[DantesPeak]

Simmons quoted below.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')color=#00BFFF]E[/color]nergy industry's biggest shortage? Future executives.

With half the workforce expected to retire in the next decade and thinning ranks at the top, program targets young leaders.

By Kris Axtman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

HOUSTON – After only a year at CenterPoint Energy, Shelley Daniel has big plans for her career. In 20 years, she sees herself in the company's executive management ranks; by the time she retires, CEO.
This recent college grad, in other words, is exactly what the energy industry is looking for - not just because she's highly motivated, but because she wants to remain in the business.

"You cannot exaggerate the magnitude of the problem," says Matthew Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co., a Houston-based energy investment bank. The industry is incredibly complicated and manpower intensive. This summer, for instance, British Petroleum hired 13 different headhunters to find individuals with one or more of 450 different skills by the end of the year, he adds.

Indeed, just as important as finding new talent is keeping it. The downsizing of the 1990s cleaned out middle management and created little loyalty.

"Every time prices collapsed, the industry downsized again," Mr. Simmons says. "And the new recruits were always the first casualties of the downsizing."

[frankthetank]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'c')reated little loyalty

[DesertBear2]

I worked for many years in the oil & gas industry. I will tell you that they are the most reactionary exploitive bunch in the capitalist world and generally don't give a damn about employees.

After the oil crash of 1986, most of the oil workers took big cuts to wages and working conditions and expected, as usual, that when business recovered, that we would again prosper. But this was not the case....as the profits recovered, the companies tried harder than ever to squeeze the very last breath out of the survivors. And this is why they don't have enough personnel....

Amoco in Denver in the 80s was doing big cutbacks. But instead of one or two layoffs, they would go through the company every other year and send out lots and lots of pink slips. The whole company workforce was frightened, tired, and demoralized as this went on year after year for most of a decade. Of course, they would fill in the gaps with professional temp workers who would be promised the chance at a permanent job ha ha. The temp workforce would work their hearts out for these permanent positions but to no avail. On one scheduled day, Amoco would just fire the whole temp force and lock out their computer access. Bye bye.

As a geologist, I watched my income drop year after year after year. No benefits. No hospitalization. No continuing education. No advancement for nearly anybody. Dangerous working conditions that they did not care about. Great quality work was disregarded. People would be side-lined for minor personal reasons. The same was true for the rig crews who ended up working for unlivable wages and being away from home for months on end when drilling picked up.

I came out to a site in North Dakota in the late 80s. The day before a man had been killed by being crushed to death by the "kelly"- a 10,000 pound drilling mechanism. Killed instantly. I asked about the death and the drilling supervisor just shrugged his shoulders and said- "Oilfield is a dangerous place". Nobody knew the man killed and he was never mentioned again. Nobody gave a damn- the oil company least of all.

And speaking of drilling rigs....there is not a more dangerous work environment in the world outside of fishing boat or a Chinese coal mine. Massive steel machinery is flying around in every direction. Chains, cables, lifts, clamps, drill pipes are all tearing about in every direction. Everything is usually wet and slippery. High voltage AC everywhere. The rig floor is exposed to the weather- even snow and -35F temperatures. There are a thousand ways to get badly injured around a drilling rig- not to mention long commutes to the drilling site in bad weather.

There are not many old roughnecks around and those that are usually have lost a few fingers + other injuries. Of course, if OSHA comes around, the rig crews will rally around in indignation and cover up all of the rigs safety violations.

Excuse the rant but I don't have a lot of sympathy for the industry's lack of qualified employees.

[Doly]

So it sounds like this is a case of you get what you pay for, isn't it?