Well I know it's been a while since I blogged but a lot has happened since my last posting, So here it goes. With Gustav ravishing the Gulf of Mexico and my platform being deemed uninhabitable I was let go by my employer. Which came at a very inconvenient time since i had recently bought a new house and I needed the money. Well everybody knows how bad the job market is and I would say Louisiana is fairing a little better than other places I know. Except for me the industry seemed fairly busy. Well the day I got the dreaded phone call from my employer, who coincidentally a month or so before had told me NOT to look for another job I hit every local and Internet job board I could think of. I updated my resume on Rigzone, Monster, Carreerbuilder, and Hotjobs. Then I went to any oil field related company on the net that had a job board an searched for and sent in applications and resumes. I called contacts that I had including an old HR manager and a regional manager. It didn't help that a lot of companies had put into effect a hiring freeze. Due to oil prices plummeting, and the rig count falling.
For example the Grand Junction Colorado area rig count went from 133 to 32 and the bases began shutting down. I know Baker Atlas alone shut down not only the Casper Wyoming shop but also the Grand Junction shop which was there fastest growing shop in the Rockies. It was weird having to go to my own blog to contact a company about a job.
But I feel I was one of the lucky ones. Because after dealing with the Louisiana department of labor to get my measly 284 dollars which I had to fight for and I finally received only after I was employed again. I only went unemployed for about a month but my new job was nowhere as rewarding as my last. Not only that but I took a big pay cut.
I want to share my advice on how I was able to get a job quickly. It might not be the best way to go about getting a job but the results seem to come faster. I found a listing of companies involved in my expertise area. I have quite a bit of experience but not as much as some guys. So I went to their websites and found contact information. I usually skipped past the HR contacts and went directly to managers, and if there were multiple managers I emailed all of them. What I stated in the letter was that I did not know if they were hiring or not but if they were to take a look at my resume then they would see that I could be an asset to their company. I then attached my resume and reference letter, which is nice to have. and sent it off.
So I'm off to my new job and will post more shortly.