You have been told over and over again to “apply online” and “wait for a callback,” but every man who has actually worked offshore knows that the online application is a dead end, a black hole designed to filter you out before you ever get a chance to prove yourself, and the men who are actually getting hired are the ones who skip the online portals entirely and walk directly into the crewing offices, ready to work, and they walk in because they understand that the offshore industry is not an industry of resumes and cover letters, it is an industry of men who show up, and the men who show up are the ones who get the jobs.
The walk-in strategy is the most effective way to get hired in the offshore industry, because it bypasses the HR gatekeepers, it bypasses the automated screening systems, and it puts you directly in front of the people who have the authority to hire you on the spot, and the crewing managers are not interested in your resume formatting or your keyword density, they are interested in whether you are ready to go, whether you have your documents in order, and whether you are willing to work, and the walk-in is the only way to demonstrate all three.
1. Why Online Applications Are a Waste of Time
Online applications are a waste of time because the offshore companies receive thousands of applications every single week, and they have no realistic way to review them all, so they rely on automated systems to do the initial screening, and these systems are programmed to reject any application that does not meet certain criteria, and the criteria are often arbitrary and have nothing to do with your ability to do the job, and the systems are looking for keywords that you may not even know to include, and they are looking for formats that you may not have used, and they are looking for experience that you may not have, and even if you have all of these things, your application will still be competing against thousands of others, and the odds of being selected are virtually zero.
The online application is also a waste of time because it does not demonstrate your seriousness, it does not demonstrate your preparation, and it does not demonstrate your willingness to take action, and the crewing managers who actually make the hiring decisions are not looking at the online applications anyway, they are looking at the men who walk through their doors, and the men who walk through their doors are the ones who get hired.
2. The Creweing Office — Your Target Destination
The crewing office is where the hiring actually happens, and it is the place you need to be if you are serious about getting hired, and the crewing offices are located in the port cities where the offshore companies are based, and the most important crewing offices in the Gulf of Mexico are in Port Fourchon, Houma, and Morgan City in Louisiana, and these are the places where the crewing managers work, and these are the places where the hiring decisions are made, and these are the places where you need to be.
The crewing office is not a place to be intimidated by, it is a place to be prepared for, and the men who show up prepared are the ones who get hired, and the men who show up unprepared are the ones who get turned away, and the preparation is not complicated, but it is specific, and it requires you to have all of your documents in order and to know exactly what you are looking for.
3. What You Need to Bring With You
What you need to bring with you is critical, because if you show up without the right documents, you will be turned away, and if you show up with the right documents, you will be hired, and the documents you need include your TWIC card, your MMC, your medical certificate, your drug test results, and your physical exam results, and you need to have all of these documents with you, and you need to have them organized, and you need to have them ready to show, because the crewing manager is not going to wait for you to dig through your bag.
What you also need to bring with you is a change of clothes and a bag, because if you get hired, you will be leaving immediately, and you need to be ready to go, and the men who are ready to go are the ones who get hired, and the men who are not ready to go are the ones who get passed over, and the men who are ready to go are the ones who understand that the offshore industry does not wait for anyone.
4. What to Wear and How to Present Yourself
What to wear is just as important as what to bring, because your appearance is the first thing the crewing manager will notice, and the crewing manager is looking for men who are serious, who are professional, and who are ready to work, and the best thing to wear is clean, durable work clothes, not a suit and tie, but not gym shorts and a t-shirt either, and the best thing to wear is something that says “I am ready to work,” and the best thing to wear is something that says “I am not afraid of hard work.”
How to present yourself is equally important, because the crewing manager is looking for confidence, and he is looking for directness, and he is looking for someone who can look him in the eye and tell him that they are ready to work, and the men who are confident and direct are the ones who get hired, and the men who are hesitant and uncertain are the ones who get passed over.
5. What to Say When You Walk In
What to say when you walk in is the most important part of the walk-in strategy, because the first words that come out of your mouth will determine whether you get hired or turned away, and the best thing to say is simple and direct: “I am looking for work. I have all my documents. I am ready to go.” and then you hand them your documents, and you wait for their response, and you do not apologize for being there, and you do not make excuses for yourself, and you do not ask for permission, you present yourself as the solution to their problem.
What to say is not a script that you memorize, it is an approach that you embody, and the approach is based on the understanding that the crewing manager needs workers, and you are a worker, and you are ready to work, and the transaction is simple: they need men, you are a man, and you are ready to go.
6. How to Handle Rejection
How to handle rejection is just as important as how to handle success, because you will not get hired on your first walk-in, and you may not get hired on your second walk-in, and you may not get hired on your third walk-in, but the men who are persistent are the ones who eventually get hired, and the men who give up are the ones who stay on the shore, and the way to handle rejection is to thank the crewing manager for their time, ask if there is a better day to come back, and then follow up the next week, and the next week after that, until they either hire you or tell you to stop coming.
Handling rejection is not about being pushy, it is about being persistent, and the men who are persistent are the ones who are eventually hired, because the crewing manager will remember the man who kept showing up, and the crewing manager will know that the man who kept showing up is the man who is serious about working.
7. The Best Days and Times to Walk In
The best days and times to walk in are the ones that maximize your chances of being seen by the crewing manager, and the best days are Monday and Tuesday, because the crewing managers are just starting their week, and they are more likely to have time to talk to you, and the best times are early in the morning, before the crewing manager gets busy with the day’s work, and the best times are also late in the afternoon, after the crewing manager has finished with the day’s work.
The best days and times are not a guarantee of success, but they improve your odds, and the men who understand this are the ones who are strategic about their walk-ins, and the men who are strategic about their walk-ins are the ones who get hired.
8. The Tools That Will Help You Execute the Walk-In Strategy
Our Greenhat Entry Pack gives you the Gulf of Mexico direct contractor directory with over 150 direct contacts, the TWIC and medical credentialing guide, the offshore-formatted resume template, the greenhat survival field manual, and the Port Fourchon and Houma crewing map, and it gives you everything you need to execute the walk-in strategy.
Our Offshore Commander Pack includes everything in the Greenhat Entry Pack, plus the global deepwater and rig operator vault with over 350 direct hiring contacts, the direct crewing manager phone and email roster, the HUET, STCW and MOC certification shortcut guide, the subsea, pipeline and specialized vessel access protocol, and the personal resume review and rig formatting audit, and it gives you the tools you need to land a high-paying slot within 30 to 60 days.
Our Sovereign Rig Operator Pack includes everything in the Offshore Commander Pack, plus the direct international rig and FPSO contact database covering the Persian Gulf, North Sea, and West Africa, the 1-on-1 tactical strategy session for direct deployment planning, the custom rig application dispatch service where we target your credentials, and the lifetime directory updates and hiring alert bulletins, and it gives you the ultimate support for executing the walk-in strategy and building a sustainable offshore career.
If you are ready to stop waiting for callbacks that never come and start walking into crewing offices to get hired on the spot, check out the tiers found HERE and choose the pack that fits your needs.