How To Start A Career In The Oil And Gas Industry:

What Employers Say

By Katie Weir
From Talent Acquisition Specialist, Campus
Talisman Energy

How to start your career, step by step

Fix up your resumé – take it to your career centre at your university and they’ll help you.

Write a compelling cover letter that speaks to your best qualities – save the pretentious language for your English papers.

Join a professional association and attend their events – if you feel uncomfortable attending alone, try volunteering at them. By having a job to do, it gives you an excuse to interact with the attendees, and an easy way to start up a conversation the next time you see them.

Do your research – I can’t stress this enough. I want students to apply to Talisman, not because we have open jobs, but because they actually have an interest in what we’re doing, and want to be a part of it.

Be confident, but stay humble – it’s important to communicate your abilities effectively, but it’s also important to be conscious of the phrase: “sense of entitlement.” This generation entering the workforce has already been branded with the word “entitlement,” so students will need to fight against this bias from the very beginning of any relationship with people in the industry – be aware that you will need to roll up your sleeves and work hard for the first couple years, and you will be rewarded in the end.

Retrieved and adapted from URL: <http://talentegg.ca/incubator/2010/11/29/how-to-start-a-career-in-the-oil-and-gas-industry -what-employers-say/>. Acess on: February 14, 2012.

The main purpose of Text is to