Job Requirements

Working offshore is not for everyone. The job requires you to travel and be away from home and your family. It is a hard and dangerous task that has to be accomplished in harsh weather conditions. On the other hand, growth opportunities are tremendous. Starting salary for a person with no previous experience is anything between $40,000 to $60,000 annually and that too for working only for six months in a year.

Once the workers have excelled at the lower positions, they are usually promoted to higher positions depending on their performance. On the job training is also provided like job shadowing, mentoring and coaching.

Types of Jobs

There are many types of jobs available while working offshore in an oilrig. For instance, people are recruited in the control room, at the deck, for drilling, rig management, mechanical and electrical department, catering. Others are hired as rig welders, scaffolders, radio operators, medic, rig safety and training coordinator, mud engineer, painters.

Control room personnel include barge engineers who are in charge of the control room; control room operators and assistant CROs control the stability of the rigs and make liquid transfers.

On the deck, people are recruited as maintenance roustabout and foreman who looks after the deck area. Crane operators whose main duties includes crane operations.
Drill crew includes positions such as roughnecks, pumpman, dereckman and drillers. Roughnecks and pumpman takes mud weights and looks after the machinery required by the particular operation. The Dereckman's main duty is the maintenance of the machinery in the mud pump room. Drillers occupy one of the most important positions on the rig. He is responsible for the drilling in the seabed.

Tool pushers and offshore installation manager make up the rig management.
Tool pushers work in the rig offices and rig floors. Offshore installation managers are responsible for the entire rig.

Mechanical department hires motorman, mechanics and maintenance supervisors who are responsible for all mechanical operations.
Electrical department includes positions like electrician, electronic technician and maintenance supervisors who look after the repair of all electrical equipment.

Catering team is made up of the stewardess, cook and the camp boss who are in charge of the catering, laundry and cleaning.

Before you decide to start a career in this industry, one needs to keep in mind certain criteria like health, age, experience, education and interests. The job requires you to be in good physical condition, and you need to pass certain medical examinations. Although the average age is 27 for offshore jobs, you can apply for coast guard or drilling contractor positions if you are less than 18. Experience in a particular field will help you to gain a better position and wage, but by and large, no previous experience or skill is required to be hired.

Many entry-level positions are available. No formal education is required at the lower positions. Higher education is required only at the higher levels. Oil industry is continuing to grow rapidly and hence a career in this industry is very prosperous and bright. It gives you an opportunity to work anywhere in the world in a work environment which has very high standards of safety. Besides, enjoying very high salaries, the other benefit that workers enjoy is working only for 14 days in a month. Major oil companies also provide medical and life insurance. It is a very rewarding and exciting career.

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Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.