|
|
Volume 6 • Issue 2 • March 2006 |
Printer Friendly Version | Our Perspective |
As we learn more about how our brains work, we learn more about how people make decisions. For most people, there are elements of emotion in the employment decision, and it is good to employ that knowledge when you interview prospective employees. Currently, we are scrambling to recruit the best of scarce talent, and that talent has many options. Companies have sharpened their recruiting tools with clearer job profiles, line managers who are more involved, retained professional recruiting services, and compensation at record levels. Here are five reminders to help you stand out from the competition:
- The interview is the first impression! Organize the entire series of meetings with people who are prepared, and see that the candidate is warmly welcomed.
- Interviewing requires specific skills that can be learned. Be sure your interviewers have been trained and practice those skills well.
- Each interviewer should tell his or her reasons for joining and staying with the company in positive terms. Begin with technical opportunities and challenges, and end with the elements of compensation and benefits.
- Sell the opportunity to contribute to the company and build a career. Talk about advancement opportunities using examples of other employees who last did well in that position.
- Be sure the interviewers are generally knowledgeable about the company. Highlight upcoming projects as well as environmental, societal, and community accomplishments.
To attract the perfect candidate, have your homework done. Part of a person’s decision is about the numbers, but much of it is about the people. Find the most positive and articulate people in the organization, and let them tell the story.
It may make the difference you need to stand out and successfully hire!
Your Friends at Collarini| Upcoming Events |
|
|
2006 Annual Emerging Engineers Conference March 30 – 31, 2006 This event is meant to provide a forum for young energy professionals to explore topics that will shape and develop their careers. |
2006 Annual Convention April 9 – 12, 2006
|
| Upstream News |
|
Targeted Training: Growing Staff Within a Small Organization For more than two years the price of oil has been over $30 per barrel. As we become confident the higher price is the rule, rather than the exception, people will be less concerned about being employed and pay more attention to their career growth. In this new paradigm, the majors, national oil companies, international service companies, and mega-independents will be able to implement recruiting and retention strategies that smaller organizations will have to find ways to offset.
For individuals, the large companies offer almost unlimited growth. Technical and management paths, choices of international and domestic locations, exposure to the front edge of technology, such as unconventional gas methods, deepwater projects, ultra-deep drilling, and seismic acquisition and processing provide many opportunities for Generations X and Y to change and grow.
How can smaller organizations compete? Personal financial growth is part of the answer, but it will never be the complete solution. The more complete solution will include targeted training for each employee that develops:
Successful smaller organizations must commit resources to find and implement creative solutions surrounding the above suggestions. The result will be employees who not only stay with your organization, but who also will openly tell others how much they love being a part of it!
The following biographies are just a small sampling of the kind of talent available in
our talent pool of over 11,500 experts. Please call our placement managers
if you are interested in learning more about these professionals, or check
out our website for more candidates.
Professional geoscientist with Master’s degree and 22 years of international petroleum exploration and development experience. An all-round geophysicist with comprehensive knowledge of 2-D and 3-D design, acquisition, processing, structural and stratigraphic seismic interpretation, and mapping. A solid geologist with an interest in integrated 3-D geological model building using geostatistical and stochastic concepts. A proven project manager with an interest in integration and synergy building. A proven manager of knowledge based teams with a broad understanding of the petroleum industry. Ask for GP 917. Development geologist with a Master’s degree and 20 years of experience with an independent oil company and a consulting firm. Skilled at production geology and log analysis with field experience. Experienced working with engineers and geophysicists on integrated teams, developing drilling prospects and behind-pipe opportunities, evaluating property for purchase, and conducting geologic and reservoir description for reserve estimates and modeling. User of Petra mapping software; and experienced with ZMAP+, Geographix GES, and TerraSciences well log analysis software. Strong work ethic, quality and thoroughness are key attributes. Ask for G 1475. Experienced lease records/division order analyst with over 20 years of comprehensive land experience in lease records, division orders, title analysis and abstracting. Experienced in analyzing and interpreting various legal documents including, but not limited to JOA’s, mineral deeds, assignments, final decrees, bankruptcy notices, and mergers to create the record title ownership for producing wells as well as maintain ongoing ownership changes. Established and maintained effective communications with partners, royalty owners, and other oil and gas technical professionals using excellent oral and written communication skills, advanced oil and gas title knowledge and the ability to manage multiple projects. Self-motivated, detail oriented with experience in Microsoft Office and Tobin DOMAIN computer software. Ask for L 537. Reservoir engineer with a Bachelor’s degree and 23 years of experience, including six years with two major oil companies and five years with large independents. Highly skilled in reservoir evaluation, including material balance, black oil simulation, and integrated field studies. Skilled in production engineering including inflow-performance evaluation, nodal analysis, and gravel-packed completions. Geographic areas worked include the offshore Gulf of Mexico, south Louisiana, east Texas, Appalachia, Michigan, and the Anadarko Basin. Computer skills include BOSS, Simbest II, OilWat/GasWat, WEM, SAM, PUMP, ARIES, OGRE, and various other PC-based programs. Ask for R013. Facilities and operations project manager with 37 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Highly experienced with onshore and offshore operations, down hole and topsides, domestic and international, and with operators and service companies. Excellent communications skills and works well with others as a team player. Able to be innovative, lower cost, and accelerate production while treating every project as if it is a marginal prospect, minimizing development costs. Geographic experience includes China, Ecuador, India, Malaysia, Trinidad, Venezuela, and onshore and offshore US. Ask for PM003. Petroleum engineer with a Bachelor’s degree and 26 years of domestic and international energy experience in production operations, engineering supervision, planning, commercial development, new ventures, project management, and drilling engineering. Experienced in working with large, independent exploration and production companies, engineering and construction companies, and drilling engineering companies. Able to work within diverse groups and situations. Geographical areas worked include the Middle East, west Africa, Latin America, the Norwegian North Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Computer skills include ARIES, OGRE, Freelance, and MS Office. Skilled in nodal and production analysis. Working knowledge of Spanish and Arabic. Ask for DP022.
Review thousands of talented people in more than 30 upstream disciplines at A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons. "Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. "Well, I’m a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up." The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."* In this situation, the comma made all of the difference!
When writing a resume, proper spelling, punctuation, and use of words also can make a great deal the difference in how we are first perceived. In recently reading hundreds of geoscience resumes to find the right people for positions, I observed that misuse of the same words and phrases occurred in many different resumes. (A sample of engineers’ and other resumes yielded the same kind of problems.) I searched about 500 resumes, and counted the occurrences.
In 23% of the resumes, in the context of leadership, the word "lead" was incorrectly used rather than "led," the past tense of the verb "to lead." It is correct to say, "I will lead the team into battle." When done, say, "I led the team into battle." (Whose battle is it?) Speaking of the possessive "whose," there is often confusion with "who’s," the contraction of "who is." And the possessive "its" ("The dog ate its dinner.") is confused with "it’s," the contraction of "it is."
In this same group of highly professional resumes, most of whom are leaders in our industry, the words "principle" and "principal" were incorrectly used almost 20% of the time. A principle is a law, rule, or code of conduct, such as "principles of geology." The word "principal" means most important, consequential, or influential, such as the "principal geologist" in the company.
If so many highly educated people can make these mistakes, it suggests that all of us should be extra careful. Get a second set of eyes on your resume, and double check if you are not completely sure. There are great free internet sites to help. And, keep a sense of humor on mistakes. Years ago, I asked an engineer to edit a standard letter for a new client. He changed the word "subsequent" to "subsequential," which I knew was incorrect. When I asked him what the difference was between the two words, he wittily replied, "three letters?" *Reprinted by arrangement with Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., from Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss. Copyright © 2003.
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.
Visit us on the web!
Talent Pool
www.collarini.com
Upstream Careers
About Us
Collarini Energy Staffing Inc.
is a full-service agency specializing in the placement of exploration and production personnel
including the disciplines listed below (other supporting personnel are managed upon request):
Accountants and supporting personnel
Administrative assistants
Business analysts
Civil engineers
Clerks
Database administrators
Drilling engineers
Drilling operations supervisors
Electrical/Instrument engineers
Geologists
Geophysicists
Health, safety and environmental personnel
Landmen and supporting personnel
Management personnel
Material/Corrosion engineers
Naval architects
Operations supervisors
Petrophysicists
Process engineers
Procurement personnel
Production/Completion engineers
Production operations supervisors
Project managers
Reservoir engineers
Subsea engineers
Surface/Topsides engineers
Technical writers
Technicians, drafting and graphic
Technicians, engineering
Technicians, geoscience
Contact Us
11111 Richmond Avenue,
Suite 126
Houston, Texas 77082
832.251.0553
4200 South I-10 Service Road,
Suite 230
Metairie, Louisiana 70001
504.887.7127
www.collarini.com