Geoscience Jobs 2002: Who, What, and Where?

During the nearly three years that I have been a volunteer (and current Chairman) for the HGS Personnel Placement Committee, I have frequently been asked questions concerning the geoscience job market-most often, the “who, what, and where?” While I really don’t consider myself an expert on the subject by any means, I felt that the 479 positions listed on the HGS Job Listings website during 2002 (a record year for ads) would be a natural source for information. Therefore, to be able to provide answers for those questions to a more widespread membership, and also to get a glimpse into the most recent trends, I have extracted and analyzed some of the available information from the website for this article.

From all of the available data, I narrowed the analysis down to six significant criteria. The “Who” can be found in :

Job Categories, and
Ad Submitters;
the “What” is covered in the
Minimum Experience Levels,
Job Status, and
Minimum Education Requirements;
and finally, the “Where” will be covered in the
Job Location.

In fact, because there is so much data available, which is countered by a lack of time and space to publish this information in the HGS Bulletin, this article will be broken into two parts, which will hopefully be seen in two consecutive, monthly releases.

Job Categories

The types of positions that were listed in the ads, the Job Categories, were broken down into nine groups-Geologists, Geophysicists, Geoscientists (positions available for either Geologists or Geophysicists, but with no preference indicated), Support (includes Geotechs, Data Loading techs, etc.), Information Systems personnel (Programmers, System Administrators, Software Training, etc.), Sales, Managers, Petrophysicists, and Miscellaneous (Technical Writers and Researchers, to name a couple).

The bar graph in Figure 1 was an attempt to describe how these job categories might have changed throughout the year. For example, the ratio between Geologists and Geophysicists, does seem to vary throughout the year. The pie chart, also included in this figure, quantifies the overall percentage of each category. It is interesting to note that nearly 65% of the positions posted on the website were for the individuals most directly responsible for geoscience data analysis/processing, and interpretation-the ‚ Geologists, Geophysicisists, Geoscientists, Petrophysicists, and Managers. Of the remaining 35% of the total positions, over half were for Support personnel.

Ad Submitters

The evaluation of the Ad Submitters was an attempt to reveal the relative hiring activity between Tier 1 companies (directly involved in the search for hydrocarbon resources, such as oil companies) and Tier 2 companies (indirectly related to the search for these resources, such as service companies, universities, etc.). By looking at these results, we may be able to judge the extent of the total work that is now being done by the service sector-much of which may have previously been considered as “in-house” work done by the oil companies.

A casual examination of the raw information from the submitted ads, on the website, indicates that only about 11% of the 479 positions were submitted directly by Tier 1 oil companies, while 34% of the total positions were submitted directly by Tier 2 service companies. In addition to the ads submitted directly by these two groups, quite a large number, the remaining 55%, were received from search firms (which can also considered Tier 2 companies). This may lead one to conclude that about 89% of the positions were submitted by Tier 2 service companies. This would actually be very misleading, however, based on additional information not available on the website. Quite the contrary, it is estimated that the percentage actually shifts back toward the oil companies, by a slight majority, when you consider that a large portion of the oil company positions was handled by the search firms.

While not trying to gloss over the personal traumas endured during the last 20 years of oil industry layoffs of tens of thousands of former employees who left the oil industry entirely, it would be interesting to find out how many of the remaining, like-minded recipients of these layoffs were moved by the entrepreneurial spirit to form their own companies. Since it seems that the service sector now accounts for nearly 50% of the hiring activity, there may still be some opportunities out there in this arena.

Minimum Experience Levels

Many, but not all, of the ads gave a range of experience required for the position. This presents some difficulties when trying to standardize this analysis, because the extent of the ranges was so variable. So, to reduce the difficulties, I chose the minimum number of years of experience required for the position from each ad as the standardizing parameter-the Minimum Experience Level. The positions were then grouped into seven levels: 0 years, 1-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-14 years, 15-19 years, and 20+ years, along with NI (no information given). Please note that many of the jobs for Geologists, Geophysicists, and Managers fell into this NI category (frequently, the other required skills in these ads implied a high level of experience).

The bar graph in Figure 2 reveals the distribution of the number of positions during 2002 within these experience levels. One of the first impressions from this graph is the large number of positions in the group with a minimum of 1-4 years of experience. Within this level, you will also notice that the Support category had the largest number of positions (the most of any group, by far). Considering that one of the primary responsibilities for many in Support is loading geoscience data into computer workstations, this may give us a reason to pause. Especially, when you consider the potential ramifications of improperly ‚ loaded data, which can result from a lack of experience. Due to is highly technical nature, and the fact that it can be presented in many formats and units of measurements, much of this geoscience data can and often does require a higher skill level to be loaded correctly. Several examples of this data include borehole positioning (locations/deviation surveys), seismic velocity information, or the seismic data itself, to name a few.

It also becomes apparent in this graph that the relative number of positions for Geologists, Geophysicists, and Geoscientists remained fairly consistent for the 1-4, 5-9, and 10-14 year experience levels. Most of the decrease in the overall number of positions for these three experience levels was at the expense of the other job categories.

The smaller pie chart within this figure indicates the relative percentages of each experience level. The most significant result of this chart, alluded to earlier, was that nearly half, or 47.2%, of the 479 positions were submitted for personnel with a minimum experience level that ranges from 0 to 4 years. At the other end of the spectrum, positions that required a minimum of 15+ years of experience were few and far between, with only 6.3% of the ads (there was only one position for a minimum of 20+ years of experience). The intermediate experience level, which I grouped into the range from 5 to 14 years, accounted for the remaining 43.6%.

However, we, the more experienced portion of the pool of oil industry talent, shouldn’t be too discouraged by these numbers. As a reminder, these are only the minimum experience levels that the companies were seeking for the available position and do not indicate what level was actually hired. Also, many ads, while having a low minimum experience requirement, had a wide range or open-ended experience requirement, that would allow many of the more experienced job seekers to fill the position.

This continuation of March’s article completes the discussion of the six categories that I derived from the information found in the 479 openings that were submitted to the HGS Job Hotline website during 2002. The reason that I decided to compile all of this information in the first place was to help provide some answers for the frequent questions that I have been getting, concerning the geoscience job market-essentially, the “who, what, and where?” I also thought that it may help those who are actively searching for a job to get a glimpse into the most current trends.

If you recall, last month we covered: (1) Job Categories, (2) Ad Submitters, and (3) Minimum Experience Levels. This month, after a brief review of the highlights of last month’s article (which will be used again later), we will continue where Part One left off, and cover the last three categories: (4) Job Status, (5) Minimum Education Requirements, and finally, (6) Job Location.

A Brief Review of Part One

Job Categories: I found that there were nine main types of jobs in this category-Geologists, Geophysicists, Geoscientists, Support, Information Systems personnel, Sales, Managers, Petrophysicists, and Miscellaneous. Nearly 65% of the positions posted on the website were for the individuals most directly responsible for geoscience data analysis/processing, and interpretation-the Geologists, Geophysicists, Geoscientists, Petrophysicists, and Managers. Of the remaining 35% of the total positions, over half of them were for Support personnel.
Ad Submitters: The companies who submitted the ads, were separated into two groups: Tier 1 companies (oil companies), and Tier 2 companies (service companies, universities, search firms, etc.). Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies were almost evenly split for the number of positions that were submitted, with oil companies having the slight majority. A large portion of the oil company positions were handled by search firms.
Minimum Experience Levels: The experience requirements were subdivided into seven levels: 0 years, 1-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-14 years, 15-19 years, and 20+ years, along with NI (no information given). Within the 1-4 year level, the „ Support category had the largest number of positions. The relative number of positions for Geologists, Geophysicists, and Geoscientists remained fairly consistent for the 1-4, 5-9, and 10-14 year experience levels. Nearly half of the 479 positions were submitted for personnel with a minimum experience level that ranges from 0 to 4 years. The intermediate experience level, with five to 14 years, accounted for 43.6%. The remaining 6.3% of the positions required a minimum of 15+ years of experience.

That concludes the review of Part One, and now we will continue with Part Two.

Job Status

The Job Status category is defined by whether an opening was offered as Permanent Employment, a Contract position, or a Contract/Permanent position (a position which was open to either contract or permanent employment, with no preference for either). The companies in this last category were either flexible in the position or preferred to hire someone initially as a contract person, which then could lead to permanent employment later, if things work out for both parties. For those seeking permanent employment, I call this the “Try me before you buy me” method.

I often find this flexibility in contract positions as well. As a longtime consultant, and one who favors contract positions, I find that most of my contracts are initially for periods of about three months. Because of this, I would have to say that I have a lot of experience with the “Try me before you buy me” method, and highly recommend it as a way to establish yourself in a new company. I would also venture to say that almost every one of these “short-term ventures” has led to longer contracts, and even offers of permanent employment, as time progressed further. For those seeking permanent employment, I wholeheartedly suggest that you expand your potential opportunities by giving this method a chance for a potential exposure to long-term employment.

From a quantitative standpoint, slightly over 21% of the positions listed in 2002 were for either the Contract, or Contract/Permanent categories (96 Contract and 5 Contract/Permanent). The more technically oriented geoscience positions (Geologists, Geophysicists, or Geoscientists) accounted for 57 of these 101 positions. Furthermore, 66 of the 101 positions were offered to candidates in the 1-4 year experience category. It was also interesting to note that a large majority of the contract positions were listed by search firms.

With 378 of the 479 positions (almost 79%) open for permanent employment, it doesn’t look like the companies are heading toward an all-contract, or outsourced, staff any time soon, even though to some, it does seem like it occasionally.

Minimum Education Requirements

I thought that another interesting factor to evaluate would be the Minimum Education requirement. For those considering graduate school in the near future, this would give them more information to help determine the actual demand for masters and doctorate degrees (see Figure 3). While just over half of the positions did specify that a college education was required, many did have a preference for advanced degrees. Fifty-two positions listed an advanced degree as a minimum requirement (47 with a master’s degree, and 5 with a PhD degree). Conversely, 13 positions were also listed with a minimum of a high school degree!

Surprisingly, 194 of the 479 positions didn’t list any education requirements at all. Based on the content of those ads however, I believe that it was probably assumed that most of them had specialized skills that required a college degree. Especially, since many similar positions are already filled with candidates with degrees.

Location

The Job Location category highlights the geographic preferences for available positions. Slightly over two-thirds of the jobs were located in Houston. Twenty-three positions were to be located in the state of Texas, but outside the city of Houston. Another 64 jobs were in the United States, but outside Texas. Finally, in a strong showing for the international sector, 72 positions were listed outside the United States At this point, I think that it is appropriate to illuminate some related information, gathered from our website “hit” counter. Our website lists regular visitors from over 40 countries, located on every continent, except Antarctica, and is truly the hub of the oil industry for available geoscience jobs.

Perfect Candidate

During the process of sifting through all of this information, I became curious about what common characteristics would lead someone to having the best chance of finding a job, from all of the positions that were listed: “The Perfect Candidate.” In reviewing all the categories, here’s what I came up with. They would most likely be a Geologist, and having acquired a bachelors degree, would be seeking permanent employment, for a position requiring a minimum of 1 to 9 years of experience. They would probably increase their chances of finding a position in their field of qualification (geoscience data analysis/processing, or interpretation) by using a search firm. There’s an even chance that they would be interested in working for either a Houston oil or service company. Additionally, one of the more important factors these days and not quantified in this work because it was almost universal within the job ads, would be a knowledge and proficiency in the use of computers. „

For those of us out there who don’t fit these Perfect Candidate criteria, don’t be dismayed! As I have mentioned previously, most of the categories were for the minimum requirements that the companies were looking for. I would guess that in many cases, they were not the qualifications that were actually hired. For example, in the minimum experience levels, over half of the positions were listed for candidates with 0-4 years of experience. But, how many recent geoscience candidates have entered the oil industry within the last four years to fill these openings?

As always, it is our constant responsibility to demonstrate our other abilities and talents, which the companies may not have even realized would be of value to them.

Mike Cline is principal and geophysicist for T/X Resources, an Internet-based geophysical consulting company, combining technology with petroleum exploration. Questions may be directed to him by e-mail at mikec@txresources.com

Figures Index:

Figure One: Job Category Breakdown
Figure Two: Minimum Experience Levels
Figure Three: Job Status, Education and Location Categories