Charles Coley ⋅ Blowing Rock, NC ⋅ 40 years experience

Good morning, Daniel!

I highly recommend going back to school to study the area of the oil business you want to focus your future in. Houston is the center of the oil industry in the US. There are also other Texas towns that are important to oil. Goggle the State of Texas for information. While searching, I would suggest you look at NC State to determine programs they may have to get you the training needed in the oil industry. Getting certified as a welder at the technical college in Goldsboro would also be a good step. Go to www.vettoceo.org. It is an excellent site for Vets to start or build a business. It can also help you with your search. Search for other veterans benefits to help you.

Good luck with your search.
Charles Coley

. . ⋅ Houston, TX . ⋅ 35 years experience

Daniel,

Be wary of what you wish for without actually understanding it, O&G, Chemicals, On Shore, Off Shore, Up stream, Down stream, Exploration, Distribution, Energy, MRO (and I am barely scratching the surface here). The industry is vast in scope and looking at it from the outside of the industry, there are very few that can actually grasp how vast the industry is. You are young, you have the foundation of what is wanted in the industry, you understand discipline and dedication, you are structured and dependable, you have confidence in yourself and most of all you are teachable. You have all the desirable traits that employers want except for one thing, experience. Don’t let that worry you though, the industry understands that and has no problem teaching you skills and letting you gain the experience as long as you can give them confidence to believe in you.

I am sure that you have been aware of the current events and all the media hype about low gas prices and how it will hurt the industry. Well, that effect applies to the futures aspect of the industry. Investors are being cautious and spreading the word of doom, exploration is holding back from investing but understand something, there are years of current plans and orders that still have to be filled. They are still building new facilities to keep up with the demand and the lower oil prices are going to make these plants even more profitable and able to compete then they originally envisioned. The lower oil prices will allow the US to start exporting products on a competitive global scale.

Now you have to do some work to do in understanding exactly what your goals are. What career you want to go into before any of us really can give you solid advice and guidance. If you know what you want to do great, please share. If you don’t know and are looking for ideas then let me throw this out to you. Go to welding school, you can do that locally while you are still in the service and get certified. You take that certification and with your military background and come to Houston. If you can pass a drug test you should have a job in about three or four days here. That would get your foot in the door at a small company at worst and allow you to gain some experience to be able to get a job at a larger company in about 6 months. Once you have your foot in the door at a larger company the opportunities for a career change are there if you are willing to learn. Then go to school at nights to get your degree and focus on what you now know you want to do. There are endless opportunities.

Best of luck to you,

Don

GERRY KIRKLAND ⋅ Fort Mill, SC CGK Associates LLC ⋅ 49 years experience

Sergeant Hawkins,
Thank you for your service.
Mr. Weinberg offers some very good advice. Houston is the hotbed for the oil/gas industries and encompasses a number of businesses that provide goods and services to the industries. Attendance at the May exposition will give you a good idea of the scope and may help provide a place for an initial conversation with different companies. The lower price of oil is working against you in the number of jobs that are open right now. However, also remember hiring has not gone to zero. Some is still hiring and looking for good employees.

Dave Weinberg ⋅ Rio Rancho, NM Practical Risk, LLC ⋅ 40 years experience

Daniel,

First, thank you for your service.

Without having more information on your background and your job goals, it is difficult to answer your question, so this will be a pretty broad response.

If you are interested in becoming a rig hand (roughneck, mud engineer, etc), you will want to look at the various drilling companies such as Transocean, Diamond Offshore, Halliburton, Schlumberger, etc. However these are the really big guys and you might want to look smaller. I agree with the other adviser, that Houston is the center of the US oil industry, but getting experience from square 1 on the rig floor will probably mean a lot of door knocking on smaller companies. Also, starting off, you will probably need to do your first year or two onshore. Working offshore requires training and few companies will risk bringing a totally green hand out there. Today's price of oil is also working against you as many of the smaller operators are cutting back rather than hiring - even in North Dakota.

Another option for you might be to go back to school and study geology, geophysics, or petroleum engineering. I don't think the job market in the oil patch is going to turn around anytime soon, so getting an education that will get you into that industry might be just the smartest thing you can do. In addition to any additional educational benefits you might have from your service, I am aware that the American Association of Petroleum Geologists has a scholarship program for vets who want to do undergrad degrees in geoscience [see: www.http://foundation.aapg.org/programs/military.cfm]. There may be similar scholarship opportunities through the Society of Petroleum Engineers [see: www.http://www.spe.org/scholarships/].

Depending how much you know about the oil patch, I'd suggest you sign up to go to the Offshore Technology Conference for a day or two. It's always in Houston, and in 2015 it's May 4 through 7. If you are new to the industry, it'll overwhelm you, but it will certainly give you a tremendous insight into the breadth of the industry, all of which it takes people to perform. I haven't been in a dozen years, so don't know if they have any kind of employment opportunity booths or process. Check out www.otcnet.org for more info.

If you want to discuss this further, send me an email, and I'm sure we can schedule a phone discussion.

Cyril Reif ⋅ Mckinney, TX Sun Microsystems ⋅ 41 years experience

Hello Daniel,

The best place to start your search is in Houston, the U.S. center for anything to do with the petroleum industry. They recruit for jobs around the world. There are numerous recruiting companies there; you might start with this one, http://www.qcglp.com/.
I wish you success in finding the job you want in this New Year.

Cyril Reif