Yeah, Yeah, Patience. How long will that take?
Posted on 05/14/2014 1:32:17 PM PDT by thackney
The plain and simple truth about landing your first full-time job in the industry is − well, it can be tough! It might take time, maybe as long as two years, but it will eventually happen for you. We live in the Internet age where we expect everything to happen instantaneously, but that’s not how things happen in the oil and gas industry. It takes time to gain hands-on work experience, so when searching for a job, keep these pointers in mind.
THE THREE P’S To survive the interviewing and hiring process, adopt these “Three P’s”: Patience. Persistence. Perseverance.
PATIENCE is needed during the interviewing process. No one wants to take weeks to make a hiring decision, but that’s the reality of working in large organizations. Patience is also needed when trying to land that first job, since on average, it takes 18 months to two years. Many applicants throw in the towel and elect to go back to school for additional or higher degrees; although this can seem logical, it only extends the “time-to-hire.”
PERSISTENCE is necessary for success. However, it can be a double-edged sword, so be careful. When too persistent, one can become irritating to recruiters, but when applied appropriately, it’ll make a positive impression on those responsible for hiring. Don’t give up when you don’t hear back about your application or interview right away. Call after a week and remind the recruiter or interviewer that you are interested in the position and look forward to learning the final decision. It’s acceptable to send an email to keep your name in the front of their minds. Just don’t do it with such frequency that they never want to see your name or hear from you again.
PERSEVERANCE is oh so necessary. Do not give up! Don’t let the first, second, third or even fourth “no” discourage you. It will be hard not to, but this isn’t personal; this is business. It may be that you are simply not the right person for the job. You may look like the best candidate on paper, but the job may already be reserved for an existing employee. You have to reassure yourself that you are worth hiring and that the right opportunity will come along. Just keep looking for opportunities that will get your foot in the door. Your first job may not be the one you’ve dreamed about and to be honest, it shouldn’t be. You’re just starting and paving a career path. Your dream job will present itself one day, but at this point, be flexible and turn any opportunity offered into a chance to learn a new skill and gain valuable experience. Your flexibility will pay off in the long run.
I got my first job in the oil patch without asking. My Uncle called me and asked if I wanted to work. Of course, that was as a roughneck!
Yeah, Yeah, Patience. How long will that take?
Where’d that picture come from...someone trying to sign up for Obamacare?
I showed up in the cafe where doodlebuggers had their morning coffee.
Was driving a water truck that afternoon, and running the rig a couple of weeks later (shot hole).
Left that job and got onto a big rig when a friend said he was twisting off that day, they simply put me onto the rig floor where he had been.
Great jobs. That was 37 years ago. I recall being sentient, showing up, and being able to dodge pipe stands as the only real job qualifications.
Spent my entire professional life sniffing hydrocarbons in design, operations, construction and management.
I still have my bamboo slide rule in case TSHTF and all the lights go out and our present day engineers lose the use of their computers, electronic calculators and canned software programs.
Loved to hear the whine of compressors/turbines but hated the wearing of fire-proof coveralls, ear protection, safety shoes and hard hats, especially when daytime temperatures approached 100F.
Recruiting? I understand that you don’t even get to talk to a recruiter these days but have to fill out electronic data sheets and submit it to some faceless individual.
Wish I still had my bamboo slide rule. I do still have my big aluminum one, around here somewhere:)
Most petroleum engineers have a job offer before they even graduate.
These youngsters who never used a slide rule seem to have never grasped the concept of significant digits.
Absolutely true. 4.563298 inches long ? Dream on.
Still have my slide rule in the truck to figure my fuel mileage. Just C and D scale stuff you know. My Dad taught slide rule.
I was on a rig the other day and asked a young engineer to give me the pipe tally in stands, singles and feet to put a tool on depth... deer in the headlights. Don’t even bother to ask about stretch. I gave up coaching on writing the procedure. It was such a mess I rewrote it.
The kids were amazed that you can get trig and log functions from a slide rule and they had no idea what a nomograph is. They can sure punch them buttons and text though! Those thumbs just fly!
I’ve consulted for years and probably can’t hold a real job anymore. Sarbanes-Oxley (sp?) turned hiring on its ear. HR became an empire and took the authority from the line managers.
I wouldn’t even bother looking for being an employee anymore of course. There are only about three people who can ruin your life in just a part of a day an employer, your wife and your kids. Everybody accounts to someone but if you work for yourself instead of being an employee you don’t usually take a bullet from your blind side for no good reason at all. I work because I still love the oilfield and solving problems. I try to teach some but it is often not very gratifying. Four times out of Five I say I’ll never do it again but I’m stupid and keep hoping for better and coming back for more.
Diesel and coffee is what the oilfield ran on for a long time. Both are still there but it isn’t like it once was either. Half the people are in some kind of regulatory compliance role and other than the regulations, additional people and paper nothing has improved much in terms of the environment because it was not that bad to start with where I worked and the companies I worked for.
My youngest brother works as a class project director at an engineering college. He has been disappointed in todays engineering students. Most of them like to push the buttons but can’t use tools of any kind.
When my older brother (electronics engineer)was in jr high he would slide his bamboo slide rule once and say “ there, I just made an infinite number of multiplications”:)
There was an article last year about a single mom who got her truck driving license...but couldn't get a job in ND...
so she hauled vegetables from farms for a year...then got hired driving an oil tanker and making some decent money.
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