LF: Geology or related position

[Impreza]

Anyone know of any new-grad positions for Geology? I have been looking but not much luck so far...

[Q-TIP]

When did you graduate? I'm in the same boat as you, just finished at U of C in April.

[Crymson]

Hey Guys,

Few tips in these tought times for you.

1) I know this doesn't apply to you, because you've graduated. However, the KEY to landing a job after graduation is to BUST YOUR ASS to find and excell at a summer job after your 3rd year.

Almost all of the companies in calgary, hire exclusively from their summer student pools, and if there were 5 previous students, mabey 1 or 2 will get full time positions.

Now, i'll start with some tips that apply to you guys more directly.

2) HR will not help you.

Generally, forwarding your resume to HR will not get you anywhere. You need to seek out, cold call, and leave and impression with the exploration managers and team leads. As far as HR is concerned, you're just a resume - and as much as they'd like to disagree, they do not run the company. They couldn't care less wether a position is filled or now, where the exploration manager will.

3) Service companies may be your only option.

Jobs at places like Hycal, Core labs, or other laboratories, core shops, or field work (wellsite geols), may be the only options. You're going to have to get experience somewhere in order to get your foot in the door and make you appealing as a hire. Working part at safeway or something like that, while you're trying to find a job, does not look like you're trying very hard.

Lots of companies are doing research and analysis, but not drilling. So wellsite may be hard to come by, but there should be jobs kicking around at the labs. (AGAT, etc..)

4) Specialize in unconventional, or at least appear to.

If you're interested in working in Calgary, get used to the idea of unconventional gas (Shale gas, Coal bed methane) and oil sands. Do what you can to learn about this. For a number of reason.

Most managers, who were geologists or engineers before going into management, have never worked hands on with unconventional. They understand the economics and metrics, and probably some of the technical jargon. However, they're not very comfortable with the technical aspects of the plays.

Young people, can spin this to their favour. By being "young, and in the loop", you can appear to be far more experienced in this area than you may actually be, be virtue of unconconventional's "new-ness". Just like how these old guys probably need their get their kids to load songs onto their ipods, fill them with confidence that you're the young kid who knows all about the new shit that's going down.

5) Be willing to take a contract.

You're gonig to have to prove yourself, so expect to work a 6 months contract with no holidays. Treat this as a 6 month interview and work your f'ing ass off.

6) Keep your chin up.

Hopefully we've bottom out. Lots of baby boomers are being packaged out around town right now, and anyone who was going to retire and hung on to the recession will probalby retire as soon as their stocks rebound another 10-15%. When it comes back, probably a year or two -- companies are going to find themselves with a skeleton crew of geologists manning large properties and will ramp up accordingly

[Q-TIP]

Great advice man. I don't actually want an office job anyways, I desperately want fieldwork.

[texasnick]

go to careermine.com if you haven't already.....fortunately for you, pretty sure the only work you're going to be able to find ATM is field work.

It has it's ups and downs though, keep that in mind. Also, make sure the on/off schedule isn't too harsh or you might start going bush mad....I've been there and it sucked.

[broken_legs]

Schlumberger is probably hiring...

[msommers]

Don't forget about Geological Survey if you're not interested in O&G. Have you looked at mining operations in other provinces (Manitoba/Sask/NWT)?

[Q-TIP]

I will never go back to the GSC! Larry Lane ended me.

[msommers]

.

[Impreza]

Thanks for all the good tips! I'm hoping to land an office job rather than living out in the field haha, but at this point, I will take anything!!

[jazzyb]

I was on the same boat, I took odd jobs, odd geophysical jobs, whatever I could get to gain some experience, and after 2years of doing that I finally hit gold.

As crymson said, keep your head up, keep looking, and just don't give-up. I came close to giving up many times, even with my stable job as a Geophysical Support Analyst.

One of the most important aspects for job hunting in this industry is getting to know people already in it, and making a solid impression with these people, show eagerness and be eager to learn and you will catch your break.

Personally I found software support to be the "gateway" to getting a intepretation position.

[Euro838]

Originally posted by Impreza
Thanks for all the good tips! I'm hoping to land an office job rather than living out in the field haha, but at this point, I will take anything!!

If you want an office job, then why go into geology?

[msommers]

Originally posted by Euro838


If you want an office job, then why go into geology?

From what I've been told by geologists working DT, O&G is ~95% office work. Maybe a bit of wellsite and/or hitting the corelab.

[Impreza]

Originally posted by msommers


From what I've been told by geologists working DT, O&G is ~95% office work. Maybe a bit of wellsite and/or hitting the corelab.

^werd. There is still field work to be done, but the bulk of the work exists within an office setting.