Thanks Shale! Talent Tussle Gets Vigorous for Oil and Gas Professionals

HOUSTON, Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A near majority of U.S.-based professionals in the oil and gas industry believe it will be easy to find new job opportunities this year, with 49 percent of respondents anticipating ease finding a favorable new position in their area of specialty, according to a comprehensive global survey by Rigzone, the leading online resource for oil and gas information, data and talent recruitment.

This confidence is bested by 54 percent each of their Australian- and Canadian-based counterparts, but outstrips colleagues in other oil and gas producing regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America.

"Led by wide-scale development of shale oil deposits, U.S. energy professionals are feeling the positive effects of strong job creation.  The oil and gas sector added more jobs last year than it has in the last decade," said John Benson, Managing Director, Energy, Dice Holdings, Inc. "The industry can't keep chasing the same mid-career talent and needs to focus on encouraging America's youth to join in tackling the energy challenge."

The survey's nearly 2,400 U.S.-based energy professionals noted a substantial uptick in recruitment activity during the latter half of 2011, with more than three-quarters (76%) of respondents reporting at least one contact from a recruiter in the last six months of the past year.  Of the U.S.-based respondents, 19 percent got between six and 10 calls, and 12 percent received more than 16 inquiries about changing positions. Only 24 percent of professionals received no inquiries at all from talent scouts. 

In comparison to the six months previous, 79 percent of oil and gas professionals reported recruitment activity to be the same or higher at the end of 2011 – with only one in 10 (11%) professionals reporting lower interest from recruiters at year's end. 

More money, better career opportunities and the promise of a job in a new location were the most common inducements offered to oil and gas professionals to move on to a new opportunity.  

Naturally, all of this activity and talent scouting has had an impact on energy companies. Among America's oil and gas professionals, 41 percent said they've seen an uptick in colleagues leaving their current firm to pursue a new opportunity.  Energy companies, meanwhile, are not taking this looming talent shift sitting down. Over a quarter (26%) of oil and gas professionals surveyed said their current employer offered them positive incentives – primarily salary increases, but also perks like higher or guaranteed retention bonus, interesting assignments, and promotions – to help deter professionals from moving on. 

Interestingly, U.S.-based firms seem to be offering incentives to stay more proactively than their global competitors. Only 24 percent of U.S. professionals received promises of incentives as a result of a counteroffer, while in areas like Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America, the incentives were more often than not put on the table after the employee was offered a better job.

"Amid this ever-increasing number of opportunities and offers, counteroffers have become a frequent occurrence in the oil and gas world – a status quo that impacts not only employees and employers, but also the recruiters who function as middlemen in the employment equation," noted Mr. Benson.  "Counteroffers are tricky to navigate for all three parties.  The best companies think about retaining their key employees, before they get an unfortunate awakening."

About the survey 

From January 2 to January 9, 2012, Rigzone surveyed oil and gas professionals from every region of the world.  More than 27,800 employed professionals responded to the email survey, with 2,394 identified as working or residing in the United States. Duplicate responses from a single IP address were removed.  Margin of error is +/- one percent.

Table 1: How easy do you anticipate it would be to find a favorable new position in your area of specialty in 2012? 
(U.S. Respondents Only)

Table 2: How many calls have you received from recruiters in the last six months?

Table 3: How does the number of calls from recruiters compare to the previous six months?

Table 4: What incentives have you been offered to consider switching employers? 
(Responses Ranked)

Table 5: Within your current firm, has your department or area of specialty experienced a change in voluntary departures in the last six months?

Table 6: In the last six months, has your employer offered you any positive incentives to deter you from moving to another company?

Table 7: What incentives did your employer offer to you to deter your leaving?
(Multiple answers accepted.)

Table 8: Did your incentives come as part of a counteroffer?

Note: Results may not equal 100 percent due to rounding or multiple answers accepted as noted.

About Rigzone 

Rigzone, a Dice Holdings Inc. service, is a leading online resource for the oil and gas industry delivering content, data, advertising and career services.  Dedicated to bringing upstream oil and gas news and data, including in-depth information on exploration, drilling and production markets to organizations tackling the energy challenge, its online community of highly-skilled and experienced energy professionals is unmatched.  www.rigzone.com 

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SOURCE Rigzone