Despite the recent bullish oil price, job cuts are still a common occurrence in the industry. Unemployment is still on the rise. There seems no signs of recovery in the near future. I am still positive though that sooner or later, situation change.
Being unemployed is the worst that can happen to someone who is the breadwinner of the family. Mortgage, kids education, health care, sustenance and every activity a modern human being is involved with requires cash flow. Without income, how can someone ever survive?
Resilience through career shift may be the only solution to the ongoing crisis and unemployment.
A good friend of mine was made redundant during the 2008 GFC. It made him decide to do a career shift by further studies in plant operations, a shift from his decade long electrical design engineer career. It was good for him, he was able to get a scholarship from one of the Oil & Gas operators. After graduation, he was hired right away and got a stable job in plant operations despite the current Oil & Gas crisis.
The past couple of years has been one of the worst crisis in the industry since the oil embargo. The previous crises were totally different though as OPEC was totally in control of the situation, the industry rebounded very quickly. This time, regardless of the indifference among OPEC member countries, it seems that the consumer is more in control of oil prices than the producers. Over supply has dampened the consumer demand for hydrocarbon that producers has to accept whatever price the consumer demands due to numerous selection options for supply. Producers then need to pump more oil to be able to sustain their lavish lifestyles flooding more oil into the market. It is a chicken and the egg scenario, a never ending phenomenon.
Hope is the only thing we can do, but thinking of career shift may be a better option.