Oil and gas recruitment firm Petroplan is reporting more demand for permanent roles in the Houston jobs market, bucking an industry trend.
In the first quarter of 2016, revenue at Petroplan’s Houston office was up 79% year on year, building on annual growth of 65% in 2014/15.
Petroplan’s US regional director, Huw Rothwell said: “Our biggest achievement over the past 18 months has been the calibre of people that we have brought in through the door”.
Rothwell added: “Around two-thirds of our placements are for permanent roles, which is counterintuitive given current market conditions”.
Since the beginning of 2015, Petroplan’s Houston office has more than doubled in size.
At the start of last year, Petroplan was focussed predominantly on sourcing engineers for contract work in the E&P space. In mid-2016 the company is now also recruiting business development and technical sales, IT, procurement and supply chain professionals for the service, oil and gas manufacturing, LNG and downstream sectors.
As a result of this multifaceted development, Petroplan’s Houston client base has grown from 3 to 70 in the past 18 months, and its candidate database has grown exponentially thanks to a strategy of advertising, networking and referrals.
Chief executive Andrew Speers, said: “Petroplan’s US presence has come a very long way in the past year and a half, in the face of very tough industry conditions.
“While diversification is helping us weather the current industry downturn, our long-standing upstream expertise means we will be well placed when the oil price picks up.”