Relevant Experience From Previous Jobs
In the first half-page of your cover letter, you need to clearly and concisely state your most relevant experience. You also need to clearly link that experience to the list of job scope and responsibilities stated in the job advertisement. You don't need too much detail here. That's what your resume is for. But you want to take this chance to highlight what's important in your resume.
If you don't have relevant job experience, you'll need to get some training for offshore oil rig jobs. Fortunately, there are usually technical or vocational colleges who offer such training in many industrialized countries. After all, oil is of strategic national importance, so governments take care to ensure that their oil industries can get trained workers.
Outstanding Qualities Beyond Job Requirements
Once you have established that you have relevant working experience or training to HR, you need to show them why you are better than the other job candidates. There are two common methods. One is to show that you have more experience doing this job. If the job advertisement states that they want someone with 2 years of experience, and you have 5, then say so. Don't expect HR to compute how much time you've spent in your jobs - they won't. If you give them a number, they'll double-check. But if you don't say anything, it's anyone's guess whether or not they'll shortlist you.
A second method is to provide additional skills that are useful on the oil rig, preferably something related to the job you are applying for. For example, scaffolding experience can be useful for roustabout jobs. Or an oil rig electrician who also has mechanical experience.
Be Able To Start Work Immediately
Make sure you have all the paperwork you need to start work immediately. Offshore oil rigs have a lot of rules and regulations about their workers - some are because of international treaties, some due to national government rules, some local or state government rules, and then there are various union regulations.
There will be job candidates who insist that the oil company should take care of all the training and red tape on their behalf. The more of them who say this, the better it is for you when you clear away the red tape yourself. The following is a list of the certifications and paperwork that may be needed where you want to work:
- Firefighting certificate
- First aid certificate
- Helicopter underwater escape training certificate
- Offshore survival certificate
- Vaccinations
- Passport
- Visa
- Relevant local union membership(s)
Make sure your cover letters have these three things in them and your chances of getting oil rig employment will become better. But never forget that job hunting is a numbers game - you still need to send out a lot of job applications.