Want a Job in the Oil & Gas Industry? Here’s 5 Important Tips:
Want a job in the oil & gas industry but don’t even know where to start? Don’t stress, hopefully this article puts you in the right mindset and helps you prioritise better.
So, you have decided you want to work in the oil & gas industry. That’s great! But, a main problem you may be facing is, you don’t have any experience or even know where to start. While having no initial experience isn’t ideal, you can still break into the industry with the right planning, networking and initiative to get you to where you want to be.
Just know, that it won’t happen overnight – but if you’re serious, it can happen.
The oil & gas sector offers one of the most challenging – and financially rewarding – careers for young professionals especially. If you’re truly interested, read the guide below to help get you that oil & gas job you want.
1. Research everything about the Role
Take the initiative before anyone asks you to. Research, research, research. You must show you are relevant to the role they are advertising for and you understand what it entails. Go online and search for further job descriptions on the role, as well as the key activities/duties. While you’re at it – research the company, research the current trends of the sector its in, and even research the name of the person you’ll be sending your resume to (putting a receipient’s name on your application will make it stand out just that bit more). I’ve said the word research alot already, but here it is one more time – RESEARCH.
2. Highlight your Key Skills
Understand the skills the company is looking for and what skills are specifically required for the role you want to apply for. Relate the skills required back to yourself, taking time to match these to past experiences you have had or work you have done. Highlighting your strong skill set is an important piece of your CV and will be one of the first areas of your CV a recruiter will look, so make sure you don’t have it listed at the end of your resume, but rather, at the start. You want to make it easy for the recruiter to see you are right for the role and that you have done your research with transferable skills that could benefit the company.
Pictured: Want to be a technical consultant engineer? Research the software trends in the industry and learn them, so to make you a more desirable candidate. Here’s Andres, a Technical Consultant & Petroleum Engineer using Stochastic Simulation’s revolutionary integrated asset modelling tool, GasAssure.
3. Get the Experience you Lack
If you keep hitting a ‘no experience’ barrier, then rather repeatedly hit into that barrier, consider investing into gaining the required experience that holds you back. If you don’t have the money to spend on courses, consider investing your time in non-paid/volunteer work, or similar roles with transferable skills that aren’t on everyone’s radar. Or another way of getting into the oil & gas industry is to work in other areas of the industry that are entry level – yes, they may not be what you want right now, but they will help get you to where you want to be.
4. Follow up your Application
After submitting your ‘perfect’ CV application, it is vital you follow it up within a couple of days. This is the crucial first impressions/first initiative step that many applicants miss out on – as it can mean being noticed, or not. Often there are piles and piles of CV’s sitting on a recruiter’s desk (who is human, not machine) and many CV’s get misplaced or never looked at. By taking the time to call up and follow on your application progress, you are highlighting your enthusiasm for the role and ensuring the correct person has seen your application. This also makes the recruiter manually look for your application and therefore brings you, to the forefront of their mind. The follow up is also a nice chance to introduce yourself on a more personal basis and reaffirm your suitability for the role. If you can’t call up – email them.
5. Networking is Key
Sometimes the difference between getting that job or not is having someone from within the company “champion” you and celebrate you to others. Knowing someone in the company can improve your chances greatly in convincing the hiring manager you are the best fit for that job. Networking is all about building positive, personal connections with others that are reciprocal. It’s not about asking for small favours.
Get involved in networking in the oil & gas industry by finding a local chapter of an oilfield related organization or club like association! For example, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) who often hold regular events for members and newcomers. Attending lunch meetings, conferences and training courses like these provide you with plenty of opportunity to meet friendly people who could very well one day, be your ally in disguise.
Don’t give up!
Do you remember that guy that gave up? No, neither does anyone else.
Applying for jobs can be a disheartening experience, where you may encounter rejection more times than you can handle. Do not let this devalue you, but rather turn the disappointment into determination and persist, persist, persist! Ask for feedback on why you were unsuccessful in your application – sometimes all that could have been missing was one skill. Knowing what you lacked can help you skill up and train up in those areas. We’re humans after all, and we need closure!
Pictured above: Three of my awesome petroleum engineer colleagues taking a selfie at the SPE WA April Luncheon on ‘Integrated Asset Modelling for Improved Capabilities and Sustained Overall Optimised Production.
In Summary
The hard truth is the oil & gas industry is one of the most stressful and difficult industries to break into, with thousands of candidates competing for those same lucrative paying jobs via different channels – email, social media, calling HR, visiting company premises, or if they are lucky – they know someone from within.
I personally think its best a candidate does all they can to get noticed by a potential employer, so their CV stands out from the other same-looking 500 shortlisted CV’s on that recruiters desk. Your relevancy and skill set is what is most important to a recruiter, so ensure you show them off in a very easy to read manner on your resume (top of first page if possible), and don’t forget to do that vital follow-up phone call a few days after.
Remember, a career change into any industry without experience does not happen overnight. You need to spend time on building your application, learning the right skills, getting the right training and building positive industry contacts so you can break into the oil & gas industry for the long haul. If you want it and work for it, you will achieve it. Good luck!
Have you got any industry career tips or suggestions to add-on to this article? Comment them below, I would love to hear them. Thanks!
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