Aaron GirardMajored in Geophysics, Class of `07
Colorado School of Mines
The energy industry is just grasping at straws for people with geophysics experience.
I work in an environment where it's over 50% foreign people. That's not only telling about the people the energy industry is looking for, but also the fact that these large energy companies are simply not getting enough qualified students from American universities.
When I finished my bachelor's in 2007, we graduated 10 people that year. I would say on average, my classmates were getting one to two job offers before they had even graduated.
I ended up going on to grad school. After interning in Norway, I had realized that outside of the United States there were no major oil companies looking for candidates with just a bachelor's.
During grad school, I got four job offers all in the Houston area. I graduated and started work at WesternGeco, a subsidiary of Schlumberger, two weeks later.
Now, I also volunteer with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, building a network for geophysics students. We have about 7,000 student members in the U.S. -- not nearly enough to fill up all the jobs that are going to be available.
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