The decline in the world price of oil between 2014 and the end of 2017 brought many consequences to the Colombian economy, and undoubtedly affected thousands of workers in the industry at all professional levels. One of the groups affected were young professionals with technical backgrounds such as petroleum engineering, geology, geosciences, among others who were about to graduate or who graduated within the same period. The impossibility of getting an internship or a job made young people feel unmotivated, disoriented, and frustrated; they did not know how their professional life would develop.
ImageNew Idea, New Event
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Colombia Section, headed by its president Paola Pastor, had the idea in 2019 to develop the first meeting for these young people.
ENJOG, a networking event, was created to strengthen the soft skills of young professionals, show them different perspectives in the energy sector, and give them the tools to become more confident in moving forward after the price of oil stabilized.
After months of planning and developing the idea, ENJOG's technical committee held a maiden event providing a platform for young professionals from different careers to meet, network, and share ideas. The 3-day program, which was held from 19–21 June 2019, had the participation of about 150 young professionals from various cities in the country. The event was sponsored by Apergy and Equion Energy and also had the support of other organizations such as CPIP (Consejo Profesional de Ingenieros Petroleros), Inner People Consulting, and LHR Latin American Human Resources.
What Made the Difference?
Different activities were developed that encompassed the challenges and opportunities that young people need to identify to grow within the industry, as part of a company or in being entrepreneurs building their business ideas.
- Management of selection processes including an Assessment Center
- Neurolinguistics programming
- The total compensation, a deciding factor
- Personal finance
- Opportunities in renewable energies
- Digital solutions
- One horizon, four perspectives
The event closed on a high note with a technical activity modeled after SPE International’s PetroBowl.
The work of the staff of the SPE Colombia Section and the more than 15 volunteers who participated in the organization of this event has motivated other groups to organize similar events for different disciplines of the industry.
The SPE Colombian Section will continue to develop this event over the coming years as part of its sincere commitment to new generations.
Claribeth Estepa is a human resources business consultant at Inner People Consulting SAS.