Diversity In Action

Schlumberger has an ongoing need for engineering grads

New engineers receive extensive training, both in the classroom and on the job. They work in a variety of areas to prepare for management

Career advancement options are as diverse as the employees at Schlumberger (Houston, TX). Company employees hail from 140 countries and may work in eighty different countries. After a few years as a field engineer, a new grad hire can go to almost any niche of the company, from management to recruiting, technology or sales.

Schlumberger is an oilfield services provider that supplies technology, information solutions and integrated project management to the oil and gas industry. “We have a constant need for new college grads,” says Franklin McKay, recruiting and university relations manager for North America. “In the coming year, we expect to hire up to 250 field engineers with a BS and 100 MS or PhD-level engineers for the development centers where our equipment is designed and manufactured.”

The Schlumberger brothers who founded the company invented wireline logging as a method of obtaining data on oil and gas wells. The company has two business segments: Schlumberger Oilfield Services and WesternGeco, the world’s largest seismic company.

Schlumberger typically hires MEs, EEs and ChEs with BS or MS degrees, but will consider engineers from any discipline.

“Our training program is designed to make any flavor of engineer into a Schlumberger engineer,” says McKay. “We love diversity with respect to engineering disciplines almost as much as gender and ethnic diversity. This gives us managers with many different backgrounds.”

New grads enter the company as field engineers and undergo an extensive training program. “It’s designed to not only teach them the technical aspects of the job, but also to develop them into managers,” McKay says.

Training is full time for the first nine to twelve months, and includes classroom, practical, and supervised on-the-job instruction. Periodic training follows for the next three years.

The services the company provides are normally performed at an actual well site where drilling is done. Field engineers live and work locally, says McKay. A new hire typically stays in the same location for the first year, then is reassigned based on business needs and development opportunities.

The ideal candidate has a good academic record in engineering or the sciences, the ability to work independently, and the confidence to take responsibility for getting the job done no matter the obstacles. A field engineer must also be able to manage a crew of two to fifteen people and build relationships with customers.

Engineers who have completed the company’s training program are eligible for management positions; most are promoted out of the field within a year or so. Opportunities vary widely, from pure business management to technical management of a product development team, McKay says.

As part of the management development program, an engineer typically serves time in personnel, marketing/ sales, technology and operations during the first ten years.

“An engineer familiar with operations in the Gulf of Mexico may be moved to Alaska, or a first line manager may be moved to a sales position,” McKay explains. “My recruiters are all ex-field engineers. Two years in recruiting gives them experience evaluating people.”

Up to 25 percent of employees can expect to go overseas, to any of the eighty countries where Schlumberger currently operates.

Schlumberger recruiters go to more than fifty college job fairs a year. The company also sponsors diversity organizations on the campuses of top universities. Internships and co-ops are available for those wanting to sample the corporate environment.

Twenty-five percent of new hires are women, and the company hopes to hire even more in the coming year. It’s piloting an essay contest for SWE members at select universities. Applicants must submit an essay entitled ‘why I prefer steel toes to stilettos.’ The prize is a scholarship and funding for SWE. “If it’s successful, we’ll roll it out to all of our primary recruiting schools next year,” McKay notes.

Engineers are on call for large time chunks. But once an engineer moves out of the field, many staff jobs are handled from a location preferred by the employee. McKay notes that the company experiences a high turnover rate during the first year because of the 7/24/365 lifestyle of the industry. “After that, it’s low,” he says.

McKay notes that the diversity of its workforce makes the company an interesting place. “If you walk down the halls of our engineering center in Sugar Land, you’d think you are at the United Nations,” he says. “Diversity is not the exception, it’s the rule. Even a small office may have individuals from ten countries, all working in harmony.”

D/C