How Do I Break into the Oil & Gas Industry?

Hello Jarus,

I stumbled on your post on a thread on oil and gas industry on Nairaland. I just need a career advice as I see you are an accountant. I’m a petroleum and gas graduate of a top Nigerian University. I finished my service in February this year and it’s been quite a struggle trying to penetrate the oil and gas industry since then. Luckily, I will be resuming with one of the big accounting firms soon, and already I’m beginning to consider building a financial career path with interest in the energy sector. Is this really a wrong move? A path of me thinks it’s too early (I’ve always had a soft spot for finance, I just want to be in the oil and gas sector, hence my choice of petroleum engineering).

Will I really be able to get into the oil and gas industry as an experienced hire after spending few years with this accounting firm or this is just me dreaming that 3 years accounting experience plus all the accounting certificates and trainings I will gain (possibly and MBA) will be more than enough to get me a financial role in d oil and gas industry? Or I should still continue strutting it out with the millions of engineering graduates trying to get into the energy sector? I just want to know if my newly created career path will pave way for me in about 2-3 years time into the oil and gas sector I’ve always craved for, and if it’s more than 80% possible maybe you could recommend any suitable MBA course that will be relevant to the petroleum industry.

Please don’t publish my name.

++++++

Dear,

You’ve got a very interesting case there. But the good thing is, you’re already on track and my input will only be more of validation. Your plan is the route I would have advised even if you approached me as a first year undergraduate.

I like people that have plans for their post-school career right from their school days. I gained admission into university to study economics so as to become a banker, but somewhere along the line (around 200 level), I dropped that ambition and since then the only place I wanted to work was oil and gas industry. I was aware it was going to be competitive. That is the highest paying sector and it is only natural that almost every graduate will want to work there. I saw the competition ahead, I knew I needed to do something extra-ordinary to stand out from the competition. I knew thousands of people graduate with 2.1 every year, and everybody wants to join the sector. I burned midnight candles to ensure I made a First. While a First would not guarantee me automatic employment, it would at least get me invite for oil and gas company tests, now left for me to prove myself in the tests and interviews. Knowing the God factor in everything, that was also always one of my prayer points. To God be the glory, all my post-NYSC career has been in the industry, covering downstream, midstream and upstream. So I’m happy seeing someone that had similar plans.

Like I mentioned earlier, it is a highly competitive industry – thousands of graduates from Nigerian and overseas universities competing for few spaces. Given the nature of the industry – a technical industry – engineers, geologists and graduates of similar fields have the highest demand. But again, many of them are competing for relatively few spaces. So you have to be very hot to be able to compete and break into the technical window. For the support functions, like finance, commercial, HR etc, it is also competitive, but there are two factors that make them even more competitive: one, there are fewer support roles. A typical average oil and gas company may have 100 staff, 70 of them are technical guys (engineers, geologists etc), and the rest 30 shared by Finance (which may have like 20) and others like HR and Admin (10). So you can imagine the competition for these few spaces. Two, most oil companies actually prefer experienced hires for finance functions, they want you to hit the ground running, no time to train. There is also a third factor – though general – which is, most people hardly leave the oil and gas industry for another sector, you see people that have spent 30 years in Mobil, Shell etc, so there is a very low labour turnover rate, which makes openings very few. These factors account for the very stiff competition, moreso for support roles like Finance.

So I fully support your decision not to wait for the competition that will come with your petroleum engineering route, which is a technical route.

I don’t particularly support abrupt career change without passion, just to break into an industry, but since you said you have passion for finance, then I’m also with you on that. Good for you, you’ve already got a job in an accounting firm, one of the Big 4. You asked whether it’s too early to change your career path. Well, this is actually the best time to, if you want to. Interestingly, many big finance professionals also read engineering. I always mention that the Chief Finance Officer of one of Nigeria’s biggest oil companies actually had his first and second degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and he is a Finance guru today.

Go and start ICAN or ACCA immediately, and make the best of the training you will receive in that firm, which I know and indeed, the same firm some of my colleagues here trained. More than half of the job is done already, with your getting job in a Big 4 accounting firm. Try to waltz your way into being part of the energy sector group in the audit firm as that will make you part of teams that will be auditing oil companies and gives you exposure and network into the industry. After 2 – 3 years, by which time I expect you to have qualified as an accountant (chance of getting into oil industry finance role, especially upstream, without professional qualifications like ICAN or ACCA is as low as less than 10%), you then begin to throw your CV around, either through private network or public advertisements.

In fact, in my company – a fast growing independent company in the upstream sector –  most people in the Finance department were from 3 of the Big 4: PwC, KPMG & Deloitte. Only few of us joined from other oil companies. That tells you that most organizations in the scetor prefer people trained in these big accounting firms.

So you’re already on track, just ensure you make the best use of the training opportunity in your new firm.

Lest I forget, did I mention 2-3 years there? Yes, for the big, more competitive IOCs, 2-3 years experience is still regarded as entry level and you are on track to be shortlisted for entry level roles there. But for others, it may take 4-5 years working experience in a big 4 accounting firm before you can get experienced level positions, which are what they usually seek for. In any case, start throwing your CV around after you are qualified.

All the best.

Jarus

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