Getting Offshore… Trainees

Dont limit your self too just too applying for ROV Trainee positions apply for all Jobs with your Mech and Elec Trade background for Offshore.

Discochimp,

as all the companies have thousands of people chasing a handful of positions, most do not need to advertise.

Yes, there is an industry shortage, because it takes a number of YEARS (not a 2 week course and 10 hours of flying an Eyeball) to become a proper Pilot Tech.

Companies take on trainees and spread them out across their systems to slot in with existing teams so that they can get the training/experience while not slowing or stopping the job the teams are being paid to do.

This means the number of Trainees that can be taken on is limited, my company takes on I think about 25 a year, out of a workforce of maybe 2-300 which itself is always turning over with people joining and leaving.

Unfortunately this has led to Training Companies and Agencies popping up all over the place recently to exploit the poor saps who are willing to pay thousands of pounds on courses that they "need" in order to get that job offshore (which of course you don’t).

The problem with that many people trying to get a start is that the pure tone note of someone who is perfect for the job gets swamped out by the white noise of all the others who are completely unsuitable (but have a shiny piece of paper to wave about that says they are).

Alas, there is no magic formula to getting a start, you will always hear stories of bakers, taxi drivers, who go and do a course and get a job straight away. Equally there are butchers and shelf stackers who also get jobs with no courses or qualifications! The ROV industry is not regulated, there is no formal qualification, there is no legal course or structure, so it is left to individual companies to decide who they take on.

I feel luck is the biggest qualification right now in getting a job. As others have said, do not limit yourself to ROVs, there are a LOT of other offshore jobs out there – most of which are better paid than ROV!

Which is why I would tell people to think carefully before paying money towards an ROV Introduction course.

The biggest problem with it is that is is specifically for a job in ROVs, whereas many other courses (e.g. on electronics, hydraulics or fibre optics) on which the same training money may be spent can count towards MANY jobs offshore.