Remember that lemonade stand you had as a kid? You’d get all the stuff you needed from your folks, set up shop on the sidewalk and hawk sugary water to indulgent grown-ups. Well, think of an oil and gas company as a huge lemonade stand and the supply chain management (SCM) professional as the person responsible for tracking down equipment and supplies to keep the lemonade flowing. Okay, that metaphor went bust. But the demand for SCM professionals is booming!
Some schools have reacted to the industry demand by offering SCM masters programs, but a business degree is the integral part. Before becoming a buyer for Suncor Energy’s Major Products division this year, Marilia Prudente graduated with a BComm in international business. “Having a business degree is important, even if it’s not Supply Chain focused,” she says, noting she’s currently pursuing her SCM professional designation. “More importantly, it’s work experience that’s a must, in order to compliment that degree.” Once hired, further training is usually offered by the company.
“New grad rotation seems to be standard operating procedure [in the oil and gas sector],” says Joel Kenworthy, who’s currently in the process of completing his BBA with a supply chain minor at Mount Royal University. “It’s a multiple year program where you experience different roles, after which the company will try to place you in the spectrum of supply chain you liked best.”
You’re going to be talking to lots of suppliers and distributors, so it’s best if you’re not the shy type. “Being able to work in teams and liase with different areas of the business is important,” says Prudente. “You’ve got to be pro-active and adaptable to the changing business requirements you’ll face.” Jerome Ferber agrees with that assessment. As the manager of supply chain for Veresen Inc. and the president of the Alberta chapter of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC), he’s an industry vet who’s seen a lot of changes. “People entering the workforce now rely more on emails and texting, but verbal communication is a vital skill,” he says, “especially with the recent emphasis in the industry on vendor management and alliances and partnerships.”
It would also be a good idea to know your way around a contract. “You don’t have to be a lawyer, but you need you be able to understand contracts, with all their clauses and ramifications,” Ferber offers, adding that number crunching skills don’t hurt either. “When you’re looking at proposals for supply of materials or equipment over a two to five year period, there’s a lot of numbers involved, and you need to know what they mean.” After starting at Suncor, Prudente found this out first-hand, noting how different supply chain was from a more operational role. “The volume of contract and purchase orders is smaller, but the dollar value, and therefore risk, is a lot higher.”
When looking for his entry-level job in the industry, whether it’s as a junior analyst, buyer, or contract assistant, Kenworthy plans to network. “We’re fortunate at the school because we have a lot of opportunity to chat with industry management types at events,” he says. “That’s how I secured both my co-op programs, and I’m going to leverage those contacts moving forward.”
In the past decade, SCM professionals have become a hot commodity in oil and gas, and Ferber doesn’t see that changing. “Senior executives are starting to understand that supply chain is a revenue area, not an expense area,” he says. “At some point in time, I think we’re going to see supply chain professionals at the very top level of organizations.”