Challenges
In this sector of oil and gas industry, the anticipated growth in business is liable for the availability of the manpower that is skilled in the country. According to the report of study of Ernst and Young on the demand and supply of manpower study that was conducted in the year 2009 for oil and gas sector, it has provided with an evaluation of the demand of manpower with a critical set of skills all over the oil and gas value chain of country and the corresponding supply of such kind of resources (Aust, et al., 2017). The major findings of the study include:
- The oil and gas sector is more likely in the need of additional professionals around 25000 over the next five coming years because of the growth in the business along with the attrition or retirement of employees in the sector. This is found to be corresponding to about 48 percent of the current strength of the employee.
- It has been noticed that the core function related to the technical field would be accounted for about 80 percent of the manpower that is required.
- A maximum shortfall is expected to see in the upstream sector with a need for employees of around 7600 over the next five years due to retirement and attrition.
A considerable demand for professionals for oil and gas sector in the next five years has been predicted by the manpower projections of oil and gas industry. Therefore the sector thus is required to tide over the challenges of retention and attraction of the employees efficiently for supporting the operations currently and for executing the growth that is planned. Within the oil and gas value chain, Coutinho & Dehury said that one of the common challenges that are currently faced by all sectors is planning for the constant availability of the workforce that is competent (Coutinho & Dehury, 2017). However the benefits are gathered by technological development which has permitted the oil and gas companies in reducing the requirements of manpower, but the technological development in the future is not expected in managing the balancing approaching requirements of manpower. In terms of manpower supply, the academic institutes that are existing are not enough for making sure of the stability in the industry (Cowling, 2013). Annually the gap that is present between the demand of the manpower that is trained and their supply is increasing. Some of the main issues of recruitment include both internal and external factors.
Endogenous factors are the other name for the internal factors which are the challenges faced within the organization and will be affecting the recruiting workforce in the firm.
A few of them include:
- The size of the firm: The recruitment process in the organization is affected by its size. A reputed and big organization will be finding the recruitment less challenging when compared to the small size organization (Den Hartog & Boon, 2013).
- The Policy of recruitment: In the organization, a recruiting policy is set which states that the recruitment process is affected by both internal and external sources. In general, internal sources are preferred for recruitment because familiar employees will know the organization and can fit appropriately into their culture (du Gay & Vikkelsø, 2013).
- Organizational image: On the recruitment process in the firm organizational image is having its own influence. A number of implicit and explicit actions that are earned by the management are the ones which will provide a good image for the organization and it will help in attracting the complete and potential applicants (Holmqvist & Spicer, 2013). The management actions such as maintaining good relations with the public, delivering services to the public like building roads, parks, schools, and hospitals will help them in earning image for the goodwill of the firm.
- The image of the position: The good image of the position is indicated by better remuneration and conditions of working. Also, the policies of the organization like career development and promotion will interest the potential applicants (Morley, Heraty & Michailova, 2016).
Other than internal factors, there are few external factors which will influence the recruitment process include:
- Demographic factors: The human beings are intimately related to the demographic factors that are employees so it will have a reflective influence on the recruitment process. In this, economic status, literacy, sex, age etc. are included.
- Labor market: As per Sadki, Bengourram & Mabrouki, the condition of the labor market is known as supply and demand of the labor which affects the recruitment process particularly. For instance, if the demand for a specific skill is proportional to its supply the process is relatively easy (Sadki, Bengourram & Mabrouki, 2015).
- The situation of unemployment: If the rate of unemployment is high, the process of recruitment would be simpler. The reason behind this is simple that the number of applications will make tasks easy in selecting qualified candidates. If the unemployment rate is low the process will become difficult (Saini & Budhwar, 2014).
- Labor laws: The central and state government which governs the various types of employment has passed several labor laws and regulations. In this condition of working, benefits of retirements, safety and health of the employee, and compensation are covered.
The following are some of the strategies that are recommended for addressing the above-mentioned challenges for recruiting the workforce for this oil and gas industry.
- Agencies of employment: Apart from the government agencies there are many private agencies which will help to register the candidates for the purpose of employment. So whenever required they would furnish the list of the candidates that are suitable from the data bank. In general, for supervisory and the higher levels such agencies will be selecting the candidates (Singh & Burke, 2013). These agencies mainly function in inviting the application form and shortlisting the candidate that are suitable for the organization. However, it is the organization HR department who will take the final decision regarding the selection.
- Advertisement: This is the best recruitment strategy for the jobs such as technical, managerial, and clerical positions in oil and gas industry. In the organization if the position is higher it will require more specialized skills or the supply of those resources in the labor market will be shorter, the advertisement would be more widely dispersed. For example, if oil and gas industry is searching for the top executive then it can be advertised in the daily newspaper (Sule, 2013). However, most of the organizations will not mention the details completely regarding their job position in the advertisement.
- Branding by word-of-mouth: With the help of branding also recruitment takes place which is a practice of word of mouth. In this method, the branding of the position occurs by passing the word all around the vacancies of openings in the firm. As per Surujlal, the other practice of branding is employee pinching which means that employees working with another organization are offered a job from rival firms. This method is found to be economical both in terms of money and time (Surujlal, 2016). There are some organizations which will be maintaining the file applications and send the bio-data on behalf of the job seeker. They will be serving as the handy applicants whenever there is a vacancy in the firm. The benefit of this method is that there is no cost involved. But along with the advantage there is a big disadvantage where the choice of candidates is limited (Wen, 2013).
- Referrals from employees: This is the source of recruitment which happens internally. The employees who are already working will be referring their friends, relatives or family members of the organization so that it would be helpful in filling the vacancies in the organization with potential candidates (Wirtz & Heracleous, 2016). This is known to serve as the best and effective method in recruiting the people in the firm because the candidates who so ever are referred will be potent enough as per the requirement of the company.
Conclusion
In the organization, both recruitment and selection are becoming very important these days. However, it is highly critical to assess the human resources. The procedure is very systematic which will be involving many activities accompanied by challenges. In the process, the steps like the planning of HR in attracting the candidate and screening them and selecting the right candidate and placing in the right position is a difficult task.
It is a challenging task as the future of the firm is dependent on this activity. If employees those suitable for the position and are benefiting the organization is selected then it will be a good sign while if the decision turns out to be wrong the industry might be at stake. So in such a case, it is the HR department who is pointed. Hence, as per the policies and procedures of the organization, recruitment and selection is to be taken place.
References
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