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| Volume 4 • Issue 4 • July 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Printer Friendly Version Our Perspective |
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In this newsletter, we continue our series of articles on what successful companies will have to do to assure that their talent pool stays full enough to get the job done in this period of increased demand for oil and gas professionals. The current article may give you some ideas where and how to attract more experienced personnel.
Your Friends at Collarini
The SPEE: A Valuable Resource The reserve evaluation side of the business has been in the spotlight recently. Reserves are definitely a hot topic! Both the mass-market and industry media are full of articles about reserve write-downs, Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, certification of reserve evaluators, and shortcomings of reserve definitions. It is hard to keep up with it all.
The Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) helps us keep up with the reserve evaluation business; it is the only organization focused exclusively on the reserve evaluation business. Since its start in 1962, SPEE has kept a relatively low profile. Until a few years ago, its members were required to be registered engineers. Since few engineers in E&P companies are registered, most of the SPEE members were consultants. Now that registration is no longer required, more E&P employees are joining.
SPEE’s members benefit from technical presentations at monthly meetings, helping us stay abreast of methodology, technology, legal requirements, and other issues; the topics are timely and helpful. These meetings also provide a venue for networking with other evaluation experts. Annual meetings are also valuable and fun. Of special interest to people involved in reserve evaluation are SPEE's publications, including the annual "Review of Parameters used in Property Evaluation", "Monograph I - Guidelines for Application of the Definitions for Oil and Gas Reserves", and "Perspectives on The Fair Market Value of Oil and Gas Interests".
SPEE is also at the forefront of the discussions about whether petroleum reserve evaluators should be certified, having formed an exploratory committee, with all members participating in the decision to endorse or reject any proposal.
Even though there are so many professional organizations from which to choose, if you are in the reservoir evaluation side of the business, SPEE is one you should surely check out. More can be found at their website, http://www.spee.org.
The following biographies are just a small sampling of the kind of talent available in our talent pool of over 11,000 experts. Please call our placement managers if you are interested in learning more about these professionals, or check out our website for more candidates. Production Engineer with 12 years of experience in both operations and reservoir development engineering. Proven ability to handle increased responsibilities and challenging work environments. Results oriented, motivated and versatile, with outstanding project management skills. Geographic experience includes Wyoming, both tight gas and coalbed methane, east Texas, central Louisiana, and the Austin Chalk of central Texas. Computer skills include DSS, PEEP, ARIES, DIMS, and MS Office. Ask for P0437. Petroleum Engineer with 25 years of experience with a major oil company, both domestic and international. Knowledgeable in reservoir, acquisitions and divestments, and planning. Experienced in reserve estimation, field studies, portfolio and project economics, transient pressure testing, field development, production optimization, budgeting and strategic planning. Geographic areas worked include south Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of Thailand. Proficient in relational databases, including MS Excel and Access, Comshare, and Oracle. Ask for R0526. Geophysicist with extensive and diverse technical experience including a focus on exploration and exploitation investigations, geophysical data acquisitions and processing, new ventures, and business development. Demonstrated detailed knowledge on projects in North America, South America, Russia, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Southeast Asia. Proven oil finder with strong interpersonal skills, cultural sensitivity and excellent organizational ability to achieve results in international environments. Fluent in English, French, Russian, languages, and with a working knowledge of Spanish. Workstation experience includes Landmark Seisworks, Geoquest IESX, and SMT. Ask for GP387. Production and Exploration Geologist with a Bachelor's Degree and 22 years of experience with a major and several independent oil companies and as a consultant. Experienced in well-site log evaluation, prospect evaluation, field studies, economic evaluation, formation evaluation, and analyzing reservoir performance. Geographic areas worked include the Gulf Coast, the Permian Basin, mid-continent, Texas, and the Rocky Mountains. Computer skills include MS Office and Landmark workstation. Ask for G215. Petroleum Engineer with 25 years of widely varied production engineering experience. Highly skilled in the design, installation, and operations of rod pumping and electrical submersible pump (ESP) artificial lift solutions. Experienced at working with field operations personnel on assignments that combine in-office with fieldwork. Geographic experience includes Oman, California, the Permian Basin, Montana, and Michigan. Computer expertise in artificial lift software and MS Office. Ask for P0414. Geoscience Technician with 16 years of experience working for two major companies in the oil and gas industry. Experienced in database administration, report writing, and gathering well data. Computer skills include ARIES, Access, Finder, UNIX, XEDIT, Landmark ZMAP, Oracle/SQL, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, SeisWorks, Access, and the Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Ask for TG56.
Solving the Human Resource Crisis Focus Two (cont'd): Retaining and recruiting experienced people, no matter where they are!
Traditional retention and recruiting strategies are not enough to identify and retain the experience knowledge, and manpower necessary to fuel the growth in our industry and in our individual companies as we approach the "Great Crew Change." How will successful companies sustain a steady supply of senior talent for their organizations? Large major, independent, service, and EPC companies need to retain rather than recruit and should consider different solutions that will allow their technical talent to stay with the company past the normal retirement years. The current solution, occasionally utilizing earlier retired individuals as consultants, disconnects them from the company, and potentially from emerging technology, at retirement. At or near individual retirement, companies should offer defined options for reduced, flexible work schedules in order to encourage staged, rather than sudden retirement. Additionally, the IRS should be encouraged to change the pension laws to allow the payment of partial income and partial pension to accommodate such staged retirement.
Mid-size and small independents and service companies need to recruit rather than retain by selling the flexibility of their organizations to meet an individual's need. The owner of the Houston Astros, Drayton McLane, presented the perfect model when he talked Roger Clemens out of retirement by not requiring him to travel with the team when he is not pitching. This solution allows Roger to meet personal and professional needs and benefits the team as well. Mid-size and small companies can be flexible enough to create solutions for individuals, giving this group a distinct advantage in recruiting.
Companies with international operations need to find ways to attract people who are interested in international work and travel, including accommodating the needs of spouses in the employment solution. Companies must find unique ways to find individuals who have a strong desire to travel. Rotational assignments that give couples an opportunity for other related travel or to visit family will yield the best results.
None of these strategies by itself will do the trick. Today's successful companies must be creative and employ a variety of old and new approaches to find the right human resources. In our next article, we will look at methods for recruiting the mid-level talent that is so hard to find in our industry.
The term Consultant hurts your resume only if you let it!
Companies are hiring more full-time employees than they have in years! In keeping with our cyclical market, many professionals have kept busy working as consultants, some by choice and some by economic necessity. Now, as these workers try to reenter this vitalized market full-time, they are sometimes turned away.
Why does the word “consultant” sometimes carry a negative connotation? Maybe you have seen the funny sign that says, “Don’t tell my mother I am a consultant. She thinks I have a real job.” The image associated with the word "consultant" can be controlled largely by each of us individually. Some consultants, specialists in their fields, are highly esteemed and run successful businesses. Some use the word as a substitute for “I am available to work.” Using the term “Consultant” on your resume is not a problem if you show it right. How can this be done?
Start with explaining the consultant positions you have held in a positive manner. Consultants are brought in to yield results; in your resume, describe, with the exception of confidential information, the specific achievements compared to the tasks for which you were hired. Emphasize the breadth and depth of the experience you've gained as a consultant, citing specific examples. Where possible, point out situations when an employer retained you multiple times. If there is a reason that has not occurred, explain that, too. Explain your strengths, including geographical and technical expertise. Shift the focus away from the term consultant and onto the actual work and associated accomplishments. Develop a functional style resume. Highlight each assignment, categorizing by project and details of the engagement. Focus on skills employed, actions taken, and results realized. And, finally, don’t forget that we are here at Collarini to help you with all of the details of your presentation to potential employers and clients. It is what we do.
Connecting the Industry's Experts...
Reservoir Solutions the Industry Trusts...
The Collarini Associates
petroleum engineers and geoscientists specialize in evaluating oil and gas reservoirs.
Specific projects include integrated field studies, acquisition evaluations, independent reserve
appraisals, and exploration and exploitation prospect generation and assessment. Our full divestment
services include creation and hosting of electronic and physical data rooms in addition to the technical
evaluation. Our teams in Houston and New Orleans are very experienced and stand ready to help you
on projects of any size. Try us!
Guiding Careers to the Next Level...
Collarini Career Management
applies its deep understanding of the oil and gas industry and expertise in career issues to help
oil and gas companies and professionals build successful organizations and careers. We leverage
Collarini's unique combination of industry knowledge and technical expertise to guide companies and
individuals during transition, training existing employees for high performance, and designing customized
technical training plans for companies and individuals.
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