PM105

Skills Gap in the Oil and Gas Sector



[Date of Submission]

Skills Gap in the Oil and Gas Sector



Introduction

One of the most crucial issues that the oil and gas industry of the world is facing is shortage of skilled employees and it will expand further; if proper measures are not taken at global level. As the population of the world is growing, the demand for hydrocarbons is also growing accordingly and to fulfil this growing demand quality skilled workforce is required. The industry is facing great corporate challenge, as it is facing shortage of talent that could help in managing the growing demands of the world. It is expected that the demand of technical skilled workers in oil and gas sector will grow at a fast pace, as most of the workers employed in this sector are near to their retirement stage. Effective planning is required in order to develop a workforce that could help in minimizing the exceeding skills gap in the industry.

Several oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom have lost their talented skilled employees in the year 2013 and the new recruited employees are not performing according to the required expectations. This clearly shows that the performance of these companies will be affected adversely. It is the responsibility of the recruitment and selection department of an organisation to select those employees from the pool of candidates, who have the required job specifications that are required to accomplish the assigned job descriptions. In other words, the candidates should have the skills, abilities, knowledge and competence that is required in managing the assigned duties, tasks and responsibilities. It is often observed that the recruitment department is not capable of hiring candidates, who have the required capabilities and skills set that would help them in managing the offered roles (Kaur & Kumar, 2013, p.19).

Discussion

There are five major forces that have resulted in skills gap in the oil and gas sector of the world. Those forces are fast industrial growth; highly experienced and specialised jobs; rise in technical complexity; decline in engineering graduates; and an aging workforce. Oil and gas industry is an industry that has gained massive growth and expansion among all the industries, which has created a big need of technical skilled workers. The supply of engineering graduate, who have specialization in oil and gas field are also not adequate to fulfil the vacant places in the industry and those who have specialization in this field are not having sound theoretical knowledge that could help the industry in overcoming the skills gap that is getting expanded on a constant pace.

The technical complexity is getting increased in the field of oil and gas exploration, as most of the reserves that were easily accessible are almost about to finish and now the companies are exploring these energy reserves in difficult to access areas that requires appropriate technical skills and knowledge. Most of the population living in European countries is aging and it is estimated that about 50% of ...