It’s no secret that women have faced an uphill climb in most professional sectors. Nowhere is this truer than in the oil and gas industry. Although women make up almost half of the energy sector workforce, they only account for about 15 percent of all oil and gas industry jobs. As we move further into the Digital Age, women will continue to play a more central role in the oil and gas industry, adding to the diverse, collaborative efforts that power innovation. The most competitive companies will be looking for more ways to recruit women into their organizations.

At One Tech Engineering, our engineering recruiters work with energy sector employers in the Twin Cities area and beyond to match the best engineers with great teams. In this article, our engineering recruiters will discuss how your organization could benefit from recruiting gender diversity.

Understanding the Gender Gap

The gender gap within the oil and gas industry is in part a natural one. Many oil and gas positions are on pipelines or in mines, which means hard physical labor that isn’t suited to every woman’s physiology or experience. However, women are also still working to overcome misguided beliefs that men are better at business negotiations and leadership—a stereotype that has been dispelled.

Here are a few ways to begin narrowing the industry’s gender gap:

1.      Emphasize the Importance of Gender Equality - Gender equality might be a priority to many oil and gas industry companies, but incorporating it into your organization’s core values is a step further. By taking important steps to make gender equality part of your company culture, you’ll start leading the way to a future where women play vital roles alongside their male counterparts.

2.      Plan for Future Hires - Working in the oil and gas industry means depending on the changing price of crude. Unfortunately, that short-term thinking tends to overtake long-term forecasting. It’s easy to get caught up in the short-term pressures faced within the industry, and this extends to poor planning for long-term hiring. Women are often some of the most innovative change agents in a discipline, which means a lack of gender diversity could be costing your organization.

3.      Work to Attract More Candidates - When women think of oil and gas as a male-dominated field, the industry loses opportunities as they take their skills into other fields. This is why it’s important to work to create an image of oil and gas as a field with plenty of opportunities for women. While women are concerned about higher salaries, they’re also interested in ecological innovations and inclusivity.

By working with an engineering recruiting services company, your organization will have the opportunity to connect with the best women in engineering. Our engineering recruiters at One Tech can help connect you with the best engineers in the industry regardless of their gender, which puts you ahead of the game.

To stay competitive in the Digital Age, engineering firms should be attracting the best engineers in their fields, regardless of gender. If you’re not working to bridge the digital divide, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on top-tier engineering professionals. At One Tech in Minnesota, we can help your oil and gas industry firm reach out to the best men and women in the field so you’ll have the advantage.

We work with a wide range of engineering and technical industry professionals from project managers to land surveyors to hardware engineers. Connect with one of our engineering recruiters by calling us at 952.884.9199, or contact us to find out about how we can help your organization prosper in the coming years.