Dylan Raymond Military Recruiter- Shell Oil here, what questions do you have for me?

Joseph to me the time in service is not as important then what you actually did in the military. I would look at your last roles accumulation of at least 10 years of service. Again with me NCO, Officer is really not totally important. In some cases if you have a non military hiring manager they would not know one way or another. Some of the roles do require a degree as an experienced professional so that may be something that is specific. I would have a discussion with you to determine what interest you. Again I personally could put you in any organization and you will figure it out 90 days, maybe 6 months and a year.... if you are a bit slow. So lets look at what a tanker duties and responsibilities:

-There is some pre planning with your equipment and your team equipment
-What are ways that you guys communicate
-How do you direct the activities of your team, unit so that you have precision accurate missions
-How do you train your team, what steps do you take for them to continuously improve
-Logistics- how do you get from point A to B safely, navigate terrain, reach the objective and then deliver results eliminating the threat
-What is you analytical, strategic thought process when you are planning a mission What are things you consider (Safety, protection of the equipment, your troops so that you do not have loss of life?

So you can go a long way again you have to think outside the box from what your MOS is. We hire pilots and a lot of them do logistics, safety, process improvement.

Think of those things outside of the MOS and that can help you with an entry point.

Often when I got new jobs or new systems, I created flow charts to visualize the work flow or organization. It is incumbent that the recruit has a modicum of knowledge in the wants of the company and translating experience.

The best advice for a transitioning servicemember considering a role in Shell is start looking at roles at least 6 months or more out the process can take several weeks or a couple of months from flash to bang. From posting to candidates applying, interviewing, offer extended and then a start date. Do not be afraid to look 4 months out because the goal is to get the interview, get the offer and you can work on the start date. For a maintenance role it can be a 3 month period of time from posting to cheeks in the seat just because of the assessments that are a part of the process.

Get familiar with the site or role look at the requirements that are being asked and begin to formulate how your experience translates. You do not have to have 100% transferrable skills think high level for examples an officer is a project manager everything a officer does incorporate some type of project mission so to speak. Begin to connect and network with individuals through Rally Point and Linked In of people that are working at Shell and connect develop relationships. The other thing with me as the military recruiter everyone should be connected with me the very worse case scenario we may not have anything currently available for you but although I do not own the roles within Shell I have the relationship with the recruiters that do.

For my enlisted types, maintenance types that want to transition into the industry look at the 2 year associate's degree programs petroleum technology program, Instrumentation technology degree program that will put you at and keep you at the tip of the sphere and make you more marketable. thats true for our female servicemembers that are interested in the oil and Gas, maintenance and just do not know how to enter the industry there are a ton of you tube video that can explain the different roles in maintenance.

Lastly the career advancements are somewhat similar to the military with the exception of the 1st role it is typically 4 years so that you can understand the business, how the company make money, really get a good onboarding and then you can move from there. A lot of our roles are individual contributor roles sort of like a staff position so you may not have a squad, platoon, flight that will report to you and you may not have direct reports however you are a contributor to the overall success of the organization. That is where I see military struggle looking for the quick move and a large team. It is a marathon not a sprint. My manager has been with Shell 34 years his boss 27 years and another recruiter in the department over 40 years....yes I say again over 40 years.

We have a Marine Corps Academy graduate first role in Shell was a finance role because he served as a XO......mind you he was an infantry officer with a history degree. He then moved on to maintenance supervisor for the refinery where he is supervisor for 250+ people that is an example of one. Sorry for being so long

I did not know the market has closed. We had 42 experienced professional roles open on our site as of Friday all but maybe 7 were outside of Texas. So I am not sure if you are talking the Oil and Gas industry specifically. There are certainly a good market outside of that. I personally believe that it will bounce back however it may be a little slow probably close to the end of the year. If I was able to predict with certainty I would give you the winning lotto numbers instead of a job. Use this time wisely continue to build a network on Rally Point and linked in be seen and build relationships now.....

CW3 Dylan E. Raymond, PHR - Actually the job market in Houston is horrible right now. For the jobs that are available there are a couple hundred candidates, per position, fighting for the table scraps of what was once a good economy.

If that is the case what are some things that you can do to overcome that? This is a perfect opportunity where you can expand your networking, determine what additional training is available that is going to make you more marketable. The economy is cyclical and there are highs and lows but the one thing that you, me, and other service members have in common is resiliency. Also get creative look at some contracting opportunities. Looking for work is a full time, full contact sport.