Seventeen-year-old Lucy Addis hasn’t quite decided what she wants to do after she graduates. But the Calgary teen now has a better idea of what it takes to get a job in the oilpatch.

Hard work. A clean driver’s licence. And a drive to learn and succeed in one of Western Canada’s hottest growth sectors — the petroleum services, supply and manufacturing industry.

Addis was one of several students on hand last week as the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) launched a new website showcasing careers for young workers in a fast-growing energy industry hungry for employees at all levels.

“I really liked the videos and the day-in-the-life section, because it shows you what goes on and what exactly they’re doing. You get a really good job profile,” said Addis.

The new website, www.careersinoilandgas.com, is a joint initiative between PSAC and Human Resources Develop-ment Canada (HRDC). It’s a “virtual career fair,” designed to introduce high-school students to a wide variety of jobs in the upstream oil and gas industry — everything from rig hands, well testers and instrumentation jobs to becoming a plant manager or field engineer.

Larry MacDougall, Business Edge
Students Jeff Neilson, Lucy Åddis and David Press check out new PSAC website.

“We recognized seven or eight years ago that the industry in our sector in particular was going to have an ongoing, systemic labour shortage that we would have to deal with,” said PSAC President Roger Soucy, as he unveiled the new website at Calgary’s Crescent Heights high school’s Career Centre last Wednesday. The petroleum services industry has traditionally drawn entry-level workers from rural and farm families, “but that pool isn’t there any more,” said Elizabeth Aquin, PSAC’s operations manager.

“Small Canadian family farms are disappearing . . . and farm kids have the kinds of skills that transfer well into this industry,” she added. Work requirements include being mechanically adept and comfortable with seasonal or round-the-clock production cycles.

The website includes streaming video segments featuring different types of jobs and equipment, and a “day-in-the-life” profiles where workers describe their daily tasks.

PSAC is the national trade association of the upstream petroleum service, supply and manufacturing sectors in Canada, and represents more than 240 companies ranging from independent contractors to large multi-national service companies.

Soucy says that the career website is part of a three-pronged effort by his association – efforts which have included developing 31 occupational competency standards, and establishing an educational fund to help students wishing to pursue careers in the industry. While some may still view petroleum services as a dirty, grimy occupation, he says, “in fact it’s quite high-tech, with lots of instrumentation, computers and various chemicals that require some science skills.”

Victor Cormier, adviser to the director general at HRDC, said the Alberta project will be evaluated as a possible pilot to a national virtual career centre. If the Alberta launch is successful, the program could be expanded by the middle of next year. “This was a natural evolution from the development of standards articulating entry-level skills requirement, to presenting future graduates with career possibilities in the sector,” he said.

Many young workers who want to work in the industry lack the necessary basic literacy and numerical skills, he added, so students must be reminded that finishing high school with a background in math and sciences will be a real asset in their working lives.

For David Press, 16, the new webpage is a possible window to the future.

“I think the website is pretty informative. There are lots of different opportunities, different things somebody can get into,” he said. “I want to do something in the sciences, and this website has me looking at stuff like geology. It’s really interesting.”