It depends on who's hiring at the time. A lot of the EOOW guys (enlisted ones) are going the direct SRO route, and most of the EWS and below guys are going NLO. This is all based on the crew's I worked with at NPTU on shore duty though, and can give names and plants they went to work for if that would help you at all.
Your best piece of advice I can give you is...get EWS qualified, apply, interview well, and move to somewhere you know you'll like being. It seems intimidating getting out and not having anything to fall back on, so start saving now!
PM with specific questions and I'll give you specific answers.
Luke