An initiative championed by the UK oil & gas industry’s Next Generation Workgroup aims to attract new people into the industry by countering perceptions that it is male dominated, unsafe and environmentally suspect.

It is hoped that a marketing campaign targeting 11-18-year-olds in school in the UK, as outlined at the SPE Offshore Europe 2009 event held at the Oil and Gas Conference in Aberdeen last week, will help reduce the estimated £2bn that skill shortages cost the UK industry.

Chris Chapman, director of Atlantic Resourcing, who heads up the company’s recruitment, agrees that the industry’s poor image “of two guys covered in mud is typical” has to be addressed if new talent is to be attracted into the industry.

And he supports the initiative that he hopes will avoid the staffing problems experienced in the recent past, where especially in the contract market “we are all fighting for the same individual because we are all battling for the same skill set”.

The ‘Next Generation’ initiative may well help, though assuming it goes ahead it will be some time yet before it comes on stream. But with signs that the worldwide recession could be coming to an end, the bigger question is how well prepared are recruiters in the industry to avoid the problems of the past.

While the worldwide economic downturn has seen some of the balance of power returning to employers, companies are already taking their own measures to secure their talent pipelines of the future.

Stephanie Brouwer, human resources director corporate and support services at Halliburton, a major service company for global the oil & gas industry, told a seminar at the Aberdeen conference that it was important for the company “not to rest on its laurels, but focus on the future”.

Brouwer outlined Halliburton’s HR strategy, which focuses on three areas: aggressive recruiting, vigorous retention and accelerated development.

Brouwer says the company is looking at “non-traditional sourcing” by building relationships with 140 universities and colleges worldwide, and targeting two-year course students as well as those completing the usual four-year courses. Those leaving the military are also being targeted. Halliburton also intends to maximise the impact of its employer brand by focusing on “safety, ethics and service quality”.

To improve retention, the company is focusing on defining individual career paths, mobility between different areas of the business and robust succession management.

With signs that the worldwide recession could be coming to an end, the bigger question is how well prepared are recruiters in the industry to avoid the problems of the past

Bob Fryer, vice president global talent and learning Shell International Exploration & Production, told the seminar that talent planning was a key aspect of the company’s strategy. This covered both the short term - the current gaps, and the longer term - looking ahead to ensure that Shell could grow its own talent or bring it in to support expansion in countries around the world. Fryer said one successful initiative has been to allow anyone in Shell to apply for internal vacancies. As a consequence, 60% of vacancies are filled internally compared to 40% previously.

Corinne Kelt, manager, human resources, at rig and support service provider Maersk North Sea UK, told Recruiter the company had been particularly successful in attracting women into what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. She says that one reason was effective onboarding of new staff. Rather than sending new graduates offshore, which could be intimidating, they might start in an onshore job, she says. As a global company, operating in 150 countries, Kelt says Maersk also plays close attention to ensuring that it is ‘right’ for people from many cultures.

While companies and the industry as a whole recognises there is a problem with the talent pipeline and are working hard to unblock it so it is ready for when the world economy finally turns around, the reality is there is probably only so much they can do on their own.

Not only is the industry at the mercy of government education policies, when public spending around the world is coming under pressure, but if the price of oil approaches anything like the $147 (£89) per barrel levels of July 2008, it is difficult to see how the customary battle for talent can be avoided.

key facts

450,000 people are employed directly or indirectly in the UK’s oil and gas industry

30% of the industry’s UK workforce are baby boomers born between 1948 and 1978

32% of the workforce are Generation X, born between 1964 and 1978

Close to £181,000 ($300,000) is the cost of having to replace an oil and gas professional who leaves their job, according to Professor Alistair Oag, at Robert Gordon University

Education
Only 15% of those taking technology courses are UK universities are women

Oil fields
Up to 25 billion barrels (40%) of the UK’s oil and gas have yet to be extracted