueless noob at the interview. The former can be overcome with a good attitude; the latter is unforgivable. Read this related article: How To Become An Offshore Oil Rig Insider – 7 Tips For New Starts To Get Hired Fast for more information.
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