Web Platform Launches to Match Oil, Gas Pros with Available Projects

Web Platform Launches to Match Oil, Gas Pros with Available Projects
Rigzone talks with the CEO of TalEng, who describes his approach to offer young and professional oil and gas workers opportunities to work in the industry.

If you’re an experienced oil and gas professional looking to offer your expertise to industry projects, but don’t know how, a new web-based platform may be of assistance to you.

Playing off the growing popularity of a “gig economy,” TalEng, which launched August 28, is a global marketplace for oil and gas specialists, providing the connection between leading industry professionals and the companies that need them, said TalEng CEO Philip Houston.

So how does it work?

TalEng vets specialists to submit tailored proposals for projects that correspond with their precise skills and experience.

“We make sure our specialists have something to offer companies, be it a specific skillset or relevant experience in the industry … we internally review specialists’ CVs to ensure they meet our education and experience criteria,” Houston told Rigzone.

That criteria depends on what a person’s specialism is.

“For example, if someone says they’re an expert in construction management, we need to see four to five projects in which they are a construction manager – meaning maybe eight years in such a senior role and probably 20+ years total experience,” Houston explained. “However, if someone is a CAD designer, we would accept three years of experience as long as it was all relevant to CAD.”

Education, he said, can be a bit trickier.

“For engineers, we obviously require an engineering degree, but for a lot of experienced people in roles such as piping, construction, maintenance, etc., there were not degree courses available for them back in the day – meaning we base it on experience. Otherwise, we would be ruling out some of the best talent.”

Houston said he created TalEng to give good engineers a platform to maximize their work opportunities and address two recruiting issues:

  • Where companies need to find specialist skillsets for consultancy type work
  • When companies have deadlines approaching and need to urgently get tasks done

“Too many freelancers end up tied into long-term contracts where their specialist skillsets are only partly utilized and there is no easy way of connecting with oil companies who might require their brain power on projects,” he said. “Current recruitment methods struggle to fill positions quickly unless you get lucky and are not cost-effective when filling short-term consultancy projects.”

Since its launch, Houston said TalEng is approaching 100 approved specialists on the platform and has already filled two consultancy positions in which engineers performed work remotely. There’s more than 75,000 pounds (almost $99,000) of consultancy work live and ready for specialists to bid for on the platform.

But TalEng takes vetting of its specialists seriously. Houston said they have rejected about 30 percent of applicants to date due to a lack of experience or a poorly written CV.

“The team we have here is not from a recruitment background; we are experienced engineers who have worked on projects our whole careers,” he said. “Selection really comes down to a simple rule – if we were running a project, would we trust a person to perform a task for us? If so, then we will accept them into the system.”



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