Where are all of those candidates for my job?!

The New Year is upon us and with the predictions that I am seeing I am expecting another flurry of activity on the staffing front but there is a misconception out there that we need to address.

For some reason many of us have actually enjoyed the media front kool-aid that has told us of all of the unemployed people out there and we have thought that certainly this must mean that there is a wealth of unemployed top tier talent right here in the oil-patch.

Let me just be kind and say, “Wake up and smell the exhaust fumes.”

• Our product is used more every day no matter who drives to work or makes a plastic toy for our kids to play with.
• It was recently announced that for another year OPEC has exceeded their production limit by nearly 2 million barrels A DAY! Someone is using that.
• China is beginning to hoard their own Strategic reserve with the intent of stockpiling 685 million barrels by the year 2020
• No matter how much we need from our own reserve we can only get to about 4.5 million barrels a day against our current consumption of roughly 21 million barrels a day
• Current Rig Count reported by Baker Hughes as of 12/22/2010 is over 1700

No matter what the oil must be produced somewhere and if we are no going to produce it here in the U.S. then our Talented workforce is able to go to the places where it is produced and find gainful employment.

This leaves our Oil and Gas companies in a struggle for talent that they do not even realize they are in because every night at 10, 9 Central we are being fed the line about how many people there are just waiting for us to offer them a job.

Here is a clue. These folks are not Geologists or Petroleum Engineers.

In fact one indicator of the importance of the jobs in our space and the logical argument for the stability of jobs in our space can be seen in some statistics about the state of Louisiana.

• Oil Production - Including offshore production on the Outer Continental Shelf, Louisiana is No. 1 in crude oil production and No. 2 in natural gas production in the U.S. Also, 88% of U.S. offshore rigs are off Louisiana's coast, and the state's 19 active refineries account for 17% of the total U.S. refining capacity. Source - http://www.louisianaeconomicdevelopment.com/led-news/la-statistics.aspx

• Economic Performance - A recent analysis of economic progress in all 50 states shows that Louisiana continues to fare well despite the national recession. The study, published in August 2009 by Portfolio.com, shows that income, wages and construction jobs in Louisiana continue to rise, while the state's unemployment rate trails the national average. Source- http://www.louisianaeconomicdevelopment.com/led-news/la-statistics.aspx

So here we are in a state with lower unemployment than the national average and the highest oil production in the country and second highest gas production in the country. I submit to you that the jobs in the oil patch are secure and the people in the oil patch are employed and if you want top talent on your team you will need to step up to attract them to you over your competitor. No one is sitting lonely along the wall just waiting for you to ask them to dance.

If you are looking for someone to fill that key role that you thought would be just as easy to fill as opening the door and yelling, “NEXT” then give us a call. We will at least give you a line to look at.

Hey! Who Do You Know?

It’s all about the network…

They always say it isn’t what you know but who you know that will get you to that next level in business and while I was always sure it was true I never really thought about the statement.

So today I broke it down. Let’s say that there are two equally qualified candidates for an Exploration Management role; one of them has been grinding away at the same position with Major OilCo for the past 20 years and is ultimately satisfied with the work and compensation and goes to work happy but unaware of the opportunity out there for someone with such skills. The other Geologist has been a little bit of a social butterfly and has kept in touch with old school friends and other industry professionals in addition to the usual suspects in the world of Geology while being employed with Major OilCo for the past 15 years after a brief 5 years with Indy OilCo.

I am most likely to run across the second candidate in my search in fact that second candidate is 10 times more likely to hear about let alone read this Blog than the first candidate. So why do I care? Either candidate is equally qualified right? I could just as easily place one or the other right? Well sure I could but in reality the great news for those of us who do work to keep ourselves in tune with the world around us is that we will continue to run into each other and by the very nature of our effort our network will grow. We will observe the social recluse with the exceptional skills and experience and eventually we will recommend that one of our more outgoing friends reach out to them. When we reach out to that person we will let them know that we have heard a lot about their effort and success over the years and we would like to speak with them about something that may be of significant interest to them because after all isn’t that what every one wants; just a little recognition for the hard work and effort we put into our day?

We have built our network around us for the benefit of all and even the quiet cube down the hall can receive the blessing of having been 1 degree removed from the opportunities that abound in our network. So, the next time you are pondering the question, “Who would you recommend for this position?” Remember the quiet guy or gal that has been plugging away at it non-stop. They just might want to know what they’ve been missing out on.