Web Site Seeks To Serve Worldwide Market For Energy Talent

Scotland native Mark Guest is managing director of OilCareers, an international online job board for the oil and gas industry which recently opened its first office in North America in Houston. In an interview with P&GJ, Guest, a former newspaper writer in London and Aberdeen who became interested in the technical challenges faced by the oil and gas sector, said OilCareers (www.oilcareers.com) plans to increase its user base of 640,000. The candidate base carries about 7,000 jobs listings per month, he said.

P&GJ: What are the most challenging aspects of your work?
Guest: Keeping up with the pace of online technology and ensuring that we can continue to provide a 24/7 service for our clients, as they often depend on our system to find the best talent in the business.

We have a vast database of people in the energy industry. Many are looking to take the next step in their career while others want to break into the sector so we offer them help, advice and opportunities to take the first step on the ladder. It’s rewarding to knowledge that we help provide help to so many people at different stages and levels in the industry.

P&GJ: How has OilCareers evolved?
Guest: OilCareers was started to help address the energy sector skill shortage in 2000. It was initially set up as the official recruitment site for the UK oil and gas industry with exclusive endorsement by the sector’s National Training Organization. Over time, the site has become a global resource with about 9,000 jobs promoted at any time and more than 600,000 registered users. Today, more than 450,000 people a month from more than 200 countries visit OilCareers. Its success is a combination of good clients, companies people want to work for, and first-class candidates who can fill the vacancies on offer. With effective search engine listing, we also make sure that the site and its jobs are easy to find.

P&GJ: How has the financial crisis affected business strategy?
Guest: OilCareers has focused on international development the past 18 months; this has introduced many new customers and allowed our business to continue to grow despite the general downturn in energy jobs. However, the financial crisis has been very challenging for some of our clients who have been unable to survive.

We aim to support our clients as much as possible; one way is by investing in the development of our candidate base, with high profile marketing in the major oil and gas centers. Making this investment to promote our client’s vacancies, at a time when not all of them are in a position to implement their own campaigns, has been extremely powerful and well-received.

P&GJ: How have you seen technology advance since you began working in this field?
Guest: I have been involved in the oil and gas industry for 20 years and have seen how people who can combine technical expertise with creative thinking have sustained and enhanced an industry, which in the UK sector at least, would now be redundant without some of these innovations. We used to talk about the North Sea lasting until perhaps 2010, yet here we are looking forward to a few more decades of activity.