PART 8 - Has your office laid people off - With poll

[Sugarphreak]

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[ExtraSlow]

Or just admit you are going back for the college gals....

[speedog]

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I am fairly certain that my general level of happiness with work will be higher.

This is a very important point that so many people seem to miss, it is the exact reason that I resigned from TELUS after 26.5 years there. I have known far too many people who toil away at a job/career and at the end of it are bitter and resentful and have nothing really positive to say of where they worked. 10 years later and I have very little contact with any TELUS people I may have worked with because it is still just negativity I hear from them - that negativity eats away at you and becomes a part of you. Is it scary to change careers later in life, it sure as hell is but my family and I are happier and more content as a result of it - I am now in career number three and have never been more driven or happy, kind of odd that my first real job as a young adult is what I've fell back into.

[Sugarphreak]

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[nzwasp]

So my wife is pretty concerned that she may not be able to dodge the upcoming round of layoffs at Cenovus - has managed to dodge/change positions at work with her team (seems like they (her and her manager) move around to avoid previous rounds. How is the job market for project and process engineers in Calgary at the moment? or even oil engineering in general?

[suntan]

That's why they're called colleagues.

I find it's the low skill people that generally act that way. They live in constant fear that they're going to lose their job, and this is how they react.

[mr2mike]

Some positions open up, get 5,000 applicants.
Changes on a weekly basis it seems.
But as of recent, dried right up again.

[nzwasp]

hmm well they aren't low skilled - both senior engineers with over 10 years experience at that company. But when there (at the time last year) was 5000 other process engineers (i don't know the exact number) all looking for the few jobs available if I had the chance to move into something else I would of jumped at the chance. Even with high skill you are going to be a small fish in a very large pond competing for those scraps of jobs paying fuck all.

I just want to know if the field is better now.

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Some positions open up, get 5,000 applicants.
Changes on a weekly basis it seems.
But as of recent, dried right up again.

Thanks, probably just because its xmas time i guess.

[lasimmon]

Unless you have connections and can get an interview without there being an actual posting it will be extremely tough. Networking is very important.

[suntan]

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hmm well they aren't low skilled - both senior engineers with over 10 years experience at that company. But when there (at the time last year) was 5000 other process engineers (i don't know the exact number) all looking for the few jobs available if I had the chance to move into something else I would of jumped at the chance. Even with high skill you are going to be a small fish in a very large pond competing for those scraps of jobs paying fuck all.

I just want to know if the field is better now.




Thanks, probably just because its xmas time i guess.

My response was for SP.

[mr2mike]

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Thanks, probably just because its xmas time i guess.

Currently, because both gas and oil prices have dropped. Very few economic projects.

[suntan]

Eventually O&G workers might have to settle for $100K salaries.

[tonytiger55]

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Speaking to that point a bit; You don't really realize it much when you are in your late teens to early 20's, but there are some pathologically shitty people out there. They go out of their way to make your life hard, divide your friends, and are masters at using passive aggressive tactics to try and make you feel guilty about things which have nothing to do with you, or as a way to screw you over with a smile. The thing is these kinds of people are usually the nicest you will ever meet at first, and it takes time to find them out. I'd say they are about 1 in 100 people usually. There was a point where I realized a lot of my friends and coworkers had this type of personality, and frankly were slowly ruining my life. I started to cut cords and physically remove myself from situations/jobs that involved anyone like this.

These days I am way more vigilant about it, and I've noticed that in my home life, and when I work at jobs without these kinds of people around I am way happier.

Holy shit, that sounds like my extended family here.

[Xtrema]

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I just want to know if the field is better now.

Probably not but I have not been in O&G for years now. Just from what I heard around town.

There are some jobs on the manual labor end, white collar jobs still few and far between.

And those 33K unfilled position they keep touting? Yeah, they are unfilled for a reason, a lot of them want to pay $60K for PHD level of education. So expect the labour market to continue to be exploited.

[ExtraSlow]

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Eventually O&G workers might have to settle for $100K salaries.

I don't know the market for field staff but I do know the salary isn't the sticking point for calgary-based professionals. I'd take $60k if it was a role with future potential or an attractive culture. No problem.

[nzwasp]

I had a friend who was laid off at the start of this year in oil and gas and he refused to take any job lower than $150k, suffice to say he is still looking for work

[suntan]

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I don't know the market for field staff but I do know the salary isn't the sticking point for calgary-based professionals. I'd take $60k if it was a role with future potential or an attractive culture. No problem.

I think even employers are still convinced that high salaries are still required.

[ExtraSlow]

Well there does need to be some equity between the staff you kept and the new ones you are bringing on. It's not a winning plan to have people at the same level making drastically different base salaries.

[HiTempguy1]

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Well there does need to be some equity between the staff you kept and the new ones you are bringing on. It's not a winning plan to have people at the same level making drastically different base salaries.

Jesus, what are you, a unionized government employee? :p

[ExtraSlow]

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Jesus, what are you, a unionized government employee? :p

Nah, I do manage unionized employees these days though. However my comments were about non union professionals, any disparity should be for performance only and the measurement should be very clearly articulated. Most companies are terrible about that. Differences in pay never stay secret long term.