7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview - FoxBusiness.com

I read through the list quickly and overall it seems like common sense.

But is it?

Just because I deal with these things every day certainly doesn't mean anyone else does so here is a link for you.

What not to do in the interview...

It really is so much easier to tell someone what not to do than it is to tell them how to nail it!

7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview - FoxBusiness.com

If you want to know a secret to never walking out of an interview wondering what they think then be my candidate.

I am looking for Petroleum Engineers and Petroleum Geologists with 5 or more years of experience for several roles across the country.

Call now! Operators are standing by.

BACKHANDED REPORTING ~ Can't the industry get a fair shake!

Take a moment to click the following link and read the extremely short article which ties Shell, of one of the worlds largest Oil Companies with a significant presence right here in my home town to a horrific photograph of the Deep Water Horizon. We all know that the rig had nothing to do with Shell and that in fact Trans-ocean BP and several other organizations had primary responsibility for the issues and resulting disaster but the fact that a photograph as large as the article itself is being used and that it ultimately is unrelated to the article applauding the approval of an environmental impact study is an egregious misrepresentation of the issue being reported on.

I expect "Fair & Balanced" not a null sum total!

Feds Give Shell Deepwater Drilling Project Environmental Approval - FoxNews.com

So the good news!

1. Shell has run a hurdle for the process and they are one step closer to a new drilling permit for deep water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now the rest of the story...

2. Shell must now get the exploration plan approved in order to drill 3 new exploratory wells in roughly 2900 feet deep water about 130 miles from the Louisiana Coast

3. Finally our red-tape wielding bureaucrats need to get off their butts and issue a drilling permit

Hopefully we will see more approvals in the coming months as companies move to meet the new standards set and continue to maintain operations here in our region.

Even more hopeful that we will see the first NEW drilling permit issued before the summer ends.

Age Discrimination - Isn't that Illegal?

Yes folks; age discrimination is against the law. More specifically you can not decide not to hire someone over 40 simply because they are over 40. There is no Bona Fide Occupational Qualification that prevents someone over 40 from being CAPABLE of doing a job.

Does that change the fact that a resume that makes you look old causes someone to look less favorably on it and you as a candidate. Unfortunately not! There is some good information here to help you update that resume. You likely did a little spring cleaning around the last house you sold if not a full update of the kitchen and bath. What makes you think the same old font and format is still good 15 or 20 years later?

This article has some good tips for our Oil & Gas job seekers who by the way are among the oldest of any industry with an average age of 49.

I argue with this article in 2 or 3 areas....

#7 State when you got your degree - I will ask you if you did not state it so I will find out.  Do not hide who you are.

#8 So what if your earliest job experience is most relevant.  If you aren't hiding when you graduated you sure better not hide what you did between graduation and 1995

#10 Hobbies and activities belong on your Facebook page PERIOD!  While it might be fun to discuss  how you race vintage British Mini's on the weekends or the training you are doing for the next triathlon; let's save that for the interview.  You can use it as a secret weapon when you are sitting in the interviewer's office and you notice the photo of a 1978 Spitfire on the wall or after you have seen the manager pull up with a 70.2 sticker on his window.

Does your resume make you look old? - Feb. 25, 2011

Bullish on the Black Gold - Only a matter of time

Okay, so we have known that the predicted prices of oil above $100 a barrel would eventually get here again. Heck it's a normal course of action for a global debt driven economy; prices will rise in order to pay last weeks interest rates. Now let's just hope we can squeeze a little margin out of the inflation and get a little income and new jobs for some of us. Good luck at the pumps.

Oil tops $106 as Libya crisis continues - Mar. 7, 2011

March Engineering and Geology Outlook

~ GRAY MATTERS ~
From the desk of Thomas Gray
My how time flies… It seems just a moment ago we were trying to disposition the remains of the Thanksgiving Feast I have looked up and realized that we have now gone through three major holidays and the close of football season. It’s already March!
In that brief time we have seen some activity begin again in the Gulf, well that happened yesterday. We have seen a lot of movement in our industry as companies continue to hire and grow the Engineering Staff in order to support their expanding growth. We are getting more requests to support offshore deepwater work and one clear sign of significant growth is a need for health and safety professionals to manage the on-boarding process of a growing employee base.
I have listed below 5 significant opportunities. Please take a look at the Universal Personnel website for a complete list of our open positions.

VP Operations – Houston, TX
• Posted on Tue, 2/1/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Petroleum Engineering Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with preferred specific experience in the Permian Basin, secondary recovery experience is a plus

VP Exploration – Corpus Christie, TX
• Posted on Tue, 2/8/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Geology Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with a focus on South TX SE TX and the TX Gulf Coast

Sr. Facilities Engineer – Offshore – International Rotation based from Houston
• Posted on Tue, 2/15/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Engineering Degree
• Experience: 15+ Years with 5 years in deepwater facilities engineering role. Experience supporting FPSO and Platform reliability and performance.

HSE Advisor – Houston, TX
• Posted on Tue, 2/8/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: 4 Year Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with significant experience in multi floor support of Health, Safety and Environmental risk mitigation for a large company

Sr Acquisitions Advisor – Houston, TX
• Posted on Tue, 3/1/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Petroleum Engineering Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with significant experience evaluating acquisitions of 100 Million or more in dollar value. This is an engineering role in support of large acquisitions

The Noble Nod - Or is it?

So the news is that the present administration has approved a deepwater drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, the first permit approved since the ban was lifted in October last year. The good news is that the project does not have to comply with new strict regulations that are being imposed on the new projects waiting for approval.

What?

The NEW project doesn't have to abide by the rules of NEW projects?

NO!!!

This is not a new project!

Noble Energy was already doing this work and they were forced to stop when the current administration jerked a knee and put our economy against the ropes with OPEC in the opposing corner.

Don't get me wrong it's great that this project is resumed and it will bring a few needed jobs; maybe. It will bring some more oil to the surface; eventually; maybe.

Just don't go running around saying that The White House is doing us any favors because they honestly have yet to approve a real new project to create real private jobs and a real organic boost to the economy.

I'll say it again. Drill deep! Drill now! Take action to relieve our dependency on foreign oil AND work on new energy initiatives to augment our hydrocarbon consumption requirements.

As I type this there is a project waiting for a green light in the Gulf of Mexico that would be a true boost. The largest offshore wind generating project in the world would be off the coast of Houston and already underway if the action matched the rhetoric from our current administration.

We need all of the energy sources running in order to power our wireless blogging efforts from the local coffee shop.

It is nice to know that something is moving again today that wasn't two days ago though.

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