Offshore Jobs With No Experience UK 2026: £33k Starting Pay

Short answer

You can get offshore with no experience through five entry routes: roustabout, steward, catering, stores or trainee scaffolder. You need roughly £1,370 of tickets first (OGUK medical, BOSIET with CA-EBS, MIST), and starting pay is £160 to £220 a day, or £30,000 to £42,000 a year on a 2-on-2-off rotation. Most people who follow a consistent application plan are offshore within eight to sixteen weeks.

Every year thousands of people search "how to get a job offshore with no experience" and most give up because the industry looks impossible to break into. It is not. You need the right certifications, the right CV and the right target list of employers, in that order.

Can you get an offshore job with no experience?

Yes. Roustabout, catering, steward, stores and trainee scaffolder roles are all designed for people with zero offshore hours. Every OIM on the North Sea started as a green hat. The catch is that "no experience" does not mean "no certifications", you still need your basic offshore tickets before anyone will look at your CV, and a properly formatted oil rig CV in front of the right agencies.

The five roles that hire green hats

Roustabout — deck crew, general labour, slinging loads. The most common entry point at £180 to £220 a day.
Steward / catering assistant — accommodation crew, quick to get started, a good way to test whether offshore life suits you.
Stores operative — inventory, backloads and permit-to-work exposure. Strong stepping stone to materials controller.
Trainee scaffolder or rigger — apprentice-style routes with contractors, leading to £320 to £420 a day once ticketed.
Wind farm CTV crew — deck ratings on crew transfer vessels, the fastest-growing entry route in the UK.

What you actually earn on your first trip

A first-trip roustabout or steward earns £160 to £220 a day. On a 2-on-2-off rotation that is roughly £2,700 to £3,500 a month, or £30,000 to £42,000 a year, and your food, cabin and travel are all paid while you are offshore.

The reason people put up with the first year is what comes after it. Promotion to roughneck inside two years takes you to £44,000 to £58,000, and the trade routes go a lot further: electrical technicians earn £72,000 to £96,000 and drillers £130,000 to £170,000. Full figures are in the offshore salary guide.

Tickets and what they cost

Certification	Cost	Notes
OGUK / OEUK offshore medical	£120	Book this first. If you fail it, nothing else matters.
BOSIET with CA-EBS	~£1,000	5 days. Valid 4 years, renewed with FOET.
MIST	~£250	2 days. Required by every UKCS operator.
GWO BST (wind route)	~£650	Replaces BOSIET if you are targeting offshore wind.
Rigger / Banksman Stage 1	~£450	Optional, but it moves you above other green hats.

Book the medical before anything else, it is the cheapest way to find out if offshore is viable for you

Use OPITO-approved centres only: Aberdeen, Newcastle, Great Yarmouth, Teesside, Montrose

Never pay an agency that promises a job in exchange for booking training through them

Why your CV is the real barrier

"No experience" applicants get filtered out because their CV does not speak offshore. Recruiters and ATS software search for terms like BOSIET, MIST, OGUK, permit-to-work, toolbox talk, STOP card, PPE and LOTO. Rewriting your background, whether construction, military, maritime, warehouse or trades, into that language is the difference between no reply and a first rotation.

Our offshore CV writing service is built for exactly this, reframing non-offshore experience so it reads as offshore-ready, and you can see the structure we use in our offshore CV example. If you already have a CV, run it through the free ATS CV checker first.

Where to actually apply

Specialist offshore agencies: Petroplan, Orion Group, Fircroft, NES Fircroft, Airswift, Cammach Bryant
Direct operator careers pages: Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Harbour Energy, Serica, Ithaca, Equinor
Drilling contractors: Transocean, Valaris, Noble, Stena Drilling, KCA Deutag
Catering providers: Sodexo, ESS, Entier, Aramark, the quickest entry-level hires
Wind farm operators: Ørsted, RWE, Vattenfall, SSE Renewables, ScottishPower Renewables
Trade Facebook groups and LinkedIn, genuinely still where a large share of green hats get their first callback

A realistic 8-week action plan

Week 1 — book BOSIET, OGUK medical and MIST at Aberdeen, Newcastle, Great Yarmouth or Teesside
Week 2-3 — rewrite your CV in offshore language (or get it professionally done)
Week 4 — attend the courses; certifications in hand
Week 5 — register with 6+ agencies, apply to 20+ direct operator adverts
Week 6-8 — chase weekly, keep applying, expect a first interview by week 8 to 12

Questions people ask before their first trip

Can you get an offshore job with no experience?

Yes. Roustabout, steward, catering assistant, stores operative and trainee scaffolder roles are all designed for people with zero offshore hours. You cannot skip the certifications though: a valid OGUK medical, BOSIET with CA-EBS and MIST are required before any operator will interview you.

How much do offshore workers earn with no experience?

Entry-level offshore roles pay £160 to £220 a day in 2026, which is £30,000 to £42,000 a year on a 2-on-2-off rotation. Most people move up to roughneck or a trade route within 12 to 24 months and add £10,000 to £16,000 to that.

How much does it cost to get offshore certified?

Around £1,370 in total for the standard package: BOSIET with CA-EBS at about £1,000, MIST at about £250 and an OGUK medical at about £120. Offshore wind is cheaper, with GWO BST at roughly £650.

What is the easiest offshore job to get into?

Catering and steward roles are the easiest entry point because the trade skills transfer directly from hotels and restaurants, and turnover is high. Roustabout is the most common route for anyone with a physical or trades background.

How long does it take to get your first offshore job?

Realistically eight to sixteen weeks from booking your medical: two to four weeks to get on courses, then six to twelve weeks of consistent applications to agencies and operators. Green hats who apply to five or fewer places almost never get hired.

Do you need qualifications to work offshore?

For entry-level roles you need the safety tickets (OGUK medical, BOSIET with CA-EBS, MIST) but no formal academic qualifications. Trade roles such as electrical, mechanical or instrument technician require a time-served apprenticeship or NVQ Level 3.

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