Subsea 7 interview. Any help please??

[macca_tm]

Hi everyone,

I have an interview for a trainee ROV pilot/tech or Sub engineer job with Subsea 7 on the 22nd and am looking for any help on what sort of things i should expect in the interview?? I have heard that some interviews are totally relaxed and you get asked hardly any questions and others you get asked loads of technical questions and are pretty formal??

I know that they were recruiting at the beginning of the year, so anyone who went to them interviews your comments would be appreciated. Also any of the guys who got hired, I would like to hear what the trainning is like?

Also, rambling on I know, I have heard stories that as i would be hired on a dayrate basis for my training that there is a chance i wont be giving a salaried job at the end of it and could be unemployed!! How common is this?? I have a young family, wife and 4 kids with another on way!! So would be a big risk for me to leave my decent paid secure job I have if there is a real chance that i could become unemployed!!??

Any help on all of this would be great!! Thanks everyone

Cheers

macca_tm

[macca_tm]

I live in the UK by the way and the interview is in Aberdeen. Dont know if this makes any difference?

Cheers

[Woodchopper]

Hi there macca, im on the same interview but later in the week. just waiting for them to get back to me to confirm the date which i have requested. I’ve only been able to find out the usual stuff on here, but it appears that they might be giving us a technical test on an electrical circuit and a hydraulic circuit. There has been mentions of a phycometric test too?? dont really know anything about those. Whats ur background mate?

woodchopper

[SteadyEddie]

Macca

I was in pretty much the same situation as yourself….young kids/decent job etc… I gave it a go and I’m still here 18 months later, to be honest I’m not sure if I made the right move, I took a big step backwards thinking the job would be really interesting….. in reality it is very boring and holds little responsibility (I am drill support, boats/construction is supposedly more interesting). If you’ve not been offshore before then start getting used to living in jail like conditions, if your heading to w. africa (which I would imagine you are) then think third world jail……if you get the job that is!
On the +ve side, the money is good and the time off is even better.

You will start dayrate, but if you have the ability and are given the opportunity then you will pass your competencies and become salaried within 12 months, I have heard of no persons getting finished after passing their comps.

If you know your stuff then the technical test will be a breeze, interview is pretty informal and the psycho test is to make sure your stupid enough to fit in offshore.

Good luck!

[j800]

Whats the questions on the technical siide of things??do know mystuff but it always helps to be ready, is it looking at diagrams/schematics that sort of thing??

[flyingduck]

Questions will be around:

For example,

What type of hydraulic pump is on the ROV.

Can you draw a hydraulics circuit.

Telemetry. How many fibres. What does each fibre there for.

What type of valves are used for tooling, thrusters etc.

Fittings.

And, pretty much everything that makes an ROV do what it does

[j800]

do ss7 use single or multi mode fibres??

[macca_tm]

woodchopper

Hey there, yeah have heard bout the technical tests although i’ve been led to believe that its very basic?? I have an MOD apprenticeship in mechanical fitting/machinist and have 3 years time served. Also attended college and got a HNC in Mechanical Engineering. So have done a bit on hydraulics and electronics(although cant remember any of it now!!). So hopefully that’ll be enough to get me thru?? whats your background? Have you heard anything about how many positions there are??

SteddyEddie

Hey there. Good to hear your story! Dont feel so worried about not getting salaried now!! Is it Subsea 7 you’re with? Yeah have heard its not always the most exciting and conditions aint the greatest but like you say the main attractions have to be the money and time off!! what were the sort of technical questions you got asked? Hope you dont mind me asking what sort of wage you got during your training and what it went up to once you got salaried? Cheers

[bt]

If it`s just money and time off your after? There is better paying jobs offshore if you look, with more regular time on/off.

[flyingduck]

Not sure but most likely single mode for their more advanced ROVs such as Hercules to cater for surveying equipment. Not sure about itech and other ROVs they have. They seem to have a good few different types

[bobbyg]

I believe all positions are with i-tech and there are 20 of them up for grabs.

Not sure the content of questions but the systems they use mostly are:

Centurion QX’s
Centurion HD’s
Pioneers and Pinoeer HD’s
Seaeye 600 & Tigers

[Woodchopper]

I done my apprentiship through the MOD (army) as well. Mine was based in telecomms, lots of which is grounded in electronics. I’m in exactly the same boat as you (macca), as in I’ve been taught all these things years ago, but havent used them since, mainly due to the fact that a lot of our equipment was contract repair or we would only fault find to board level. So i’m revising and re-visiting all of the stuff i’ve learned in the past, in order to prepare myself a bit better. Reference hydraulics, I’m going to make it clear to them that I dont know much about that field. I’m just trying to familiarise myself with some basic hydraulic circuits and Pascals law.

People are mentioning being tested on knowledge of ROV systems, surely we would be tested on electronic/hydraulic theory, and not expected to already know ROV’s (being a trainee position)? I understand this is not an apprenteship scheme, but a opening for people with technical/mechanical knowledge, andf the people attending already have technical "knowhow".

Yeah, the time off sounds good, the email I recieved stated that succesfull candidates would be working around 170 days a year, dont know if this applies during training. Buy at the minute the job I have I work 12 weeks on and 4 week off. So pretty much anything is better than that! Thats not working offshore but in Afghanistan.

Im still in the dark as to how much trainees on day rate can expect to earn. the rates of pay forum doesnt give too much info. I understand that the pay would probably be negotiable and personaly I was thinking of asking between £160-190 if i get a far as that stage? any feed back from former trainees would be great on this subject.

[SteadyEddie]

Woodchopper….

I wasn’t tested on system knowledge and made it clear my knowledge of hydraulics was limited…..best not to bullshit I think and make sure you can back up everything thats on your cv. The technical test is very basic, little bit theory, schematics etc… dayrate for a trainee was about £190 (last year) this is including your £15/day (as far as I’m aware it’s not negotiable).

[Woodchopper]

Excuse my ignorance SteadyEddie, but whats the £15/day you refer to? Also, how many people were in your intake? I read on this thread that there were 20 positions available this intake? Any idea how many people they interview for these positions roughly? Cheers for your advice, great to hear from somebody who has been there, got the t-shirt…

[SteadyEddie]

Woodchopper…

If you start in the n.sea then you can either pay your own travel to aberdeen and claim £15/day allowance for each day your offshore or they can pay for the travel/hotel (if required) and you don’t get the £15/day……..guess it depends where you live. If you start w. africa then you get the £15/day hardship allowance.

Think there was about 12 of us when I went for interview…..about 8 of us started. Seems like you’ve got a half decent background so shouldn’t be any problem, you’d be surprised how many useless people there are in this industry (bullshitter’s who talk a good job)…. as I said, the interview is pretty informal…

Good luck

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