Industry Must Be 'Stimulating, Challenging' to Inspire Millennials

The oil and gas industry must be presented as stimulating and challenging to inspire millennials, Oil & Gas UK Chief Executive Deirdre Michie told Rigzone.

Responding to a speech from BP Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley, in which he stated that 14 percent of millennials do not wish to work in the oil and gas industry today because of its negative image, Michie alluded to the difficulties in attracting younger generations to the workforce.

“We ... recognize the issues in terms of inspiring the future workforce that there is a positive and sustainable industry to be part of,” said Michie.

“We know that oil and gas has a key role to play in the transition towards a lower carbon future and therefore we need to present this industry as a stimulating and challenging opportunity for the next generation,” she added.

Speaking at the Oil & Money conference held in London last week, Dudley told attendees that the industry needs to do a better job of talking about the prosperity the sector brings to countries, the community development projects it delivers and the work it is leading to address carbon emissions.

“We can be proud of what we do. Our industry is a great industry. We should not apologize for what we do ... It has fuelled an era of unprecedented growth. It has helped to raise living standards and lift people out of poverty,” said Dudley at the conference.

“Today we face new challenges – the challenges of competitiveness, of carbon and of choice – but I believe that we will make the right choices and meet those challenges. We will attract great talent. We will play our part in the journey to a low carbon economy. We will win back trust,” he added.



WHAT DO YOU THINK?


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Richard A. Sukup, PE  |  October 26, 2016
Every time we go through another downturn seems the same thoughts resurface as to how to make amends for our woes. Little has change once again and we wonder why the Gen-Xers and Millenials look negatively upon our industry with Deep Horizon in movie theaters and thousands of their parents facing the harsh reality of finding another job in the sixties. And we wonder why Apple, Microsoft, and others like them can attract the brightest and most creative young talent. Our traditional management and leadership (bureaucratic and hierarchical) ways do not resonate with them. There is no social order. Different cultures, backgrounds, offer radical understandings and collaboration to change by design-not by top down controls so prevalent in our outdated ways. There is no going back this time. The new normal is adaptive innovators of social media and enablers.


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