| Wherever and whenever money comes into the | | | | You may be wondering: Why is the physical address |
| picture, you should expect to find misinformation and | | | | and phone number important? Because most scam |
| scams. Recruitment for drilling rig jobs as well as | | | | websites never publish an address. Even if they do, |
| other jobs in the oil and gas industry is no exception. | | | | the addresses are fake in most cases. In other |
| How do you know if the job advertised on an | | | | words, you can use this information to track down a |
| employment website is real? How do you even know | | | | real company by cross-checking its published address |
| if the website itself is real (besides the biggies like | | | | against what you find in the phone book. You should |
| Monster or the corporate websites of the oil giants | | | | also call the published phone number against the |
| like Shell, BP, etc.)? And by the way, do you know | | | | number listed in the phone book. Before you ever |
| that some conmen use job offers to con job | | | | give up any of your personal information, you should |
| seekers out of their money? | | | | verify whether or not the oil contractor or |
| I can already hear some people saying: "We'll be fine | | | | employment board is a real company. |
| if we stick to Monster and the large corporate | | | | Moving on, the second and third questions can be |
| websites of well-known oil companies." That's fine. I'm | | | | handled together. Unfortunately, there is no |
| sure all your competitors will be very happy to have | | | | fool-proof way to tell if a advertisement or even job |
| you out of the picture. The problem with sticking | | | | offer is genuine. All we can do is play the odds by |
| only to Shell's corporate website (or their rivals like | | | | educating ourselves about the likely salaries in the oil |
| BP, Exxon Mobil, etc.) is that most of their job | | | | industry. That way, we can make an informed guess |
| postings are for upper level executive positions. This | | | | about the offered job. Here are some salary data |
| is where they advertise vacancies like those for | | | | gathered around 2003 to 2005: |
| Regional Sales Manager. They do not advertise entry | | | | - $150,000 or more: Head office management |
| level jobs. In fact, they almost never hire workers | | | | - $100,000: Toolpusher |
| for their oil rigs, preferring to outsource the operation | | | | - $70,000 to $90,000: Mud engineers, Medics, Driller, |
| and hiring to service companies like Schlumberger, | | | | Assistant Driller |
| Transocean and Halliburton. | | | | - $50,000 to $60,000: Roustabouts, Painters, |
| Some of you are probably already saying: "Then we'll | | | | Scaffolders, Radio operators, Derrickman, Cooks, |
| just go to these (Schlumberger, et. al.) websites." | | | | Stewards |
| That's... nice. Unfortunately, they only or mainly | | | | Despite the recent recession, oil salaries remain |
| advertise positions requiring a college education. They | | | | relatively high, especially for offshore oil rigs. If |
| rarely if ever advertise vacancies for jobs like | | | | someone offers you an entry level drilling rig job with |
| roustabouts, painters or scaffolders. If you do not | | | | a salary around $50,000 to $60,000, it is still |
| have at least a relevant diploma or associate degree, | | | | believable. But a roustabout job for $100,000 is |
| you do not stand a chance. | | | | unlikely, not unless the price of oil jumps much higher, |
| If you want to get employed, you need to look at | | | | let's say above $200 per barrel. |
| smaller subcontractors who do the real work for the | | | | Besides an overly high salary, a surer indicator of a |
| oil service companies. You need to also look at | | | | job scam is when they ask you for money. It does |
| employment websites besides Monster. But once | | | | not matter what they call it, whether it is a |
| again, we are back to the same old questions: | | | | processing fee, admin fee, training fee, fee to |
| - Is the website real? | | | | expedite special documentation, fee for the |
| - Is the vacancy real? | | | | compulsory medical checkup, equipment fee, etc. A |
| - Is the offer real? | | | | real employer does not ask you for money before |
| Let us start with the first question: Is the website | | | | you even start work, especially in the lucrative oil |
| real? The website of a real company should contain | | | | industry. |
| its contact information. This should include a physical | | | | Of course, once it reaches the stage of an actual job |
| address and a phone number. If you look at | | | | offer, you should verify the existence of your |
| Halliburton's corporate website, you can see an | | | | prospective employer. Ask for the name of the oil |
| example of this on their contact page. CareerBuilder, | | | | service company, the physical address and the |
| too, has full contact information on their website. On | | | | contact phone number. Verify everything against the |
| the other hand, some companies like Monster and | | | | phone book and make sure you sign the contract at |
| HotJobs seem to be too arrogant and cannot be | | | | the listed address. |
| bothered to provide their physical address. | | | | |