Anyone familiar with OSSA (Offshore Staffing Services of Acadiana)?

Maritime Employment
1

I interview with OSSA in a few days. Has anyone worked with/for them? Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks!

2

Never heard of em. Sounds like a headhunter outfit. Alot of companies are actively hiring. Are you that hard up?

3

They employed the cooks on boats I’ve worked on. That’s about all I know of them.

4

They have an ad on rigzone for masters,mates, etc. I looked their web site up(they have one) on there they seem to deall mainly with catering/steward staffing. Maybe they are trying to expand their services.

5

My company uses OSSA cooks from time to time. The cooks are good, but OSSA treats them like dirt. They make as little as $110 a day which is way down on the scale for marine cooks. Let me add that OSSA’s clients probably pay upward of $250 per day for cooks from OSSA. Nice deal huh? The cooks do the work, but the company makes more than the cook does!

6

Our company used them for a while until they found out OSSA was charging the cook and the company was paying for transportation to and from the boat at $110 a ride.

7

I’m wondering why folks would go with them when they offer crap pay and no benefits. They’ve got to have some selling point, I figure.

8

In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king?

9

A large portion of their workforce is in the work release program

10

Interesting. I’ll make the drive and see what they’re all about. Could be an educational experience.

11

What kind of work are you looking for? Crewboats? Mini supply boats? I seen on your profile you have 100ton license, are you wanting to work on your license, or get on a bigger boat as AB??

12

AB on an OSV of some type. Just upped my OS to AB Special and looking to break into the oil patch in Louisiana from a predominately tall ship background.

13

OSSA is strictly catering…I don’t know where any of this nonsense of providing marine hands came from? I suspect somebody misinterpreting the wording of an ad somewhere. Even as a catering company they are totally bottom sediment sucking slugs! If you want to be on a vessel as crew go right to the companies with the boats. They’re everywhere in South Louisiana. Just throw a rock anwhere by LA1 and you’re likely to break the window of one of these companies.

14

Yeah, looks like they’re trying to diversify.

http://ossa-llc.com/apply2work/careers/index.php?m=careers&p=showAll

15

I STRONGLY suggest you do NOT go through OSSA!! They will rip you off! ESPECIALLY if they know your a Newbie to the oil patch! All the major players are hiring now! Try applying directly at these boat companies: http://www.chouest.com/ http://www.hornbeckoffshore.com/ http://www.gulf-log.com/drupalGOL/ http://www.botruc.com/ http://tdw.com/ I’ve been working on boats in the oil patch for about 20 yrs, so its from experience that I tell you going through OSSA would be a mistake!

16

Woodhaven, Listen to C. Captain and Capnklump;

I’ve been a marine cook for 15 years, and OSSA is truly the bottom, the worst of the worst. The cooks I’ve worked with from them are good cooks, all the more reason they are being ripped off. However, without trying to sound racist most are black and though good cooks are not very well educated. They would not interview well with direct hire supply boat HR guys. I suspect, but do not know myself, they may truly be on work release. They are rough around the edges to say the least, but then again so are many mariners. So take their advice and go directly to the supply boat companies. Head hunters are ripoffs too, don’t use them.

17

Any update? Did you hire with OSSA or another company??

18

They sound like Remote Logistics who Cal Dive uses… A scumbag outfit that treat their people like crap… To OP, try to get on with Sodexo or a top tier catering outfit

Sent from my iPhone using gCaptain

1 Like
19

OSSA is a complete and total joke. The founder was partners in a company called Offshore Services of Acadiana (OSA) and was kicked out of the company and started OSSA. They charge their cooks to deliver them to the boat, pay them dirt and treat them worse. We use OSA and have always had great service and really good cooks. And for the record, the average charge to the customer for a cook is $400/day. I’ve worked shore side before and that’s what the customer ends up paying while the cook gets pennies.

1 Like
20

Never heard of em. Sounds like a headhunter outfit. Alot of companies are actively hiring. Are you that hard up?