With the current oil boom likely to continue into the next decade, many oil companies are desperately hiring workers for offshore employment in exploration and drilling work. In North America, Houston, Tulsa and Alberta have featured in the news in the past year. However, wherever you can find oil and gas, you will find the major players present.

The generous salaries and benefits offered by oil companies are well known. So is the hard physical work. But do you know about the offshore work schedule? Most offshore work is structured so that you work 1 week on/1 week off, or 2 weeks on/2 weeks off, etc. Quite common is 4 weeks on/4 weeks off. You may even find 6 weeks on/6 weeks off.

Not all offshore employment is on an oil rig. Quite a lot of it also happens on ships. Of course, some of the deep sea oil rigs are actually mounted on gigantic ships. You’ll find ocean-going tugs, towboats and pipeline barges deeply involved in the process of oil production.

Many of you grew up with easy communications and access to mobile phones and the internet. You have rarely been isolated from your families and friends in the past. Once you work offshore, this will no longer be the case. You will no longer have easy and unlimited contact with your friends and family for up to 6 weeks at a time. This kind of thing is often overlooked by those seeking offshore employment, but has caused a lot of strain in family relationships.

When you successfully gain offshore employment, you also need to think of your personal logistics – your mortgage payments, car payments, phone bills, etc. You’ll need to set up automatic payment arrangements with your bank, otherwise you could wind up in quite a lot of inconvenience. Don’t forget to settle things like your voluntary military service.

Offshore employment can be very rewarding. If you are willing to learn and work conscientiously, you will find yourself getting fast promotions and advancements. Don’t forget that you’ll probably only work 6 months out of the year. Unlike office workers, you’ll have plenty of time off to pursue your own interests, whether its a hobby or sport or something else. Those of you with an entrepreneurial bent will find a lot of free time to start up and build your own business.

While no one likes to think about taxes, Section 911 of the U.S. tax law permits U.S. taxpayers to earn up to $80,000 per year of tax free income. The intention was to encourage US citizens to work offshore in less hospitable surroundings (namely 3rd-World countries). If your offshore job is overseas, or you think it can count as overseas, remember to consult your accountant and lawyer before you leave home. Who knows, with a little luck, you could take home $80,000 and not have to pay tax. Also don’t forget to set up a way to submit your income tax return in case you have to work in March or April.

These are some of the lesser known facts about offshore employment. Good salary, good benefits, possibly tax-free. Possibly no contact with family, no phone, no internet. Lots of other things to set up like automatic mortgage payments and income tax submissions.

Oil careers are hot right now, and getting hotter with each increase in oil prices. Are you one of those trying to get a piece of the pie, but failing? Veteran job hunters know that the resume is an important part of any job application, alongside the cover letter. If your prospective boss does not read your resume, you will not get your interview. And no interview means no job. Below are 3 common mistakes which cause prospective bosses to toss your resume into the nearest waste basket.

1. Job experience listed in chronological order. This is a very common mistake which many job seekers make. They list all of their previous job experiences, starting with their earliest job and ending with their latest job. This forces the employer to flip through all their previous jobs before finding their most relevant experience, which should be the latest job. Now, do you think any boss is going to take the time and trouble to do this? Don’t you think that the employer is more likely to toss it aside and look at another person’s resume instead? It is far better to list your job experiences in reverse chronological order, placing your latest and most relevant job experience on the first page of your resume.

2. Previous job experience is not related to the job application. Do note that your cover letter and resume are a form of sales letter, meant to sell your skills and experience to your prospective employer. Unless the employer is truly desperate, he will throw your job application out. In your resume, you need to highlight your skills, achievements and attitudes which are most relevant to the job posting. While you should not lie, many job seekers fail to highlight their relevant achievements because they think it is too minor or not an official part of their previous jobs. For example, you may have been an electrician on an oil rig, now applying for the head of the electrical department. Did you ever assist or cover your head of department, perhaps when he was on his annual vacation or on extended sick leave? Perhaps you had a large number of staff, and he often delegated some of his tasks to you. Too many job seekers only describe their official main duties in their resume, failing to mention extra achievements like this in their resume, thinking that “It doesn’t count. I only covered for my boss 3 weeks when he broke his leg.”

3. Not enough details. Some job applicants list down every job they have held in the past, but provide no details. All the boss sees is a list of the job seeker’s 6 or 7 job title, employer and date of employment. This is another fatal mistake. Remember that your prospective boss wants to know what you have done in the past that is similar to what he wants you to do for him now. Writing “Roustabout: Alaskan pipeline; 2003-2004″ does not tell your new boss anything useful. You need to tell him what you actually did during that job that is relevant to him. For example, you were a part of the team rebuilding a damaged section of the pipeline.

These are just 3 mistakes in your resume which could derail your oil career.

Lloyds Register are currently recruiting for the AGIP KCO Project in Kazakhstan. The positions will be based in London with travel as and when required. The positions are as follows:

• Mechanical (Senior Piping/Vessels) Engineer
• Quality/QA Engineers
• Instrument/Controls
• Process
• Scheduler
• Structural
• Materials/NDT
• Welding
• Rotating Equipment
• Electrical

If you would like further information please contact sandy.grewal@lr.org.