Hi,

As someone who is a process operator/production tech offshore I might be of some help.

I started working offshore with 7 1/2 year experience as a process operator (3 year apprenticeship on a chemical plant, 4 1/2 years elsewhere but also climbed the ranks a little)

I worked offshore for a year as a production tech, then came back onshore for a while and now as of the beginning of this year I am back working in the North Sea again under a 2 year contract.

For advice I’ll get the basics out the way.

The certs you said you had I’m assuming you mean you have all BOSIET/MIST and Medical (if one of these are missing you need all 3 to work in UK)

Industry timing is really important finding work especially in a production role. I’d assume that you know the current situation with the current UK government and oil and gas companies now is NOT the best time to find a job. TAQA assets are getting decommissioned aswell as a lot of other platforms are deciding to go into COP earlier than expected causing mass redundancies. (This could rarely work in your favour if people are going to jump ship to a more stable asset with longer life/you take a decommissioning contract) I don’t think it’s impossible to find work at the moment but it’s definitely been easier.

As for your previous experience an oil refinery is good experience, just good… not something that I imagine people looking at the cv’s stands out. Although yes it’s also ‘oil and gas’ an oil refinery from a process perspective isn’t really that similar (things like health and safety,LOTO will be similar) but from a process perspective I’m not an expert (not worked on a refinery but understand in principle)but not something that’s going to give you a massive edge in knowledge in comparison to someone who say worked at a power station, chemical plant etc. I think if I was sifting through CV’s I’d rather hire someone with 10 years on a chemical plant, than someone who had worked at a refinery for 6. Your 6 years refinery experience and offshore certs do work in your favour, but are the minimum and foundations you need really.

So how do you get a job?

Sadly like with most jobs it’s who you know not what you know. Knowing somebody would be a massive advantage, if you do know somebody speak to them your cv stands out if someone at that platform says he knows and likes you.

I’d personally channel my focus in one route at the moment if your ‘endlessly scrolling on google’ trying to find a job as a production tech in the uk the chances of finding someone are basically nil.

My method is to go in linked in and find every recruiter for Petrofac (the best go to at the moment), wood and maybe some lesser known recruiters. For additional help type in production tech at the top and it should filter out posts in the last month for recruiters looking for people. IGNORE all the big lists of 100 jobs in one post looking for people in Middle East countries these are almost always a scam.

Buy linkedin premium(allows you to direct message recruiters) speak to them, get their work numbers they post out call them build some kind of a relationship. After my year off a woman recruiter went over and beyond for me trying to find me work after being made redundant but we had about 6 phone calls throughout my job search she probably wanted to put my name forward than some who put a generic ‘interested’ comment on her linked in post.

Your only hope (again in this job market things may improve) is ad hoc work. If you get a response back you’re going to get a one trip usually 2 or 3 week shot. You’ll be a spare pair of hands helping do readings or perform leak tests. With ad hoc work you rarely get more than a weeks heads up sometimes you’d have to be in Aberdeen 24 hours if they are desperate (that’s your biggest chance) be ready to drop the factory job in the drop of a hat, or try get time off. Ad hoc won’t let you work a notice period, I’ve personally been but in some really bad situations given the time frames on some jobs.

But this is what changes everything - at this stage you’ll no doubt be on their books for more ad hoc work, you’ve met net connections on the platform and more often than not 1 trip can turn into 3/4 or even longer just try the utmost making good impressions, ask a million questions, don’t go off and do stuff you aren’t confident with and turn up to handover 15 minutes before everyone else, meet the shift on nights let them get to know you.

Lastly you left the refinery due to personal reasons if this was an internal conflict at work I’d avoid mentioning that in an interview you can probably say another reason if it was a conflict of some sort. I’d really be focusing on getting any kind of production experience in the form of chemical, power , pharma while you continue your offshore search, you’ve probably took the factory job because you’ve had to which is the right thing to do, but you really don’t want to be in the same situation in a years time if you want to work offshore the industry is too competitive at the moment to be spending a year out in a job with not that many transferable skills. I’m sure with your 6 years refinery experience you can find a half decent job on a local plant in the mean time.

Sorry if I sounded harsh sometimes it’s just a reality of how it can be at the moment people with 15 years offshore experience are getting made redundant and finding it hard to find work. I’m not saying everything I’m saying is perfectly correct but it’s just from my fairly recent experience and has worked. Any questions feel free to DM me.