Jobs in ND Oil Patch

Sorry I hear very little about that area. What I have heard is that the oil industry is supposed to be expanding in Mt. This year.

 

From what I was told MT is trying hard to stop the oil drilling there, they have made it so expensive for companies to drill that only a hand full even try it.

 

Thanks pure evil.
I know MT isn't offering a big tax break but heard they are going to make some adjustments from what I read in an article in billings gazette. They are also checking into the beartooth range area.

 

Duplicate post

 

NDbadlands,
Thanks for the heads up. I'll head out those 20 miles. Forgot about that place.

 

for 16-17 per hour, I'd find a local job where I was home nightly.

 

Haven't seen drivers that low in the williston area lately. Closer to $20 or$25 hourly. However the hourly pay is only a part of the total. Some drivers are gitting over 100 hours a week.

 

Ok here are my tips for people coming out to North Dakota for work:

1. Have your CDL-A with at least a Tanker and Double/Triple endorsements, Having a Hazards waste is really helpful too. Even if you dont plan on driving a truck it will help you a lot to have a CDL, even the RoustAbout trucks which are normally F-550's or bigger require a CDL once you hook a trailer on to them. So most places need CDL drivers even for the labor positions.

If your thinking you will get your CDL once you get out here..... Better think again! Its a pain in the ###, you have to setup a date just to take a written test and that will most likely be at least a month away, and the same for the driving test... So your looking at a 2-3 month wait before you could even get your CDL in ND.

2. Try to line up a job before you come out here, anyone who tells you that when you get out here you can find a job in no time is full of it. I thought that when I came out and it took me about 2 weeks and multiple cities before someone hired me. I ended up getting hired as a RoustAbout which is basically the laborer position in the Oil Field. Grant it they started me out at $22/h because I had a CDL, would have been $18/h without a CDL and I started out making more then some people who have been there for a year just because of my CDL.

3. Bring a camper or a van with a bed in it, try to line up a place to park it before you come out. Housing is going to be the number 1 issue you run into, its either gonna be way more then you want to pay, or a dump that you dont want to live in. So try to find a place to stay before you even drive out here, its nice to have a kinda "home base" to come back to at night.

4. Food! bring stuff you can make and eat easily, this isnt like the city you live by now... there isnt a fast food place within an hour or more of most places. So dont think your gonna come out and live off a $ menu because most likely that wont be an option. Plan on having enough food and water for about 3-4 weeks, as it may take that long to find a job and once you find one it will most likely be 2 weeks before you see your first check.

5. No drugs! If you do drugs, don't even bother coming out here! Most places do random tests all the time, and most people dont want to work next to a drunk or drug addict so they will turn you in. The jobs and roads out here are dangerous enough, the last thing we need are impaired drivers and workers.

6. Try to find someone you know that is already out here working, seems like having someone put in a word for you is the key to getting a job fast. There are a ton of people out here and I will almost guarantee that you know someone who is either out here or has a friend or relative working out here.

7. Appearance! Be clean shaving, have decent cloths, hide the tats and piercings, and be showered up. There are 100 people applying for the same job as you, so you have to make yourself stand out from the others.

8. Leave the wife/girlfriend, kids, and pets at home! This is not the place for them, your are gonna be in camps full of other men. Not to mention there is nothing for them to do out here. Once you get setup and learn the area and maybe rent a house or apartment you can bring them out, but I strongly advice against bringing them out right away or at all. This will just be extra stress and problems that you don't want to deal with.

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Update:

9. Applications, these companies have huge applications to fill out! Take some time before you come out to get all the info ready so you can fill out apps quickly... here is an idea of what they will want you to have:

Normal stuff - name, address, email, phone number, SS, etc... (fyi you may want to try and get a phone that uses Verizon towers, sprint is almost useless out here)

Work history:10 years at least! They will want names, address, phone numbers, your duties, date you started, how much you made, date you left, why you left... some places even go as far as to make you explain any gaps you have between jobs... they want to know where you were and why you weren't working for that period of time. (this seems to be the hardest one)

References: Most will want 3 names of unrelated people to be listed.

Places you lived: You need to know the address, city, state of anywhere you lived in the past 3-5 years, and how long you lived there.

Accidents/tickets: They will want anything other then a parking ticket in the past 5 years.

License: number, endorsements, any other states you had a license in.

DOT Card: They will want a copy of your up to date DOT medical card and Drivers license (they will make the copy of it) but you need to have it. If you dont know what a DOT medical card is, then call around to some local Dr offices and tell them you need to get one, they will know what it is (its basically just a physical to show you are healthy enough to drive).

Military: as with most places this info will only help you get a job, so have it ready if you served our country. (I did not have this honor, but thank you to those who did or still do.)

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Other Tips:
The key places to look for work in ND are: Williston, Tioga, Minot, Killdeer, Dickinson, Watford City, and New Town.

If your a Driver dont even think about taking something for less then $20/hr. If they offer you less then that they are prolly a "fly-by-night" company and not someone you want to work for.

Stay clear of Owner-Operator's that want you to drive one of there trucks, the work tends to be unreliable and they never seem to have your money when they owe it to you. Now if your a O/O there is work for you out here, but your better off working as a company driver most of the time.

Just to name a few places to look into (both driving and non-driving jobs):
PowerFuels
MBI Energy
Continental Resources
Marathon
Conoco Phillips
Hess
Enerplus
KSI
Mitchell's Oil Field Service

Also check out these sites for some leads:
http://www.ndoiljobs.com/
http://www.jobsnd.com/


Hope this helps clear up some questions for people,
PureEvil

 

All I can say after talking to a couple of places on the phone, it's not worth the effort. One guy I talked to said he would train me for a week to see how I do with a tank and belly dump. He wanted me to find my own way up there, pay for eveything except a place to sleep, no paid orientation, and start by training me 12 hours a day for a full 7 day work week with no pay and top pay is $25 an hour, 6 weeks on 1 off. Needless to say I didn't call back and told my father in law I'll stay where I'm at.

 

skunk, I do not blame you.

It's why I started to look at a more local regional job and found one.