As recession bites deeper into Britain and thousands of students find themselves on the breadline, one company at least is sustaining its commitment to recruiting smart graduates, and that is Schlumberger.
Traditionally a top employer whose management recognises the need to hire in and nurture graduates from the best campuses around the world, there will be no let-up in this policy, according to Mark Corrigan, president of oilfield services for Europe, Africa and the Caspian for Schlumberger.
Indeed, Corrigan told the International Association of Drilling Contractors’ 2009 World Drilling Conference & Exhibition in Dublin last month that, if anything, Schlumberger was more visible than ever on such campuses.
“In recent years, competition at the top universities around the world has been fierce, both from within our industry and other industries. And when you go to those top campuses today, there’s a lot less presence from all industries and so we’re actually upping our visibility in the best universities around the world this year,” said Corrigan.
“Whether for new hires or for our junior engineers, we have made it clear that there will be no compromising of our commitment to training.
“Once they’re in the training programme, it is the same. It will not be slowed, and this is a clear commitment to the future in line with the $200million that we have invested in world-class training facilities in the last three years.”
In a hard-hitting address, Corrigan warned that the oil industry’s Great Crew Change – mass retirements – continues to get closer, despite recession.
“You could argue that the damage that has been done to all of our savings will delay workers from taking their retirement,” he said.
“However, this will be more than offset by the accelerated attrition that is resulting from the cost-control measures that are being implemented across the industry today.
“In 2008, our business consulting division performed a study that concluded that the global petro-technical population will be short by about 8,000 people by 2012. Rerunning the same prediction models today, but with a cut in recruiting and an increase in attrition rates reflected in the current environment, it is clear that the current situation is going to amplify the impact of the crew change to quite alarming levels.
“But when our lifeblood is choked back (by recession/oil-price worries) we have no choice but to right-size our businesses.
“But we all have to recognise the damage this is doing to the future and to the collective competency of the industry. So managing this dilemma is one of the most important challenges facing management today; certainly in the service sector.”
In this respect, Corrigan said Schlumberger was being selective in its reductions, protecting specialised populations “unashamedly”, such as petro-technical engineers, deepwater specialists and directional drillers. Moreover, this blue-chip company is “privileging” the field over support.
“We have introduced special incentivised programmes that will give us temporary relief but ensure that we can call employees back; we are also sponsoring selected employees on postgraduate educational leave,” said Corrigan.
“At the same time as we’re asking people to leave, we are in fact also still recruiting. We have done this in every downturn and it is part of that conviction that we must have continuous representation of all generations in our workforce.
“The pace at which we do this will be significantly reduced from that of recent years. But we are still talking of recruiting numbers that are four digits. We actually see the environment as an opportunity to get easier access to top talent.”
Recommended for you
