Oil and gas industry facing major skills shortages as experts look to change careers

As the price of oil drops and the sector faces the strain of little to no investment globally, the oil and gas industry is on track for a major skills shortage as experts exit the field. That’s according to the latest data from Broadbean Technology and job board OilandGasjobsearch.com.

In a recent survey from the two firms it was revealed that 93% of professionals in the industry are out of work, with 42% laid off and just 12% furloughed in light of lockdown measure. The data also revealed that 36% are looking to change careers after Covid-19 – an issue which could see the already skills-short oil and gas arena facing a significant dearth of talent in the long-term.

Of those looking to leave the specialism, the main reasons cited were; they consider the industry too unstable (cited by 50% of the respondents) and they feel they need a career change (40%). According to Alex Fourlis, Managing Director of the world’s largest network of job boards, Broadbean Technology, these statistics paint a worrying picture for a sector that has a history of skills shortages:

“Oil and gas is one of the industries to be hardest hit by the global lockdown – it’s simply not an industry where work-from-home is possible for understandable reasons. With employees facing real uncertainty and only a handful put on furlough, it’s perhaps no surprise that so many are planning a career change as they seek some form of stability. While it’s impossible to clearly predict what will happen to the industry as lockdowns are eased slowly worldwide, for a specialism that has long had a problem with filling resources, the potential loss of over a third of its skills should be a concern to employers. These individuals will be needed once the bounce back re-surfaces, and with future talent carefully monitoring how organisations handle the crisis, the damage that’s being done to employer brands in oil and gas could have a long-lasting negative impact.”



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Vickie Collinge

vickie@bluesky-pr.com
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