Following a few uncertain years in the oil and gas industry, the signs are now pointing toward growth. Around the globe, markets that had suffered in recent years are rebounding in 2011. However, the global oil and gas industry continues to experience something of a rollercoaster journey – not just in terms of fluctuating oil and gas prices, but also with regard to political unrest and natural disasters. All of this impacts hiring trends. Despite setbacks, there continues to be a guarded optimism across the industry worldwide.

As a result of this upturn in activity, oil and gas companies are looking to fill new positions and find people with unique expertise. Venturing into new frontiers in shale gas and deep water, matched with increasing demand for LNG and the huge potential reserves identified in places like Colombia, Angola, and the Barents Sea, requires people with specific experience, particularly in the fields of specialist engineering and in the subsea sector.

Global demand has resulted in the import and export of skilled personnel. Where in the past this has led to contractors demanding increasingly higher fees, the current candidate-driven market is forcing a cap on contractor rates as operators are favoring staff positions and building strategic alliances with specialist recruiters to implement project teams more quickly.

As companies begin to focus once again on hiring, many will need to hire overseas talent in different regions to fill niche positions and support specialist projects. Before doing this, it is important that companies understand and consider the various cultures, backgrounds, expectations, and legal and governmental matters that are involved when making hiring decisions.

There are nine aspects to consider when hiring overseas talent.

Understanding a new hire’s employment history helps avoid potentially costly hiring mistakes. (Images provided by OilCareers.com)

Understanding cultural differences

Employees from around the world will bring unique and diverse talents and skills as well as personal characteristics and needs. Holidays, religious beliefs, and celebrations vary between cultures, and companies have to be sensitive to this.

When hiring from overseas, it is important to prepare to deal with internal cultural differences by providing cultural-sensitivity training for employees as coworkers join from other regions.

Candidate family situation

In many areas of the world, companies cannot legally ask candidates about family background when hiring, but when speaking with a new hire about relocation, issues surrounding families can become an important part of the relocation package.

The recruiter should be prepared to ask questions that will aid in a smooth relocation process: Do family members need special language training? Are there school-aged children who will be impacted? Identifying these needs will help to make the transition easier for the employee and his/her family.

Employers can bypass a skills shortage at home but should be aware of the additional issues of hiring overseas.

Understanding relocation costs and benefits

Relocation costs and benefits vary widely depending on industry and company. Companies can choose one of several compensation packages to assist overseas hires. There are three main packages that companies use for expat hires, including a generous salary package, an equalized home country/host country package, or a mixed compensation package. A company may also provide free housing, utilities allowance, spouse support, settling-in allowance, and an education allowance.

Employers often consider footing the bill for relocating an internationally based candidate for several reasons. First, international work experience can benefit an employee who lacks a breadth of exposure to different areas of the business. Secondly, certain specialized skills may be more plentiful in certain regions; hence the best talent may not always be ubiquitous worldwide.

Visas

Visa requirements and processing times vary by country and region. For example, in the United Kingdom candidates can apply for a visa within three months of travel, so it is important that a candidate applies as early as possible to allow for processing delays.

Human resource departments need to be prepared to help new hires apply for visas. They should be equipped to answer any questions, assist new hires with filling out paperwork, and help them understand costs and time frames involved.

Language barriers

Trying to communicate with someone in an unknown or different language can cause problems in a company setting culturally as well as in the decision-making process and can make it difficult for a team to complete a project or accomplish a task.

Companies can ensure that employees are prepared to relocate by providing the new hire with basic language training. Companies also can provide training and language reference material to the new hire’s family to help them settle in their new surroundings. It may also be wise to provide language differentiation reference material due to the idiosyncrasies even in the English dialect, particularly between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Comparable geographies

Companies should be looking for the right people from the right geographies for the projects being fulfilled. For example, Australia is projecting large growth in the oil and gas sector in the coming years. Companies should recognize that for offshore work, it would be wiser to obtain talent from the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea compared to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates due to language and comparable working environments.

If companies fail to look in the right geographies, they may end up hiring employees they will need to retrain or provide costly additional support and training.

Venturing into new frontiers such as LNG requires people with specific experience.

Verifying work history and qualifications

It is critical that companies identify the right person with the right experience before relocating a new hire. A company should be prepared to fully check references as well as online resources such as Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook to ensure that the candidate matches all job requirements.

New hires also should be prepared to provide specific work samples and experiences to demonstrate their expertise and understanding of the job they are about to begin. If a company fails to do this, it may end up investing thousands of dollars on someone who may not have the right amount of experience or capabilities.

Written language and other skills

If strong writing skills in the correct language are important for the position, companies should not hesitate to ask candidates to take a written exam or ask for writing samples of work in the language in question.

It is important that companies make clear the language skills they are looking for in the job description. Companies should also be prepared to ask candidates to take an aptitude test if it is critical for the position.

Utilizing specialized global talent providers

Companies with international needs should partner with a global recruitment resource or online job site such as OilCareers.com. By doing so, they gain instant access to a large, worldwide database of candidates with various backgrounds and areas of expertise. It is a quick and easy way for companies to search in a global database of oil and gas recruits interested in opportunities based anywhere in the world and can help cut down on the time and resources it takes for companies to compile their own talent search.

As oil and gas companies seek to hire international candidates, they should be prepared to take into consideration the potential new hires’ needs. Through careful planning and preparation, companies will be able to glean all the benefits from the new hire while eliminating any frustrations that could come as they move halfway across the world to begin a new role.