Interview Tips For Offshore and Maritime Jobs

[Md. Anikuzzaman]

If you've been lucky enough to score an interview with an offshore drilling company or other maritime employer, you're in really good shape!  Congratulations!!!  Most companies are not going to go through the expense of flying you in for an interview and putting you up in a hotel room if they weren't very interested in you to start with.



In fact, if you've been given an opportunity for an interview you're almost guaranteed to get the job UNLESS YOU SCREW IT UP! Make sure you're prepared!

What to Wear:
People always ask me what to wear for their job interviews.  You would be absolutely amazed what I've seen some people wear to a job interview for an oil rig job.  Ripped jeans, NASCAR hats, camouflage t-shirts, you name it...

Men don't have to wear a suit (although I recommend at least wearing a sport coat or blazer), but you should at least wear a nice button down shirt and dress pants!  For the ladies, something "business casual" should be fine (I'm not going to fool anyone trying to give out fashion advice for the ladies!).

What to Say:
You're going to be asked many questions as part of your job interview.  Most of them are going to be centered on safety and how to prevent people from getting hurt.

Here are some examples of typical oil rig interview questions you need to be prepared to answer:

Question: What would you do if you saw someone working unsafe?

Answer:  If I saw someone working unsafe I would wait for a safe opportunity to stop the job and offer a suggestion on how the job could be performed safer.

Question:  How would you handle a conflict between you and a coworker?

Answer:  I pride myself on being a fairly level headed person, but if a conflict were to come up between a coworker and me, I would first try to identify what I may have done to cause the issue.  My experience is that most conflicts result from a lack of communication between the parties involved.  Once I understood why my coworker was upset, I would try to work with them to resolve the issue and prevent it from happening again.

Question: How do you think you'll adapt at being away from home for 2 or 3 weeks at a time?

Answer:  I know it's not going to be easy being away from home, but my family and I are excited about this opportunity and are behind me 100%.  I also look forward to making new friends at work.

Question: What do you think your biggest weakness is?

Answer:  Hmm...that is a good question.  If I had to pick a weakness, I'd have to say that it would be the amount of pride I take in my work.  Over the last few years, I've learned that if I look at the big picture and prioritize the projects I'm working on, I can be more productive and better prepared for what lies ahead.

Question: Are all Accidents Avoidable?

Answer:  I think if we take the time to plan every step of every job we perform, look at the hazards of each of those steps, and put controls in place to prevent those hazards, then YES we can prevent accidents from happening.  The challenge is ensuring people follow their plans and stop the job if they see any unsafe behavior or conditions.

Question:  Who's responsible for your safety while you're on the rig?

Answer:  Ultimately, I'm responsible for my own safety.  I expect people will look out for me and I will do the same to look out for them.

Question:  What would you do if your supervisor told you to do something you knew was unsafe?

Answer:  I would question why the job needed to be done that way and offer a suggestion for doing the job safer.  If needed, I would contact another supervisor for guidance.

Question:  What does good teamwork look like?

Answer:  To me, good teamwork is when everyone involved in a job or activity understands exactly what each other is supposed to do to accomplish the goal.  Team members are supportive and encouraging and help each other out.  The end result is a team that performs at a high level of performance.

Question: What are your career goals?

Answer: I'd like to find employment in an environment where the opportunity to advance and take on challenging and rewarding responsibilities only is limited by my attitude, willingness to work hard, and commitment to continuously improve myself.

Question:  Why do you want to work on an offshore oil rig?

Answer:  I've been researching opportunities in the offshore oil and gas industry for quite a while, and am very excited about working in such a dynamic and hands-on environment.  Sure the pay seems great, but the people I've spoken with all seem very passionate about working on oil rigs and like being part of team, I think working offshore on an oil rig would be a great fit for me.

Essential Concepts About Working Offshore:
Safety:

The thing that amazes most people when they start working offshore is the tremendous amount of focus that is put on safety.  I'm not kidding, probably 95% of the topics covered in daily meetings focus almost exclusively on safety.

To help you have a better understanding of the industry, and be even better prepared for any job interview questions that may come up around safety, here's a brief overview of the safety programs that almost every offshore drilling company will use (they all have their own unique spin, but the foundation is the same).

Risk Assessments:

Before you start any job on board a drilling rig, it is essential that you take a few minutes to plan out how you're going to do the job.  Even the most basic jobs like scrubbing the deck, painting and emptying trash bins has a certain level of risk involved.

It's important to not only have a plan for how you're going to perform the job, but you also need to understand what risks are involved for each step of the plan.

Example: One of the hazards of scrubbing a deck might be that you're creating a slippery surface that someone could slip on.

The next part of the risk assessment process is to identify ways to prevent or reduce the chances of the hazard from happening.

In our example, you could put up "Caution: Wet Floor Signs" to bring awareness up to people walking through the area.

Permit to Work:

For certain "high risk" jobs, you may need to fill out a "Permit to Work" form to ensure that the highest levels of management on board the rig are aware of what is going on.  For example, if you were working on a critical piece of safety equipment (like a Lifeboat), you would need to fill out a "Permit to Work" form so that captain could sign it and prove that he was aware the boat was being taken out of service.

Other examples of when you would need a permit to work would be any welding operations, work being conducted in confined spaces (men working in tanks), and whenever power needs to be isolated to a piece of equipment to prevent people from being electrocuted.

In some instances, you may also need to complete an energy isolation certificate before you are allowed to perform maintenance on a piece of equipment.

Observation Cards:

Most offshore drilling company's also use some form of an Observation Card to help people look out for one another and identify any potential unsafe conditions or behaviors around the rig.

Observation cards are basically small index cards with a series of inspection points to go through when observing other folks working.  You'll be prompted to think through a series of questions such as "are the crew members working safe", "have they covered all the hazards in the job", "is there any way the job can be completed safer?", etc.

Observation cards take a little while to get used to for most people because you almost feel like a traffic cop writing "violations".  The thing to remember though is not to focus on the person, but rather on the behavior.  Observation cards allow management on board the vessel to identify trends as take appropriate action (in a positive way) to correct any them.

For instance, on one vessel we always had a problem with people not wearing hearing protection in high noise areas on board the rig (which could lead to hearing loss).  During our weekly safety meeting we discussed hearing safety and shared stories of people who have worked in the industry and suffered irreparable hearing damage because they failed to wear hearing protection when they were younger.

For more information on offshore safety you can read my feature article in Professional Mariner here or my any of my articles on the popular maritime website gCaptain here.

Attitude:

I know I've mentioned it a bunch of times already, but your attitude is extremely important.  This is especially true your first few trips on board the rig.  No one likes someone coming on board thinking that they know everything!  Even if you are a quick learner, let your actions speak for themselves!  Be humble, ask questions and talk to everyone you see.  You'll be amazed how willing people are to help you if you are genuine and appreciative of what other people have to say.

Commitment:

Hopefully by this point you have a better understanding if whether or not working offshore on an oil rig is right for you.  Remember, it's not all about the money.  Most people working offshore really enjoy what they do and are very proud of their jobs and accomplishments.

You might be able to "fake" it for a little while, but if your heart isn't in it, and you don't have the support of your family, you're NOT going to get very far and most recruiters will be able to see right through you. 

Source: http://www.themaritimesite.com/interview-tips-for-offshore-and-maritime-jobs/