How To Apply For Catering Jobs

There Are Many Opportunities For Offshore Catering Jobs

Whatever your reasons for wanting to work onboard a cruise ship or an oil rig drilling platform - the cooking, the exotic places or the money - there are many opportunities for offshore catering jobs.

If you enjoy cooking for people and working with food, then a job in an offshore catering department might be just the job option you've been looking for. While life onboard a cruise ship or on an oil rig is quite different from land-based jobs, having a catering job on either can be an interesting change while still working in the area of food service.

How to Get Started

Getting a catering job offshore starts with submitting your resume, along with your work experience or an application to companies that hire catering staff for oil companies and worldwide cruise line companies. Previous cooking experience in a hotel, a fast-paced restaurant or with a catering service will always improve your chances of getting a cruise ship chef, night baker or other catering job but even without prior experience, opportunities still exist for the person willing to put in the effort to find them.

You won't need a degree for most catering jobs, but you'll probably need some culinary training and if you want to get into management or supervisory jobs, a degree or specialized training will certainly help. Other training or experience such as first-aid, CPR, firefighting or other survival skills will also help to set you apart from the competition for jobs on either an oil drilling platform or with a cruise ship line.

How To Apply For Catering Jobs

To get an offshore catering job you need to start by searching for jobs online and/or company names and addresses so you can go to the headquarters of oil companies or cruise ship lines and apply in person.

Even if there aren't any catering jobs available currently, leave your CV (resume) and/or a completed application so the company can keep it on file for the next vacancy. Also, contact companies that specialize in providing catering staff, especially since very few oil companies hire catering staff directly and don't forget to include recruiting agencies when sending out applications and resumes.

The oil and gas company recruiters are always searching for people who can fill job vacancies that come up within the industry.

What Catering Jobs Are Available? 

Catering jobs on an oil rig include oil rig chef, head chef, cook, night/day bakers, food servers, galley hand, etc. Even the oil rig entry level jobs of galley hand or housekeeping staff make good money. Cruise ship catering jobs pay less well but then they have other benefits oil rigs don't.

Working on either an oil-rig or a cruise liner means you have to be prepared to be away from home, family and friends for weeks at a time, so seriously consider if that might be a problem for you. Also keep in mind, on an oil rig you'll need to do training in safety rules, regulations and procedures and then follow them if anything should happen to threaten your (and others') survival on the offshore rig.

A cruise ship offers an easier atmosphere, where survival is almost never a real issue. The catering department is involved with servicing paying passengers, while catering jobs on oil rigs are vital for maintaining the health and strength of the rig's workers. The primary thing to remember is that there are many opportunities for offshore catering jobs, whether on cruise ships or oil rigs.

Catering jobs are hard work wherever they are done, but working on an oil rig or a cruise ship include other elements that make them more interesting than most other jobs in the catering field and, in some cases, they also pay better than land-based jobs. If this interests you, check out the possibilities available onboard oil drilling rigs or ocean or river-going cruise ships.