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What’s inside:
Oil gas personnel recruitment agencies

Companies to apply to directly

Jobs accessible to people with no offshore experience

Advice on applying for jobs

LinkedIn & email gathering tactics

Advice for your first time offshore

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UK Oil Gas Recruitment Agencies

In this section is a list of well-used agencies in the UK oil and gas industry.
You should be contacting and sending your CVs to these agencies, and touch base with them
regularly in a polite yet memorable way.
Keep your name, and what you can do, warm in their mind. When oil/gas companies need a
‘body’ to quickly fill a position offshore, the agencies are who they call.

Last minute requirements

Most construction and service companies profit from providing personnel offshore, and also have
a contractual requirement to supply a certain number of people to a project. When a position
needs filling, a selection will be made from an agency, and their main bottleneck is checking to see
who is available, so it pays to notify them regularly what you do, and that you are available.

Read until the end before applying, you may benefit more with the tips provided later in the guide

Navitas
navitasinternational.com
recruitment@navitasinternational.com
01779 4793320

Drillmar
https://www.drillmar.co.uk/
raymond.bruce@drillmar.co.uk
01467 894247

Maris Subsea
https://www.marissubsea.com/
info@marissubsea.com
1224 3565000

Jab Subsea
http://jab-recruitment.com/
emily@jab-recruitment.com
01224 766622

Mcgregor consultants
http://www.mcgregorconsultants.com
http://www.mcgregorconsultants.com/contact
01224 627570
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Fircroft NES
https://www.fircroft.com
aberdeen@fircroft.com
01224 536484

Petroplan
https://www.petroplan.com/
info@petroplan.com
01224 536210 / 01483 881500

Eden Scott
https://www.edenscott.com/oil-and-gas
https://www.edenscott.com/lets-talk
01224 402041

Mya Recruitment
https://www.myarecruitment.com/
info@myarecruitment.com
01224 624304

Spencer Ogdan
https://www.spencer-ogden.com/oil-
and-gas-jobs
020 7268 9300

Genesis
https://www.genesis-personnel.co.uk/
info@genesis-personnel.co.uk
01224 565010

Brunel
https://www.brunel.net/en/europe/
manchester@brunel.net
1224 947 6200

Energy Sourcing
https://energyresourcing.com
info.london@energyresourcing.com
0208 380 0640
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Tulloch
http://www.tullochrecruitment.co.uk
ddonaldson@tullochrecruitment.co.uk
01224 625097

Chronos oil and gas

http://www.chronosoilandgas.com/
info@chronosoilandgas.com
01224 466296

Team Energy
https://www.team-energy.co.uk/
aberdeen@team-energy.co.uk
1224 452375

Navis
https://navis-consulting.com/
info@navis-consulting.com
02392 322 356

ATLAS professionals
https://atlasprofessionals.com/
01726 862200

HPR
https://hpruk.com/
01464 851122

Seatechs
http://www.seatechs.com/
01429 868543

PRSG
https://www.ersg-global.com/
0208 315 2600

WRS
https://www.worldwide-rs.com/
0161 926 2525
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CLS Offshore
http://clsglobalsolutions.com/

http://clsglobalsolutions.com/contact.html

HPR
https://hpruk.com/
01464 851122

ETPM
https://www.etpm.co.uk/
01224579230

James Fisher
https://www.james-fisher.com/
01229 615 400

Compass
https://www.compassltd.co.uk/
02392 384 555
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Jobs for people new to the industry

First, let’s look at the jobs considered most useful, and then the jobs most accessible
to people new to the industry.
There are many skills in the civil sector that are very useful offshore.

Most useful skills offshore

An oil rig or a vessel is a very industrial and mechanical place. A rig is an enormous
metal structure filled with metal pipework, it is always under maintenance,
everything is heavy and requires mechanical equipment to repair and install
anything.

It is going to sound obvious but any experience with metal, construction and
pipework is very useful. The most useful hands-on mechanical skills/experience
are the following:
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Pipework / plumbing / pipe fitting

Metal work, fabrication and welding
Handy man - an all rounder who can fix/build things
Mechanics / heavy machinery operators
Cranes / lifting / rigging / banksman
Building scaffolding
Working at heights, there are lots of opportunities for people with rope access
qualifications, as some of the locations are easier by rope than by scaffold.

Crossover Rig Jobs

The following jobs are accessible to people new to the industry, they are connected
to jobs common in other industries.

Stewards (catering/cleaning) Medics

Scaffolders Engine Room Mechanics
Painters(seasonal) Electricians
Plumbers Fire fighting trained personnel
Handyman/Janitor Helicopter landing crew (HLO)
Welders Air traffic controllers
Sand blasting Experience with pipework lacquer /
industrial insulation
Admin/logistics
Industrial / chemical cleaning
Warehouse
Flow control
Crane operators
Farmer (I’ll explain later)
Riggers, Banksman/Slingers
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Bear in mind that sometimes roles like Helicopter landing crew(HLO), or fire fighting
crew, are secondary roles to a person’s main job.

If you get the Helicopter training, or the fire fighting training then this will increase
your chances for getting a job because you add to their quota of required safety
personnel. If you end up doing HLO or fire jobs in addition to your normal job you
will be paid extra.

Rope Access
Rope access is a course that permits you to do your job at height, as the name
suggests, using a rope to get to access your job site. On a rig rope access is common
and often required. If you have a trade or skill already then a rope access course
may help get you a job. Especially applicable to painters, riggers, welding inspectors

Riggers
A rigger is a person who performs the rigging and lifting tasks, there are crews
of riggers on both rigs and vessels. They are an important work party if you have
experience rigging on land this is a clear route for you.

Rigger Courses
There are 2 main courses connected to being a rigger; banksman slinger and
rigging and lifting. Opito Rigging and lifting course level 3 is required to work
offshore, You can also do an NVQ for rigging but generally OPITO is for offshore. You
don’t need to do a banksman slinger course to be a rigger offshore but you need
the rigger level 3. Many riggers offshore don’t have their banksman slinger cert.
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How to get rigging and lifting level 3

Level 1 is introduction to rigging and lifting. You will get a logbook- once you have
completed all the required tasks, got them signed by a level 3 person. You can sit
your level 3 assessment(2 day)
If you have previous experience, you can get a reputable lifting/construction
company to write you a letter saying that you are competent to level 3 standard.

Rigger/Welder
If you are already a welder, and then become a rigger, you have a higher chance of
getting a job.

Other specialised jobs that cross over well.

Surveyors
This is a desired skill for mapping wells and directing drillers, and also for planning/
mapping the routes for pipelines/umbilicals.

Chemists
Chemists play an important part in drilling, analysing the rock, developing
chemicals to better drill through the different rocks, and developing and adapting
the properties of ‘mud’ to pump into down the pipe. (Mud is a liquid mix that is
developed to help the process of drilling, it looks like mud).
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Instrument technicians
There are so many instruments offshore; gauges, flow meters, pressure transducers,
temperature indicators etc, that there are instrument departments within
companies.

Hydraulics specialists
There is heavy machinery everywhere offshore, and plenty of hydraulic powerpacks
to power them. If you are experienced with hydraulics, make sure you mention it in
your CV.

Geologists
If you are a geologist, there is plenty of work for you in the drilling sector. Drilling
through the earth for thousands of meters, they travel through rock formations
that have a big impact on the tools used. The work done by geologists has a big
influence on the success of a project.

Service companies perfect

for Diesel Mechanics

The following companies will heavily appreciate diesel mechanics and heavy
machinery operators, if you are experienced with pumps and compressors then
even better.
Pipe fitters and plumbers have higher chances of getting a job. There is also a need
for electricians

Enermech - Pipeline process services(PPS)

Baker Hughes - Pipeline process services(PPS) and coil tubing divisions.
Aker Solutions - Pipeline process services(PPS)
Halliburton - Pipeline process services(PPS)
IKM Testing
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These service companies perform pipeline and process services, this covers a lot of
ground. Services companies are easier to get a job because they are project based,
and quite often there are huge spikes in demand for their services, meaning they
need hundreds of people, and fast to cover all their projects.
During busy times there are often a new guy in the crew, you want to be that
person, who is recruited during a busy spell.

Pumps & Compressor Rental

The following companies supply Industrial Compressors and equipment rental for
offshore

Speedy
https://www.speedyservices.com/international

Atlas Copco
https://www.atlascopco.com/

Speedy and Atlas Copco equipment are all over the world, and they send their
personnel as a consultant or operators for their equipment. As a stepping stone, If
you got a job with them onshore instead servicing their offshore equipment, after 6
months, you could get an offshore job easily after that.

Pumps
In oil and gas, there is a lot of pumping, and not pumping the product (oil/gas). In
so many different areas they will need liquid or gas pumped. For pumping down the
well during drilling, filling new pipelines for testing or pressure testing itself, purging,
dewatering, it is an essential job.
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Essential services: On a rig or a boat there are built in water pumps for fire systems,
and on vessels they have pumps for moving water in and around the ballasts.
Then there is the inbuilt water supply for all the showers, taps and sewage. The
fuel pumps, even though these rigs produce oil and gas, they have to get their
fuel shipped out and pumped into their tanks, from there, onboard pumps pump it
around the rig/vessel.

Compressors
Compressors are used all the time for supplying air operated equipment, including
the pumps that require air start. On a rig or a boat they require a compressed air
system that anyone can connect to.

Compressors are also used for dewatering pipe and purging. Often compressors
are combined with N2 membrane converters, which remove the oxygen from the
compressed air, they do this because oxygen is a fire/explosion risk and is also
corrosive.
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Liquid N2
It is common to use liquid nitrogen pumps. Liquid nitrogen is a space efficient way
of having pure nitrogen ready to use, since 1L of liquid N2 is equivalent to almost
700L of gas N2. The liquid N2 pumps convert the liquid to gas and pump it into the
pipework.

Downhole tools / Well services

Perfect for surveyors, people with good numeracy skills and a good understanding
of physics.

Downhole tools are any piece of equipment that is sent down the drilling pipe, or
into the well. This can go kilometers under the earth. So there will often be a long
wire, with a winch pulling it up and down with a tool at the end to do whatever they
need it to do.

The main tools are in MWD/LWD, because it

is used while drilling, but there are tools for
different situations like plugging the well.
Any specialised downhole tool will have a
specialist that goes offshore to make sure it
works.

Measurement while drilling (MWD), aslo

Logging while drilling(LWD). This is where
a tool sits behind the drill and measures
where it’s going, sending information to
the surface, so the driller knows where he is
going. If the driller is the pilot, then the MWD
person is the co-pilot.

Downhole Plugs
Sometimes they want to block the pipe, they will
lower a tool that will block the pipe at a specific
location, that is strong enough to hold back a
desired amount of pressure.
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Below is a list of the main well services companies.

Baker hughes / GE
https://www.bakerhughes.com/

Slumberger
https://www.slb.com/

Scientific drilling
https://scientificdrilling.com/

Gyrodata
https://www.gyrodata.com/

Well Tech
https://welltec.com/

Communication
installation

This is the BT of offshore, installing

and maintaining the internet and
phone systems. If you are already
in the telecoms industry, these are
companies that would be good for
your existing knowledge.

Rignet
https://rig.net/

Tampnet
https://www.tampnet.com/

Speedcast
https://www.speedcast.com/
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Bolt Tightening, Torque / Tensioning

All the pipework on rigs/processing plants needs to be bolted together in a specific
way, to verify that it is secure. It requires bolting training that would take 5 days
max. £220-360/day approx.

What’s involved?

Torquing
With torquing, this is when you tighten a nut onto a bolt using a hydraulic wrench,
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Tensioning
This is when you use a hydraulic tool to literally stretch a bolt, to allow you to screw
the nut on with no torquing force, then release the hydraulic tensioning tool, the bolt
contracts and you have a really strong hold on the pipe joint.

With both systems, you set the pressure you require, and the pump does the rest.
You move around the flange(where the pipe faces meet) and evenly increase the
tightness until you reach your target pressure. This could take 2 hours or 12 hours per
joint, depending on the size of the pipe.

This is a physical job that requires lifting bolts, and moving the hydraulic tool heads
into position.

Hydratight
https://www.hydratight.com/
aberdeen@hydratight.com
01224 215930

Enermech
https://enermech.com
recruitment@enermech.com
01224 723300
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Bakerhuges PPS
https://www.bakerhughes.com/

01224 408000

Atlas Copco
https://www.atlascopco.com

human.resources@uk.atlascopco.com / karen.matthew@uk.atlascopco.com

01382 778999

Stork
https://www.stork.com/en/capabilities/mechanical-piping/machining-bolting/
bolting-services

info.aberdeen@stork.com

01224 722 888

Drilling Companies
The classic image of an oil worker is a roustabout working on a drill floor. Most
people new to drilling think being a roustabout is starting from the bottom, but in
reality you will start as a deck-hand, meaning that you work do general jobs in the
drilling environment, you can become a roustabout with experience.

The ‘crossover rig jobs’ also apply to drilling rigs.

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Here is a list of drilling companies:

Schlumberger
https://www.slb.com/

Transocean
https://www.deepwater.com

Petrofac
http://www.petrofac.com/en-gb/home/

Halliburton
https://www.halliburton.com/en-US/default.html

Baker Hughes
https://www.bakerhughes.com/

Wetherford
https://www.weatherford.com/en/

Diamond Drilling
http://www.diamondoffshore.com/

Valaris
https://www.valaris.com/home/default.aspx

Saipem
https://www.saipem.com/en/solutions/drilling

KCA Deutag
https://www.kcadeutag.com/Pages/default.aspx

Awilco Drilling
https://awilcodrilling.com/

Forum Drilling
http://f-e-t.com/
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Production Rig Companies

(AKA operators)

These companies are enormous, they own the rights to the oil, they operate in the
$billions. They hire a huge number of people. They will have careers/jobs pages but
they don’t post many of their jobs, they will post only their ‘well organised hiring’
jobs meaning that there are thousands of jobs that are internally sourced.

You should try to reach managers and HR staff in a particular sector, and apply
directly to them, they will hire for their own divisions/sectors. They won’t post on
their global website and wait for candidates, you need to get yourself known by
these people, so try LinkedIn to get names and positions of HR and the division
managers.

Shell
https://www.shell.com/

BP
https://www.bp.com/

Equinor
https://www.equinor.com/en.html
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Total
https://www.total.com/

Apache
http://www.apachecorp.com/

Repsol
http://www.repsolsinopecuk.com/

For a full list of the Oil/Gas Operators registered in the UK see this link:
https://oilandgasuk.co.uk/operator-members/

Vessel Owners and Major Subsea

Construction Contractors

These companies have a fleet of construction, diving and support vessels for the oil and
gas industry, and they operate globally. Here is a list of the major companies, followed by
some of the jobs you can expect to find on them.

Rever Offshore (formally Bibby)

https://www.reveroffshore.com/

DOF Subsea
http://www.dofsubsea.com/

Subsea 7
https://www.subsea7.com/en/

Solstad
https://www.solstad.com/

Bourbon
https://www.bourbonoffshore.com/

TechnipFMC
https://www.technipfmc.com/en/
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Maersk
https://www.maerskdrilling.com/careers/explore-the-different-offshore-positions

Deep Ocean
https://deepoceangroup.com/

Saipem
https://www.saipem.com/en

Survey
They aid in the positioning of pipelines, and record the final positions of the
pipelines and subsea structures, creating a map of subsea infrastructure

ROV
Remote operated vehicles are basically robots that fly underwater under remote
control. They have articulated hydraulic arms that do all the work subsea when it
is too deep for divers (300+m). The ROV great are in high demand, working with
mainly electronics and hydraulics to build and the repair the ROVs, and fly them in
the ROV control office in what looks like a gaming chair.

ROV are a multi skilled busy crew. Your ability to adapt, working with your hands
and the old art of ‘getting things done with what you have available’ are attractive
qualities. There are ROV industry tech courses, but what companies look for with
new trainees is having a 1 strong trade or skill, the rest is learned on the job.
This particular job is hired through the vessel/construction companies rather than
agency, so you are best to apply directly. How it works is that you would be hired
as a ‘day rater’ and if a crew like both your skills and your attitude, then you will get
taken on as an employee.
In addition to applying to the big vessel companies, try some smaller ROV specific
companies. For example

ROVCO
https://www.rovco.com/

ROVtechsolutions
https://rovtechsolutions.com/

Atlantas Marine
https://www.atlantasmarine.com/
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SMD
https://www.smd.co.uk/

Saab
https://www.saabseaeye.com/

Dynamic positioning
Vessels involved with Oil and Gas have dynamic position systems (DP), this is a
computer system that controls thrusters so that the boat can remain exactly over
a given coordinate. It constantly measures the impact of current, wind and drift,
instantly increasing the thrusters in the required direction to maintain position. This
is hugely important to the function of the vessel, and there are people whose job it is
to manage it.
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Divers
There are two types of diving offshore, air diving and saturation diving(sat diving).
This is not something you can walk into in a week, the initial course is 3months, but
it is a very cool and extremely well paid job, you could get funding to do the course.
It’s worth thinking about if you like diving.

Air Diving
With air diving, divers breathe air and operate in depths up to 50m, they have a
relatively short dive time, and require depressurisation stops on accent after every
work shift to prevent decompression sickness(AKA the bends). This is mostly done
on rigs, for example to inspect, underwater weld, clean and make repairs of the rig
legs. You will require an HSE level 3 commercial diving certificate to work as an air
diver.
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Sat Diving
This is the next level, big bucks diving job / underwater astronauts. £1500 approx/
day, using working in blocks of 28 days.

It’s called saturation diving because the divers are permanently saturated and are
not decompressed, the divers live in an atmosphere of 95% helium and 5% oxygen.
They live in a pressurised chamber onboard the vessel, the pressure inside the
chamber will be matched to their job depths(up to 300m). When it is time to work,
the diving bell will dock with the living chambers, equalising before opening the
door (much like a space shuttle), then lower the divers to the seabed to work. See
the documentary on netflix ‘Last Breath’ for insight, and also what can go wrong.

Diving Techs
On diving vessels the techs will do all the jobs that are not underwater. They will
keep the divers alive, controlling oxygen/helium levels, pressure and general
maintenance of all diving chambers and equipment.

Advice - Applying for Jobs

Agency or Direct
There is a constant need for contractors through
agencies, because there are so many jobs that
are only required for a short period of time, or a
last minute requirement. Companies also don’t
like to hire so much because it’s difficult to fire
people, and they’d need to pay redundancies, in
many cases it’s less hassle and commitment to
temporarily hire through an agency.
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Agencies First
Our advice is to contact the agencies first, because each one has a team of people
staffing the oil industry 7 days / week. Get them to do the work for you, they
financially benefit from getting you offshore

Make it easy for agencies to sell you.

Prepare in advance

1 State the Job role/type you want

2 Validate why you will be easy to sell to their clients(oil/gas related companies)

Be specific
Choose a specific job type, and have your justifications/ qualifications+experience
ready. Written out concisely in your CV, and prepared for an email. You want to
make it easy for them to do their job.

Remember that people in the agency are assigned to different divisions of oil and
gas, so the person you speak to / email might not be the perfect person for your job
type, so make it obvious what job you want, and you will more likely get to the right
person.

Got many skills, no problem.

Just prepare each one, so that you can summarize in a short paragraph why
someone would hire you. Give the agent the option to pick which one sells you on.
Here is an example of an email.

Example
“Hi ..<<Name>>
I am looking for a job on a rig or a vessel as a diesel mechanic, I have worked for 5
years with …. engines. I am good with pumps and compressors, I have my BOSIET
and OGUK, and I’m ready to go.”

An email / phone summary like this makes it very easy to fit you into a job, and find
you the right person to give your details to.
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Call the agencies

The best way for a recruitment agency or HR person to remember you is to speak to
them by phone or in person.
Make a connection with someone, have a laugh on the phone, they will more likely
remember you and want to help you. Remember it’s people who open doors for you.

Should I wait for a job before I get my BOSIET?

Here is how it works…

If you apply directly to a company and they employ you, the company will pay for
your training, BOSIET, OGUK Medical and MIST.
If you get a contract job through an agency (short term work), then you will need to
be offshore ready. Your first job is really important, and as soon as you have been
offshore then it’s so much easier to get another job.
The classic expression is still true today and applies to the oil and gas sector ‘it’s
easier to get a job, when you already have a job’.
It takes 5 days to complete your minimum standard training to go offshore, and
most likely your opportunities will come when agencies have exhausted their list of
workers with offshore experience and need someone on short notice. They won’t
wait 5 days for you.

See webpage for BOSIET locations and prices if you haven’t got it yet.

Applying directly to companies

Once you have contacted the agencies, now it is time to contact companies directly.
Similar to agencies, you should be able to say what you are in 1 sentence, because
very likely you are not going to be speaking to the person who does the hiring. Your
information is going to be relayed to someone else. Give very concise information
about yourself and connect it to a job type.

Here are some good examples:

Hi i’m Julia, I’m a GP, and I want to work as a medic on one of your rigs.

Or

Hi, I’m John, I work with pumps and motors, do you have any jobs?
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Here is an example of a bad personal summery:

Hi I’m Jack, I am a very dedicated, and hard working person, with a good work ethic,
and willing work 12 hours per day etc etc.

This tells me nothing! I want to know how you are useful to us.
Try using keywords from their website. If they are pressure pumping specialists, use
those words ‘pressure’ and ‘pumping’ in your summary of yourself. Don’t lie, just see
how you can sound useful.

Hi I’m Simon, I am a mechanic, I can fix your high pressure pumps, I’m looking for
a job.

Farmers make great offshore workers

Try to convey the qualities of a farmer.

Farmers (or people who grow up on farms) will work 12 hours without complaining,
they will get up at 5:30am with no problems, and they will do it every single day
because that is their duty. Farmers get their hands dirty, work in the rain, and if
something is broken they will figure out how to fix it.
Offshore you’re like a farmer.

If In doubt, try the Aberdeen base.

Big companies have so many offices that it is difficult to find the right one, when in
doubt of which of their offices to contact, search for their Aberdeen based office and
call/email that one.
In the next section we will go over some tactics to get the names and emails of
people that are more likely to get you closer to the person who will hire you.
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LinkedIn Tactics
On Linkedin you can find most recruitment and HR people, the reason why you can
find them is because they use LinkedIn all the time to find personnel, they will have
500+ connections each and are online throughout the day.
You can use LinkedIn to search the agency or company name, find the exact
company, then search their employees to find the name of a specific recruitment
agent or HR person.

You can message them directly, or use the information to get their email.
For the agencies, this search has been done for you to save you time. Click the links
below, and as long as you are logged into LinkedIn then it will take you to the right
company.

Navitas Spencer Ogdan

Drillmar Genesis
Maris Subsea Personnel

Jab Subsea Brunel

McGregor Energy Sourcing

Consultants Tulloch
Fircroft Recruitment

Petroplan Chronos Oil and

Gas
Eden Scott
Team Energy
Mya
Recruitment Navis
 30

Bypass the info@companyname.email

When a company is really big(operators and drilling companies especially) they get
lots of emails, usually going to a general admin person who will filter through them.
A person with no experience, or no masters degree looking for a job by sending an
email this way is unlikely to get anywhere.
On linked in, search for the person that is in the desired department that you need,
once you have information on them, you can call the company and ask for their
email, and say something like this..
“Hi it’s John from (anywhere), I’m trying to get the email for “Simon Smith” from
‘department name’ (from linkedIn). Can I have his email?
If you reach someone who doesn’t get many people emailing for jobs, and he/she is
the manager, then it will be more effective.
If they reply with, ‘what is it concerning’, then this is your moment to use your perfect
memorable ‘what I do and how I am useful to you’ line. Remember..
Hi i’m John, I am a diesel mechanic, I would like a job fixing your high pressure
pumps offshore’, and I heard Simon from [dept] was the man to talk to.
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Here is another sneaky way to get emails, use Hunter.

Hunter
If you use the Chrome Browser, install this plugin
https://hunter.io/chrome
Now whenever you go on a website you can look at the emails that are on the
website by clicking on the browser plugin on the top top right of your screen(looks
like a red dogs head). If you don’t see it - right click on the extension icon (jigsaw
piece) and pin it.
You can get about 10 emails per website without paying.

Connections
The old saying ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ definitely applies to
people who get jobs without actually applying. It is a lazy mentality, but it does
highlight an important fact, people working inside a company have influence and
can put your CV on the top of the pile at the right time.
If you have connections, or people you know in the industry, ask them for help.

Find your connections

If you think you don’t have any connections, it’s time to find some. Every single
person in the world can be connected to each other on Facebook via a string of
3.5 connections or less. If you can be connected to a rice farmer in a village in the
himalayas via three people then surely you can find a connection to someone in
the UK oil industry. through one of your close friends and family, someone will know
someone in the oil industry. Start going through the friends lists of your close friends
and family, someone will know someone in the oil industry.
 32

You have to help people remember, mention it, ask people, they won’t know to help
you unless you tell them.
Then when you find them, ask them to help you.
 33

List of what to do
Get your BOSIET, Mist and OGUK.

Pick the Jobs you want to apply for

Make a different CV for each Job(if applying for more than one)

Contact the Agencies

Start contacting the companies directly

Find and use your connections

If you don’t hear back from the agencies after a week, find a
specific person via linkedIn and start the conversation with
them, be a little persistent, but not too much.

Start getting creative with emails and linkedIn, contacting

people with HR roles and people within the company and
asking around

Strike up conversation with the staff of the company. if you can

get someone to recommend you it carries a lot of weight, and is
how a lot of hires happen.

Keep pusjing until it happens.

It’s all about the consistent push until you get your first job. It’s a mix
between luck of timing, persistance so people remember you, and
having your CV near the top of the pile.
 34

What is it like working offshore?

The Oil and Gas is a world that people don’t see, the industry is huge, the money
involved is enormous, and jobs are plentiful and well paid.
Offshore is a fantastic place to work.
You get to work in an exciting environment, the highest safety standards of any
industry, great food, gyms, music rooms, rigs have great internet, you get to fly
in helicopters, the money is great and you don’t spend a penny while you are out
there.

How much longer will the oil

industry last?
A long long time.

There is ‘greener’ energy and it does get lots of media attention but it’s nothing
compared with the output of the oil industry. Power stations need to run, and 99%
of cars and machinery out there run on hydrocarbons. I’m rooting for a greener
energy, however oil/gas is going to be around for a long long time.

In Aberdeen, the oil and gas

capital of europe, a huge business
park was built in kingswells
a couple years ago for oil
companies. There are so many oil
rigs and so many jobs. Take a look
at the map of the North sea, every
name on the map has tens of
billions of pounds of construction
of rigs and pipelines.

The main industry that is affected

by oil price is drilling, it starts and
stops quickly.

For the next 20 years at least, the

rest of the industry will run like
clockwork.
 35

Advice - For Going Offshore

When starting a new job, it’s nice to be at least a little familiar and aware, knowing
what is going to happen brings a sense of comfort and demeanor of confidence.

Helicopters
When you get to the helicopter terminal, expect to sit down for a safety video first.
And then you will put on your survival suit. Put all your electronic stuff away and
turn it off. DO NOT pull out your phone on the helicopter! Make sure you have your
hearing protection before going outside, it is really loud.

Bags
Don’t bring huge bags, there is a weight and size limit for the bags. 12kg approx, no
giant suitcases. Bring soft duffel bags instead to be safe.

First steps
When you arrive on either a rig or a boat, the first thing that happens(other than
taking off your survival suit) is you go to an admin person to sign you onboard and
give you your room key, they may also take your passport.

You may have to work straight away, even if

you have been up all day, expect that, and
make sure you are keen and willing. Find
your team if you haven’t already, and
stay with them until they tell you
what to do, they will. Expect that
people are not going to flood
you with information about
the job you will be doing, the
technicians might not know,
and your supervisor might
be busy/stressed to get
organised.

Don’t touch anything

outside of the living
quarters unless you
have been told to. This is
serious, don’t turn valves,
play with gauges.
 36

Safety first
This is really important, and you will be reminded constantly.
Don’t break your back lifting something, or rushing to do
something at the expense of potentially hurting yourself, or
breaking equipment.

The cost both for your body and for the company is not
acceptable(anymore), which is good for us.

All incidents are recorded and the company who runs the project, doesn’t want an
injury on their statistics. They also don’t want to pay for an emergency evacuation.

If something is heavy, you can ask the riggers to help you with it, they are literally
the team that handle lifting. Or wait for more than one person.

The negative side of you hurting yourself, is way higher than the negative of having
a safety justification for taking more time.

Permit System
This is really important! You need to check with your supervisor before starting work.
Being proactive and starting early is not appreciated if you don’t have a permit.
Permits are there because there may be dangers that you are not aware of, it has to
be signed off by someone at the top who knows everything that is going on.
Example:
Your next job is to replace a piece of pipework, you can see the pipe, the area is
clear, you have your tools,, ‘let’s just get it done’. NO! There could be pressure inside,
there could be anything inside, even if someone tells you it is ok. Don’t do it until you
have a permit.

DO NOT start until you get a permit, otherwise you’ll be on the next chopper home.

Piper Alpha
One of the reasons why the permit system is so important, and is so strict, is
because of the Piper Alpha disaster. On Piper Alpha one work party started their
job (diverting gas), when the last work party hadn’t quite finished (bolting up a pipe
joint).

The gas leaked out that joint, the platform then burst into flame and the entire
platform literally melted into the sea killing 167 people.

The lesson here is even if everything looks fine to start your job, let the managers do
their job of checking and issuing you a permit before you start.
 37

Piper Alpha disaster

Look up
Look up when you enter an open space, there may be a load being lifted by the
crane. If something drops from the load being lifted, it will seriously hurt you.
You are not allowed to be under a load lifted by the crane even if you think it is safe.
There should be someone monitoring and stopping people from entering the area
under the lift but sometimes it happens. This is for your safety and is a rule for a
reason.

Never cross barriers

Throughout the deck, you might see red and white tape or chainlinks, this is ‘do not
enter’ barrier. Do not cross this unless you get direct permission from whomever is in
charge of that area. If you can’t find that person then wait.

If you get caught crossing the barrier, you will be on the next chopper home,
another expression for getting fired.

Muster drill
This happens a lot after a crew change, this is when they sound the alarm, and
everyone practices going to their designated muster point (meeting place), and
go through the emergency abandon ship procedures. It happens regularly and
usually you will be informed about it, if it happens when you are sleeping, you still
have to go.
 38

Room etiquette
If you are sharing a room, usually with someone on the opposite
shift (06:00-18:00 / 18:00 - 06:00). You will both have beds,
drawers and lockers, marked A/B.
When you leave your room, make sure you make it tidy, put away
all your visible belongings so that when the other person arrives,
it is 100% theirs. Just in case the cleaners don’t go during that
time, make sure your sink and bathroom is tidy, no hairs in the
sink and a mess in the toilet. This is really important.

Never sleep in
It goes without saying that you should never be late, everyone is
in the same position offshore and working long hours, don’t be
late.

Don’t miss your flight.

In the off-chance that you are joining a vessel that is at the dock,
NEVER EVER make it wait for you. Delaying a vessel is probably
the worst thing you can do, because your company will get the
bill for waiting time, and it is approx $20,000 / hour for a large
diving support vessel.
So don’t be late!

Shut up!!
There are not many people you hangout with for 12 hours straight
every day. Don’t be the guy that talks too much, it is better to
talk too little, than too much. 12 hours a day is a long time to be
annoying.
If you are a chatty person, try to space out your conversations,
and use every ounce of your social intelligence to make sure
everyone is comfortable being around you.
Remember there are different types of people, and all kinds of
characters; some are introverted, some are extroverted, some
are just grumpy. In this environment people can’t just leave if
they don’t like someone. This goes both ways, if you find someone
annoying, don’t offend them.
 39

Don’t argue with anyone

Don’t be aggressive or argue with anyone, you are with
these people 12hours per day, you don’t want animosity,
especially if you are new and you have no industry power.
If there is an issue between two people, they will swap out
the guy who is worth less in the industry hierarchy. Even if
it is not your fault, learn to manage situations well.

Problems go to your
supervisor, quietly.
If you have an issue with your company’s equipment, or
something goes wrong, whatever you do, don’t tell other
work parties or say it on the radio. When you have a
problem, tell your supervisor, he/she can decide how to
solve or reveal the situation. Don’t put the company that
hired you in a difficult situation, this is one of the fastest
ways to get fired.

This guide was made to give an insight into the industry,

speed up your research, and give you the confidence to
get a job based on your current skills. There are far more
companies than mentioned, hopefully you use this guide
as a tool to get a job. You still need to put in the work and
be persistent to make it happen.

Wishing you the best of luck. See you out there.

The guys behind OffshoreSurvivalCourse.co.uk