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Short-term HR Trends

The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada produces two reports each year on short-term HR trends in the oil and gas industry. Here is a summary of the findings for the first two quarters of 2012 that job seekers can use to guide their search.

Highlights

• 83% of companies surveyed are hiring in order to support growth.
• Companies are looking for workers with oil industry knowledge, skills and experience.
• Recruitment for remote areas (i.e. northern Alberta and B.C.) is a top challenge.
• There is also growing demand in support roles, such as supply chain management, business intelligence managers, procurement professionals, technical sales, financial professionals and project managers.

In-demand jobs

The upstream and midstream petroleum industry is comprised of different sectors, which can have different needs. Here is a list of the in-demand jobs for each sector.

Exploration and Production (onshore)

• Field and plant operators including power engineers
• Engineers - production engineers, reservoir engineers
• Geologists and geophysicists
• Instrumentation technologists and other technical roles
• Heavy-duty mechanics Field supervisors

Offshore

• Engineers - Production and reservoir
• Instrumentation technologists
• Heavy-duty mechanics
• Geophysicists
• Operators including power engneers
• Drilling and completions specialists
• Supply chain management, business intelligence, procurement
• Heavy-duty equipment mechanics
• Industrial electricians

Oil Sands (mining)

• Mining and maintenance engineers
• Instrumentation technologists
• Supervisors
• Heavy-equipment operators
• Construction management
• Project managers HR recruiters

Oil Sands (in situ)

• Engineers - Production and reservoir
• Instrumentation technologists
• Heavy-duty mechanics
• Geophysicists
• Operators including power engineers
• Drilling and completions specialists
• Supply chain management, business intelligence, procurement

Oil Sands (upgrading)

• Engineers - Production and reservoir
• Instrumentation technologists
• Heavy-duty mechanics
• Geophysicists
• Operators including power engineers
• Drilling and completions specialists
• Supply chain management, business intelligence, procurement

Petroleum Services

• Wireline operators and cased hole supervisors
• Experienced well testers, especially supervisors
• Experience pumping N2/acid supervisors
• Drillers, derrickhands, floorhands
• Instrumentation technologists
• Engineers
• Operators
• Pipefitters
• Welders
• Insulators

Geophysical Services

• Instrumentation technologists
• Engineers
• Geomechanics

Pipelines and Other Midstream

• Construction supervisors and coordinators
• Senior corrosion technicians
• Damage prevention inspectors
• Instrumentation technologists
• Engineers - pipeline, reservoir and production
• Power engineers
• Projects-controls professionals
• Procurement professionals
• Finance professionals
• Pipeline integrity experts
• Geophysicists
• Quality Control (or QC) inspectors
• Project managers

For More Information…

For more Labour Market Information about Canada's oil and gas industry, visit Petroleum HR Council's website at www.petrohrsc.ca. There you will find analysis and data about the current state of the petroleum labour market and detailed projections about how it will evolve in the coming years.