Exploring for Oil—and Employees

Short on Energy: With oil prices surging past $100 per barrel, the precious fossil fuel isn’t the only thing in short supply. According to consulting firm Grant Thornton, executives in the energy industry face perhaps their toughest recruiting and hiring challenges in coming years. In particular, according to Grant Thornton’s 2008 Survey of Upstream U.S. Energy Companies, recruitment of top-notch employees—and then being able to retain them—is as important as being able to find new acreage for oil and natural gas exploration. More than three-quarters of the energy companies surveyed anticipate hiring more people in 2008. But those hiring projections may remain just that: projections. Grant Thornton says 85 percent of companies expect to encounter “difficulties in hiring and retaining employees,” a sharp increase from the 69 percent of executives who felt that way a year ago.