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Canadian oil & gas professionals most confident in world about career prospects |
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Written by REM Staff
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Canadian-based energy professionals are the most confident in the world about their career prospects this year, with a majority (54%) anticipating that it would be easy to find a new position in their field in 2012, according to a comprehensive global survey by Rigzone, an online resource for oil and gas information, data and talent recruitment. This result just squeezed by peers in Australia (by four-tenths of a percent), as well as from the United States (49%), South America (46%), the Middle East (45%), and Europe (42%) who expected ease in finding a new job.
The survey's more than 1,100 Canadian-based energy professionals noted a substantial increase in recruitment activity during the latter half of 2011, with more than three-quarters (78%) of respondents reporting at least one contact from a recruiter in the last six months of the past year. Talent scouting is particularly vigorous for petroleum and design and construction engineers — only eight percent and 14 percent, respectively, did not receive even one recruiter inquiry in the last six months.
All of this recruiting activity has had an impact on companies. More than four in 10 respondents (42%) noted an increase in their peers changing employers in the past six months. However, a minority of respondents (32%) said their employer had offered positive incentives to stay put in the past six months. When offered, the most frequent inducements: salary increases, more interesting or challenging assignments and higher or guaranteed retention bonuses.
"Alberta has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and you cannot overlook energy's role in that result," said John Benson, managing director of Energy with Dice Holdings Inc. "This year is starting with an aggressive recruiting market. Energy companies need to be proactive in both keeping the talent they have and attracting new professionals into the industry."
Many oil and gas professionals are open to exploring their career options. Canadian-based professionals were split nearly evenly when asked if anything could stop them from moving on in 2012 — 46 percent (yes) and 47 percent (no), with seven percent undecided. Not surprisingly, by far the most popular incentive would be an increase in salary, followed-by an opportunity to work overseas.
From Jan. 2 to 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 1,123 identified as working or residing in Canada. Duplicate responses from a single IP address were removed. Margin of error is +/- one percent.
www.rigzone.com
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