Shortlist.net.au 14 July 2009 – Gas Industry to Create Big Flow of Recruitment Work

Gas industry to create big flow of recruitment work
Shortlist.net.au, 14 July 2009 4:43pm

The burgeoning gas industry will provide a strong flow of work for recruiters over the next decade, with more than 60,000 jobs to be created at the peak of construction - and recruitment companies and RPO providers are already jockeying for position in the market.

Mining and resources labour market analyst Jody Elliott of specialist careers and information site Mineblogger told Shortlist today that if Chevron's Gorgon project (off the north-west coast of WA) got final investment approval next month as expected there would be a massive upsurge in demand for skills in the sector.

"When they say - 'Yes, we're going ahead', everyone is going to expect to have the people they need in a heartbeat, and I think that's going to be interesting to watch," said Elliott, a former Recruitment and HR manager with BHP and Santos.

Elliott pointed out that Gorgon would be competing with a raft of other major gas projects, in particular Woodside's Pluto development in WA and the growing coal seam gas activity in and around Queensland's Bowen Basin and Gladstone (where the LNG plants will be located).

The Australian gas projects were also likely to be competing for talent with Oil Search's giant Papua New Guinea gas development, which was close to getting final investment approval.

She said there was "an enormous level of tendering" currently going on as project operators like Chevron, Woodside and Shell selected engineering and construction contractors for the work.

At least four or five major contracts had already been awarded, but so far there was little recruitment activity going on from the contractors, despite the fact that some of the projects were looking likely to start ramping up as soon as this year.

She noted that the oil and gas industry would also still have to compete with several major mining projects "which are going to suck up just as many roles".

Gaps in supply will need to be filled by recruiters.

Virtually all of the major oil and gas operators had their own internal recruitment functions, Elliott said, but if projects came on line quickly these teams were likely to be supplemented with external agencies.

"They will need to significantly gear up once some of these financial decisions are made, and the go ahead is given."

Elliott added that the smaller operators and contracting companies would not have their own recruitment teams, which posed another opportunity for agency recruiters with industry expertise.

She noted that RPO had been more common in the oil and gas industry before the downturn hit, but since the economy began to deteriorate most of the big players had brought their resources in-house.

Gorgon will create significant opportunities.

Bruce McCowan of Harrier Resourcing said specialist recruitment firms were already vying for a share of the growing oil and gas income stream.

Harrier has one of the industry's few RPO arrangements, with Chevron - covering permanent and fixed term roles only.

McCowan said there were estimates of a workforce of 10,000 for the construction of Gorgon alone, and Chevron and its joint venture partners Shell and Mobil had already issued a number of contracts for the project.

Once final investment was given, he said, the Gorgon contractors would be looking to start hiring very quickly.

"Many recruitment companies have been positioning themselves to win that work. Given that Gorgon will be the largest capital project run in Australia, that is a significant opportunity for [recruiters]."

(SKILLED already has its own direct joint venture with Chevron to provide both labour and vessels for the Gorgon project - see related article.)

McCowan said agencies seeking to win work in the oil and gas market needed to have the right expertise and a comprehensive strategy.

"The operators are not looking for a typical transactional, reactive approach - they're looking for strategic engagement and a different value proposition."

A differentiated service offering, he added, was "absolutely more important than price".

"Globally, LNG talent is scarce, so it's really about understanding the LNG market and understanding where the talent is and having access to that talent."

Origin trialling RPO arrangement, Santos in-house

The other two key players in the gas sector, Origin Energy and Santos have traditionally used internal teams for recruitment, supplemented by specialist recruiters for key skill sets.

Origin is currently running a trial RPO arrangement with Talent2, which will be assessed later this year, and Santos has a large and well-established in-house team.