Our Perspective
Medical science is continuing to make some incredible advances. Every day we hear about further successes in organ transplants, better understanding of the causes of diseases, and developments in de-coding the human genome. Scientists are predicting that all of this expansion will lead to much longer life spans for our children and children's children than we can even imagine today. This trend in aging will have tremendous effects on societies and businesses. And since changes will come incrementally, it is safe to assume that they may affect some of the professionals who are beginning their careers today. It's worth a look into the future of careers and organizations with centenarians still busy at work!
Many major oil and gas operating and service companies are still reducing their workforces. This may actually provide an opportunity for some professionals to check out whether they might enjoy a smaller company. Many smaller companies did okay in this low oil price environment by avoiding debt and by focusing on doing a few things right. They are still looking for talent. The questions to ask when considering a small company as a next employer are first, how to identify these opportunities and second, once you do learn of a possible opening, how to successfully transition your big company experience into a smaller organization. Here are some ideas from our perspective to get you started.
Your friends at Collarini
100 Year Careers - They Will Come. No, Really.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the average global life expectancy in 1900 was 31 years. By 2010 that number had more than doubled to 67. Now get ready for the prediction that doubling that number again within the next 30 years is possible. Science and technology are getting there: Advances are under way that will have a dramatic impact on personalized medicine, tissue engineering, organ regeneration, implants, memory enhancement, and a generally better understanding of causes and cures for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
This is of interest to those of us who are trying to understand changes in work-life and how to provide advice to those seeking a fruitful career. Our current comprehension of a typical 30 to 40 year career would become obsolete if these advances where to come into play. How will human beings and companies adapt to working for 100 years? Here are some thoughts on new trends to look for. These may not all apply today, but there are some things to consider when giving guidance to your children and grandchildren as the developments unfold.
- Education
Most of us chose one educational path and made a few adjustments along the way depending on the type of work we did and where we wanted to develop our strength and expertise. With a much longer time frame, opportunities to radically change gear could become more realistic and feasible - and probably desirable! With longer periods of time worked in one field, burn-out will become a very real part of the human condition.
It is then easy to predict a more formally institutionalized lifelong learning system that will enable and obligate us to continue advancing our knowledge and to be aware of developments in our own and other related areas.
- Multiple Careers
Multiple opportunities in education will most likely lead to more than one career. How many of us would have desired to pursue different avenues if there would have been only more time to learn and segue into a totally different field? With time no longer being an obstacle, the door is wide open for what may be considered very dramatic career changes by today's standards.
- Company Structures
We are right now seeing three different generations working together. Now double that number and consider the multifold needs and requirements of members of very different age groups working in such an organization. This has deep societal implications, for which there is no room to discuss here, but strictly focusing on these folks working together, sharing their vastly different experiences and interacting with the newest business technologies of the time, a new field of generational study in business schools will probably emerge. The introduction of a C-level title of Chief Generational Officer appears logical. This will be a person who oversees an even more diverse workforce than we ever imagined, and it will probably become a new academic branch in all the major business schools.
- Life Balance
People in the early, middle, and later parts of their careers have different expectations and needs. Again, multiply this times five to get an idea of how many different facets there will be if a person is expected to work over 100 years! The implication could be that a person stops working for a few years several times throughout his life to obtain a new degree. Or she might take a sabbatical to work on an invention or take a couple of years off to wander through all the U.S. National and State Parks.
OK, maybe this is all in the future, and we will not see all these benefits in our lifetimes. But it is interesting to think about this now and possibly find a nugget or two that you could employ in your life, career plans, and organizational planning right now.
The following biographies are just a small sampling of the kind of talent available in our talent pool of over 23,000 experts. Please call our placement managers if you are interested in learning more about these professionals, or check out our website for more candidates.
Senior Production and Completions Engineer and Manager with a master's degree in petroleum engineering and over 35 years of experience with two independent oil companies. Detail- and technology-oriented professional skilled in asset management, reservoir engineering and simulation, completions, production, and fracture stimulation in conventional and unconventional resources. Experienced advisor and manager of completions team ensuring sound engineering concepts and practices were employed, aligning with company values, and protecting company assets, people, and environment. Collaborated with other disciplines, including reservoir, production, land, and corporate planning, optimizing use of capital and ultimate recovery. Diagnosed and developed solutions for trouble wells, including casing restrictions, casing leaks, and sustained annular pressures, allowing completion of wells and capture of reserves in inaccessible sections of reservoir. Geographic areas worked include the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountains, and most recently the Eagle Ford shale. Software proficiency in ARIES, PHDWin, FracPro, Wellview, Spotfire, WEM, Rose Risk Analysis Suite, and others. Ask for P857
Senior Production Engineer and Asset Manager with a doctorate in petroleum engineering and over 25 years of experience with a major oil company. Experienced leading production and reservoir engineers to optimize operated production as well as to provide oversight for OBO interests. Also provided functional and strategic oversight for the recruitment, deployment and development of the global population of petroleum engineers, reservoir engineers, and petrophysicists including recruiting and onboarding personnel from a major acquisition. Earlier experience includes maintaining functional excellence in production optimization (well reviews, technical limit reviews, flow assurance best practices), and reservoir surveillance, delivering annual total production targets, including experience in waterfloods as well as future field developments. Expert in field and reservoir management, especially production optimization. Geographic areas worked include the US Lower 48 including coalbed methane, the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Indonesia, and Australia. Ask for PR711
Senior Production Engineer and Manager with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and over 25 years of experience with a major oil company and independents. Experienced managing reservoirs in both domestic and international operations onshore and offshore including production and reservoir engineering and in establishing and staffing international offices. Also experienced in working with outside operators on operating committees to jointly maximize the net present value of projects including creating and adjusting development plans. Developed production strategies, implemented construction, obtained government permits, and expedited initial production. Foreign assignments include New Zealand, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Gabon, and Yemen with additional experience performing engineering responsibilities in Brazil, Peru, Hungary, Australia, Tunisia, Seychelles, Argentina, and Turkey. Most recently experienced designing and executing fracturing operations in the Bakken. Ask for P800
Production Analyst with a bachelor's degree in environmental management and over 20 years of experience working for small and large operators and an accounting software firm. Experienced in analyzing daily production allocations for variances, entering and allocating monthly gas sales, maintaining regulatory databases, preparing and submitting well test forms, reconciling run tickets, and resolving production data anomalies. Geographic areas worked include Texas. Software proficiency in Enterprise Upstream, TOWcs, WolfePak, ARIES, and Enertia. Ask for A1304
Facilities Engineer with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and over 30 years of experience in all disciplines of petroleum engineering including facilities design and construction, drilling, reservoir engineering, acquisition evaluation and disposition, engineering management, project management, and development planning for deepwater fields/prospects and LNG regasification terminals worldwide. Further experienced with fixed offshore drilling and production platforms, subsea completions and tiebacks (SURF), floating platforms (including conventional truss and cell spars, medium draft single column floaters, control and minimum facilities flow assurance buoys), drilling and production top-tensioned and buoyancy-based dry tree risers, flow assurance evaluations, marine systems for FPU's, FSO/FPSO/FPDSO ship shape mono-hulls, jackup conversions, onshore gas plants and compressor stations, gas and liquids metering stations and terminal loading facilities, onshore and offshore pipelines and related risers, gas and vapor recovery compression, H2S and CO2 treating/removal, produced water treating and disposal, injection water conditioning, coalbed methane recovery, and steam driven heavy oil recovery projects. Ask for F75
Landman with 38 years of oil and gas experience working for majors and large independents. Experienced in evaluation and title clearance, minerals management, project management, resource play management and development, performing due diligence, and field coordination. Geographic areas worked include Texas, Mid-Continent, Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and OCS. Software proficiency in LIS, QLS, GIS, FileNet, Tobin Land System , SAP PRA, PI/Dwights, OWL, Oracle Energy, Gas Wiz and all state websites. Certified Professional Landman. Ask For L484
Reservoir Engineer with a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering and 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry working for international E&P, service, and consulting companies. Experienced in field development, production forecasting, field management, decline curve analysis and type curve generation, reserves assessments and reporting, well test analysis, EOR process simulation, and economic analysis. Geographic areas include North America, Africa, the Middle East, UK, and Venezuela. Software proficiency in Nexus, VIP, ECLIPSE, IMEX, DMS, OFM, HDS, Petrel, Merak Peep, IHS Fekete Harmony, Enerdeq, PVTP, MBAL, PROSPER, GAP, RESOLVE, and REVEAL. Ask For R1312
Geologist with a master's degree in geological sciences, a bachelor's degree in geological engineering, and more than 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry working for large independents and major operators. Extensive background in deepwater turbidite depositional systems working high value assets. Expert in static reservoir modeling, volumetric assessments, geologic operations, 3-D seismic interpretation, and prospect generation. Geographic areas worked include the Gulf of Mexico deepwater and shelf. Software proficiency in Petrel. Ask For G2477
Geologist with a master's degree in geology and four years of experience in the oil and gas industry working for a major oil and gas company. Experienced in reservoir characterization, prospect maturation, seismic interpretation, well log correlation, seismic geomorphology, contour mapping, core analysis, well planning, economic analysis, and reservoir modeling. Geographic area worked includes the Gulf of Mexico deepwater and shelf. Software proficiency includes Paradigm Epos, SKUA-GOCAD2014, OpenWorks/StratWorks, Petrosys, IHS Petra, and ArcGIS. Ask For G2478
Reservoir Engineer with a master's degree in petroleum engineering and more than 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry working for international E&P and consulting companies. Experienced in decline curve analysis, pressure transient analysis, material balance, waterflood optimization, field development planning, acquisition and divesture analysis, reserve appraisal, reservoir simulation, flow assurance, open- and cased-hole log petrophysics, SCAL, and reservoir modeling. Geographic areas worked include central Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, the Middle East, West Africa, Europe, the North Sea, and Russia. Software proficiency in PHDWin, ARIES, Peep, GAP, PROSPER, MBAL, Crystal Ball, Fekete RTA, Fekete Harmony, ECLIPSE100, Merlin, @RISK, Petrel, DTK, Petra, GEM, OFM, and Tecplot. Ask For R849
Reservoir Engineer with a doctorate in chemical engineering and more than 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry working for international E&P companies. Expertise in reservoir simulation, integrated production modeling, modeling uncertainty in history matching, economics, and appraisal and field development. Additionally experienced in field optimization, reservoir surveillance, decline curve analysis, reserves assessment and forecasting, and production growth. Geographic areas worked include the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. Software proficiency in GAP, PROSPER, and Peep. Ask For R1332
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Finding that Opportunity With a Smaller Company Takes a Plan
If you work in the oil and gas industry and have been caught in a staff reduction, then right now you are probably busy networking and seeking out new openings. And if your previous employer happened to be a larger corporation, then it may be a natural move to look for work in another renowned company with a recognized name. However, if this is the case, then you may be missing out. Aside from large service companies and oil and gas producers, there are countless organizations of smaller size that are doing quite well and should be doing so in the future.
Now that you are interested: In order for you to find a good position with a smaller firm there may be a few things you need to adjust in your search to position yourself. Here are a few guidelines.
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