Contractors can make the transition between different sectors, but their ability to do so is dependent on their contracting discipline, skills and experience. However, some specialist roles just can’t be filled by someone from outside of the sector.
Ed Allnutt, Director of Hays Oil & Gas, explains: “Contractors working in support functions such as finance, IT and HR can more readily make the transition between sectors.
“However, as oil and gas roles become increasingly specialist and operations-focused, particularly within engineering and the geosciences, specific industry knowledge and experience is usually essential.
“It is generally not practical to transition into these sorts of roles from outside the oil and gas sector without a lot of investment in training. Few companies are prepared to commit the time and resources it takes to re-skill someone from a different sector.”
For many support roles, previous sector experience is less important
According to Allnutt, in many support roles it is less significant who you worked for and in which sector: In support functions such as IT, HR and Finance the expertise required is often not specific to a particular sector but to the discipline instead.
“An IT contractor expert at SAP or Oracle going into an international oil company will often find that the operating environment is very similar to where they came from, regardless of the industry. The same could not be said of the majority of engineering and science roles.”
Contractors working in support functions such as finance, IT and HR can more readily make the transition between sectors
Ed Allnutt, Hays Oil & Gas
There can be some industry-specific elements to support functions, and Allnutt highlights that, for example, oil and gas has tax regulations peculiar to the sector. An in-house tax expert would need to know these, but they won’t be the core element of the role or the skills and experience required.
“However,” he adds, “industry experience does become more important in support functions for more senior roles.”
Industry-neutral technical roles
Engineers within organisations such as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can also make the transition between sectors, and into the supply chain of the oil and gas sector.
“If you take a design engineer working for an OEM who specialises for example in valves, or turbines, they could have an aerospace or automotive background,” says Allnutt. “They could then apply this expert knowledge of design engineering to oil and gas applications.”
Unfortunately in many instances it is not this type of skillset that is in short demand within the Oil & Gas sector. Outside of the OEMs the demand for sector specific experience remains paramount and the transfer from other sectors impractical.
Specialist disciplines that must have industry knowledge
Allnutt highlights that there are just some roles that need industry specific skills and experience: “The geosciences and engineering disciplines – such as petroleum, reservoir, drilling, subsea and pipeline engineering, to name but a few – are all highly specialised.”
A very few major firms, service companies and supply chain organisations have also developed highly specialised proprietary software that would require IT contractors to have in-depth industry knowledge.
“The only workers able to transition into these roles are junior engineers who might, for example, have started out in aerospace, or a similarly early stage geologist who perhaps worked in mining and offers high quality skills with typically not more than five years post-graduation experience.”
The highly specialised nature of these roles is one of the reasons that oil and gas professionals such as subsea and pipeline engineers are in such short supply.
Making the transition into oil and gas
Outside of the specialist technical areas, there are few skills shortages in oil and gas. IT, HR and financial contractors will find that roles tend to be advertised in discipline- or sector-related media and jobs boards, and managed typically by the IT/finance/HR practice of an agency.
“Experienced engineers from other sectors looking to enter Oil & Gas should think carefully before trying to find work via agencies. Clients engage and pay recruiters to find candidates with the exact skills and experience. They don’t need people who will require extensive up-skilling and training,” says Allnutt.
“In my experience,” he concludes, “people who have transitioned into oil and gas into non-support roles have usually secured the contract through someone they know who can vouch for their capability. Success of transitioning is often dependent on personal networks.”