Last month I presented at the Australasian Oil and Gas (AOG) Human Capital Conference on the topic of “Recruiting Mission Critical Talent in 2014”.

Here is a copy of my slide deck:

I really enjoy (most) industry conferences. For me it’s like going back to university for the day as I learn from expert speakers and from meeting other attendee’s. I’ve discovered speaking at conferences is more valuable than simply attending because networking is easier and being a presenter lifts my professional profile, which was the case with AOG.

Below is a quick synopsis of the other presentations at AOG 2014:

Julie Harrison, Deloitte – Human Capital Trends – Julie shared interesting insights into how companies are moving from a “War for Talent” to a “War to Develop Talent” approach. If implemented this would be truly transformational in organisations. Here’s a link to Deloitte’s 2013 paper on Human Capital Trends and is worth a read. The 2014 paper will be out soon.

Barbara Jinks – Leadership in the Oil and Gas Industry – Barbara was refreshingly forthright in her talk about the need for leaders in the LNG industry to develop more “soft skills” to be better leaders. An audience member challenged her to not call it “soft skills” rather just “work skills” since they are required these days rather than sounding optional. My view is that “soft skills” is fine as a label. I noticed a  Harvard Business Review  article this week which support’s Barbara’s call for better selection of managers since 82% are considered ineffective or “bad” (yikes that’s a high number) according to large scale studies by Gallup.

Kelly Quirk, Harrier Human Capital – Recruitment Process Outsourcing – Kelly spoke authoritatively about the changing global context for talent, different staffing models and the human capital risks to businesses.  An interesting fact from Kelly’s presentation I noted is this is the first time in history there are four generations working alongside each other.   Harrier have had success through their RPO model to companies such as Chevron.

Professor Sharon Parker, University of WA (UWA) – Avoiding Common Pitfalls to Develop Leaders and Leadership – I admit I was a bit shocked by Sharon’s comments on how ineffective management training can be! People need to be willing to learn leadership skills, not just attend a training session. I’m impressed by the depth of research Sharon has done on the topic, here’s a link to her extensive list of publications.

Gregory Bayne, TLC Solutions – Shadow Coaching – Greg’s forte is a technique called shadow coaching, which is not for the faint hearted. He had the audience gasping at times and impressed about how he provides real time on the job feedback to leaders which in turn can dramatically improve behaviour.

Sue Pember, Aussie Orientation Services – The Relocation Experience – Sue spoke about the importance of making a relocation positive from the start and gave some examples of where companies lost great talent as the relocation could have been handled in a different way. Sue walked us through the highs and lows of the transition phases an employee experiences when they relocate. Sue also quoted an interesting publication by Yvonne McNulty who is an expert on managing expatriate relocations.

David Wirrapanda, Wirrapanda Foundation – Aboriginal and Torrest Strait Islander Engagement – With no notes or slides David spoke from the heart and from experience about how his foundation creates real employment options indigenous workers. I admire his fortitude and dedication to taking on the challenge and it was great to hear the successes they are having.

Sarah Hooper, Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) –  Gender Diversity in the WA Resources Industry – Sarah presented the compelling business case for diversity and gave examples of companies implementing innovative ways to improve flexibility and increase diversity rates, such as Woodside. One of my clients Iluka Resources recently won a CME award for their diversity program.

Mike De Vile, Reagent – Employer Branding Amongst the Key Players – Mike’s appraisal of employer branding in the oil and gas industry was insightful and I found to be very interesting because I am always curious about how employer brand influences a candidate during the hiring process. Reagent are working with INPEX therefore are firmly planted in that highly competitive space at the moment.

Donna Brown, Technip –  Technip Graduate Recruitment -Technip have a fantastic graduate selection process and well supported grad program. It was great to hear from Donna about how they have continued to improve the process each year and how the all important internal buy-in ensures effective development of graduates over time.

Sarah Cordiner, Main Training  – Maximising Workforce Productivity in the Oil and Gas Industry – Sarah had the difficult task of presenting last but her enthusiasm and energy perked everyone up. She spoke about the importance of workforce planning and an interesting statistic she cited was that each oil and gas employee creates 4.13 jobs in an allied industry.

You can view the PowerPoint presentations from AOG speakers here: http://www.aogexpo.com.au/component/content/article?layout=edit&id=81