Oil and gas recruiters show how to beat the cycle

Jo Faragher

The current crisis in the oil and gas industry shows just how quickly fortunes in certain markets can turn around.

Plummeting oil prices, while great for consumers filling up at the petrol station, have led to many job losses in the sector and recruitment – which was once characterised by talent shortages and high salaries – has come to something of a standstill.

But as Fircroft CEO Johnathan Johnston points out, working together in creative partnerships can help build business opportunities during tougher times. His company has joined forces with a town in Mozambique where there are huge reserves of offshore natural gas, but they don’t have the talent to commercialise it.

The company has also discovered that, while the North Sea markets are down right now, there is still significant demand for talent in other areas such as Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan. Looking into how talent can be exported is a great option for recruiters facing a lull in the business cycle.

Other agencies are taking creative approaches, too. Another oil and gas recruiter, Change Recruitment Group, has turned its attention to engineering, supply chain and procurement sectors to mitigate the effects of the downturn in oil and gas.

The downturn has still had an impact on revenues, but Group MD Mark McFall said: “Our early engagement with emerging and re-emerging markets, such as construction, property and infrastructure, procurement and IT, has offset some of the pain.”

And in the North East of Scotland, where many oil and gas workers have lost their jobs due to falling oil prices, those who have faced redundancy have been encouraged to go into an area where their skills are desperately needed – teaching.

With perhaps the exception of the technology market, which is constantly evolving, most recruitment markets are predictably cyclical. And how you approach the downward curve – by creating opportunities or investigating new markets – will certainly have a long-lasting influence on how you compete once the market is looking up again.