How Interviewers Can Help Colleges Recruit Petroleum Engineers
Authors: Hough E.W. , Simrall H.C. 
Published: December 2007

Publication Rights Reserved

This paper was prepared for the Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting to be held in Montana, June 10–11, 1965, and is considered the property of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

The history of "feast and famine" in petroleum engineering education is well known and will not be recounted here. The all-time high in petroleum engineering enrollment occurred about 1958 and was about 4,000. The number has decreased precipitously to about one-third of that at present, and any trend upwards will not be felt for several years. The latest development is a survey by an agency of the E.J.C. predicting the over-all demand for engineers over the next 10 years will result in a 26 per cent increase. A survey two years earlier predicted a 46 per cent increase. The short-term outlook for petroleum engineers is favorable, but the 10-year increase is only 16 per cent, according to this survey.

Out on the firing line, the extreme shortage of petroleum engineering graduates available to recruiters is well known. The fact that this paper on recruitment was of interest to the program committee tells something of the true situation. This account is presented as "how to" in order to avoid "war stories". [You can, no doubt, supply your own.] It is also presented as a composite picture and is not applicable to any one person or company. The support by the companies in providing scholarships and summer employment programs is very helpful and is very much appreciated. Adoption of any of the ideas expressed in this paper will not require any appreciable expenditure of energy or money.

How do you approach a department? Your consideration of this idea will help the department to do its part of the recruitment operation more effectively.You should write a letter to the department well in advance of your visit, stating your interview schedule and whom you are interested in seeing. A carbon copy of a letter to the placement office will serve the purpose. The department will appreciate the opportunity to assist in the planning for your visit.Be sure to include petroleum engineering students on your interview list. If you do not plan to hire any this year, interview them anyway—your may find an outstanding man, and there is always room in any company for an outstanding man, regardless of his particular departmental specialty. Do you plan to hire any during a later year? If so, encourage students now. You can assume that all the students, including freshmen, read the bulletin boards and draw conclusions [sometimes unwarranted] from the information shown. Continuity in recruiting is very important.