How to write a Guyana-ready CV for oil contractors — and when you must use PPSC Form 31

A two-page “energy professional” résumé that worked in Houston, or a WhatsApp screenshot that worked for a shop in New Amsterdam, will not get you onto an FPSO contractor shortlist — and it will not get you into the public service either.

Those are two different paper trails. Oil-and-gas contractors hire from a PDF that proves you are Guyanese, medically and safety-ready, and already close to a trade. The Public/Police Service Commission hires from P.S.C. Application Form No. 31 (or the online equivalent), not from a glossy CV. Mix them up and both applications die quietly.

This is a document checklist, not a geography piece and not a Local Content Register walkthrough.

Job seekers: keep one contractor PDF and one public-service pack, then apply where the vacancy actually lives on GuyaneseJobs.com.

Two markets, two files — do not send the same PDF

Contractors (SBM Offshore, MODEC, Saipem, Halliburton, Baker Hughes and the rest of the Stabroek support chain) want a reverse-chronological PDF they can scan in minutes. SBM’s 2026 Trainee Technician posting, aimed at Guyanese living in Guyana, is typical of the bar: a two-year technician certificate, NVQ/CVQ Level 2, or a technical diploma or degree; two years in the discipline; English; readiness for 12-hour offshore days; travel for training; and medical fitness including drug and alcohol testing, TB and OGUK. If those facts are buried on page three under “hobbies”, the recruiter has already moved on.

The public service does not ask for that PDF as the application. The Commission’s own site is blunt. Persons applying for a post advertised on a Staff Vacancy Circular use P.S.C. Application Form No. 31. Serving officers seeking an advertised promotion use Form No. 30. You can also apply online at apply.ppsc.gov.gy. The portal states that forms filled with incorrect information will not be processed, and that only individuals aged 17 to 45 are eligible to apply to join the Public Service. A contractor CV will not substitute for Form 31.

Keep both files on your laptop. Name them so you cannot attach the wrong one: Firstname-Lastname-MechanicalTech-Sep2026.pdf versus a completed Form 31 for the circular number in the advertisement.

The contractor CV: what belongs on page one

Front-load facts a mobilisation desk can verify.

Identity and mobilisation. Legal name as on your ID or passport, Guyanese citizen, a Guyana mobile and an email you check, and the region you can report from — not “willing to relocate worldwide”. List a TIN or NIS number only if you hold one.

Tickets and medicals you actually hold. Write the certificate name, the awarding body, the certificate number and the expiry date. For offshore work the names that appear in Guyana contractor language are OGUK (also written OEUK) medicals, and, once you have been sent for them, OPITO Tropical BOSIET, HUET and T-FOET. Do not list a ticket you have not sat. Do not paste “BOSIET/HUET pending” as if it were a qualification. An expired ticket is worse than a blank line.

Trade evidence. Institute, years, and the exact award: NATI or GTI technician certificate, CVQ/NVQ Level 2, City & Guilds, GTTCI Advanced Diploma in Oil and Gas (mechanical, electrical, instrumentation or production) if you have it. Match the discipline in the vacancy. SBM’s trainee programme names four: production (operations), mechanical, instrumentation and electrical.

Employers and assets, not adjectives. “Mechanical technician, SBM / FPSO maintenance, 2024–26” beats “dynamic oil and gas professional”. Name the contractor, the yard or vessel if you are allowed to, the permit-to-work or isolation work you actually did, and the tools. “Energy sector exposure” is not a line.

File hygiene. One PDF, dated, under two pages unless a notice asks for more. No WhatsApp screenshots, no Canva columns that collapse in an applicant-tracking system, no salary copied from a Trinidad or Aberdeen advert. ExxonMobil Guyana’s careers page still lets you upload a résumé for future vacancies; they contact you only if you fit a role. That upload is not an application to PPSC.

Contractor checklist before you click send

1. The vacancy is on the contractor’s careers page, a dated official notice, or GuyaneseJobs.com — not a voice note.
2. Filename, phone and email work.
3. Citizenship and where you live are in the first five lines.
4. Every ticket has a number and an expiry; none are “in progress” unless the advert asks for willingness to train.
5. Trade certificate matches the discipline in the posting.
6. Dates of employment are month and year, with no unexplained gaps you are not ready to explain.
7. You have not quoted a foreign salary band.
8. Attach only what the advert asked for (certificates, OGUK, police clearance). Extra family photos are how inboxes filter you out.

Form 31: fill the Commission’s form, not your own layout

Download Form 31 from ppsc.gov.gy/forms or use Apply for Appointment to the Public Service on the same portal used to join. Watch open circulars on ppsc.gov.gy/careers.

Section A — personal data. Name the post applied for and whether it is in response to a public advertisement. Then fill, in the form’s order: name in full (surname first, block letters); title; age; date and place of birth; permanent and mailing addresses; office, home and cell numbers; email; marital status and children if any; father’s name and occupation; mother’s maiden name and occupation. Use the name on your birth certificate. A Gmail nickname is how clerks query the file.

Section B — educational background. The form states that photocopies of certificates and examination result slips must be provided. It then walks institution by institution: primary, secondary, technical school, correspondence, university, post-graduate, professional and special courses, each with address, dates (month and year) and the award. If you have five CXC subjects, list the sitting and the grades. Do not attach a contractor CV and write “see résumé” across Section B.

Complete every remaining field on the form as printed. The online portal’s warning is the working rule: incorrect information means the application is not processed. If you are 46 and hoping to *join* the public service through this intake, the portal’s 17–45 rule is the answer — do not argue it in a cover email.

A covering letter to the Secretary, naming the circular and the post, is useful. It is not a substitute for Form 31.

What not to recycle from a Trinidad or Houston template

Do not lead with a US-style “objective” or a headshot. Do not claim “eligible for sponsorship”. You are Guyanese applying in Guyana.

Do not treat OSHA 30, IADC Rig Pass or a North Sea BOSIET as if they were what a Stabroek contractor asked for, unless the vacancy names them. SBM’s published trainee bar is OGUK, TB and drug screening — plus the trade certificate. Add OPITO tropical survival tickets when you hold them.

Do not paste a public-service Form 31 into a contractor portal. Do not paste a contractor CV into a Staff Vacancy Circular and hope a clerk will retype it.

This week: save two files. Update the contractor PDF against one live posting. If a public circular is open, complete Form 31 for that post only. Then apply on the official board and on GuyaneseJobs.com.

Sources

• Public/Police Service Commission, Forms (Form 30 and Form 31): https://ppsc.gov.gy/forms/
• PPSC online applications (ages 17–45 to join): https://apply.ppsc.gov.gy/
• PPSC careers / circulars: https://ppsc.gov.gy/careers/
• SBM Offshore, Trainee Technician — 2026 Trainee Program (Georgetown): https://careers.sbmoffshore.com/job/Georgetown-Trainee-Technician-2026-SBM's-Trainee-Program/819794702/
• ExxonMobil Guyana careers: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/locations/guyana/careers-at-exxonmobil-guyana
• National Job Bank: https://jobs.gov.gy/