After about a year of applying online and by mail to tug companies on the east coast I’'m headed to the Louisiana Sunday to try the more aggressive approach. I work for a paving and Landscape company up here in PA, we do industrial mechanical repair and a lot of welding/ fab in the winter. This year is slower than usual and I may only get a few days of work in the next few weeks so I figure what better time than now to make the trip.
I’ll be looking for O.S. positions, I have my MMC, TWIC, and STCW certs and everything in order. I’ll be eager and ready to work, I just hope somebody is willing to hire a newbie I won’t be picky! We’ll see how it goes, but if I don’t have any luck in the GOM I’ll probably swing over to Florida and head up the east coast on my way home.
It will be a nice long 1200 miles in my gas guzzling F350, but hey, that’s what they make savings accounts for. Worst case scenario is I’ll get to enjoy some warm weather for a few weeks.
Good luck. Lots of companies are expanding and the jobs are out there. If one says they aren’t hiring, another down the road probably is. If you’ve got time to burn, sit and wait. Things change by the minute in the oilfield. They might not need someone at 0800 on Monday morning, but they might need someone at 0805 that same morning. Worst thing they can say is “keep checking back with us” and as we all know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Good luck.
Working in a shipyard is not a good way to get a boat job down there, and I would not want to compete with illegals and drug addicts for work in the super “business” friendly environment that is the south.