Ken Stickney

F ernando Barboza is closing in on graduation but he’s not counting on a paycheck yet.

Barboza, president of the Student Association of Professional Landmen at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, isn’t due to complete his studies until December, but he’s keenly aware that the oil and gas industry has been downsizing since late 2014 and that new jobs for “land men” are scarce.

Classmates who’ll graduate the Professional Land and Resources Management program offered through the B.I. Moody III College of Business are scrambling for work, Barboza said; he was in no hurry to leave higher education this month. Better to toil away in school, and graduate nearer to a time of energy industry recovery.

Jobs scarce?

Keep studying

In fact, Buster LeBlanc, who heads up UL’s land management program, said this spring’s handful of program graduates may be pursuing alternate plans to entering the workforce, opting instead for graduate or law school, where they might grow their skills while the energy industry workforce shrinks.

“It’s a darn good time to be in school,” he said. “Students going to grad school, law school, are doing a smart thing. They will be more highly regarded when the industry turns around.”

At UL’s petroleum engineering department, students held little hope for employment opportunities, at least for now.

“Oil and gas is really in bad shape,” said Abhijeet Chodankar of India, an engineering graduate student. He said he attended a career fair in the spring but prospects for work or even for internships were few. “It will be better, but ‘when’ is the big question.”

He said he intends to pursue his doctorate in petroleum engineering and stay in academia, which he calls his passion.

Moath Salam of Alexandria, a junior, said internships were too scarce to land this year, although he knows some experience would be helpful. He’s headed back to Alexandria this summer, where his parents own gas stations. Next year, he’ll focus on more networking; he’ll send out resumes next semester and try to use family connections to find work.

Companies that are recruiting change

Ryan LaGrange of Lafayette Economic Development Authority said some oil- and gas-related companies have been recruiting in Acadiana but in diminishing numbers. In 2014, when oil was selling for more than $100 a barrel, the LEDA spring job fair drew 19 oil and gas companies to recruit for workers. Last year, there were seven. This year, few if any.

He said Cameron Parish and Calcasieu Parish companies dealing with liquefied natural gas or in petrochemicals have recruited, but the big recruiter numbers at this week’s job fair will be health care, information technology, retail, food services and more. The job fair shifts, year to year, he said, as workforce needs change.

“Some of the companies will be looking for skills that are transferable from oil and gas,” he said. For example, CGI, an information technology company, may need business system analysis skills that land management graduates hold.

With unemployment higher than usual — 6.2 percent in Lafayette Parish — LaGrange expects to see heavier traffic at this year’s fair, including new UL graduates.

No job? Be proactive

Kim Billeaudeau, UL’s director of career services, said recruitment for UL graduates from oil and gas companies has tapered off this year. But other majors are doing well: health care, information technology, education.

She said when the energy industry is in a down cycle, students must start earlier to prepare for the job search. She said her office makes initial contact with students when they are freshmen; underclassmen attend job fairs, write and hone their resumes, and learn to network. She said counselors help them narrow their interests, pick academic majors, prepare them for getting a job.

“Students are coming in to have their resumes reviewed and to get help with interviews,” she said. But students seeking employment in oil and gas must be proactive on the job search while exercising patience and planning for a slow entry into their fields.

Her office can help students, including those in energy-related majors, to identify what skills they’ve gleaned that might transfer to other fields where jobs are available. If a job isn’t immediately available, she said, they might identify and pursue ways to broaden or deepen their skills or ways in which they might volunteer — anything that will make them “learn and grow.”

Ready when jobs open

Angelica Oubre of Thibodaux, a junior in the land management program, said land management professionals can work in fields outside energy. Through classwork and through an internship, she’s learned how to do title searches and done some analyses.

She’d prefer to pursue an oil and gas career, she said. To that end, she has developed contacts within the industry through her internship and through extracurricular affairs and will attend more job fairs next year. She’s willing to travel for work, she said.

Despite a lean job market, she said she’s optimistic she’ll find work. That comes from meeting instructors and industry professionals who have survived industry downturns in the past.

Things will come back, she said, and she will be ready when they do.

“I’m taking their word for it,” she said. “They’ve been there.”

Prepping for employment

If your professional job search is slow, here’s what UL Career Services advises:

•Stay positive.

•Enhance skills. Pursue graduate studies, volunteer or try another industry.

•Self assess. Determine your strengths and skills and how they might benefit other companies.

••Utilize resources. Network. Volunteer. Make connections.

— Kim Billeaudeau, director