Eightfold AI Research Reveals How Oil and Gas Industry Needs to Transform their Talent to Become Renewable Energy Leaders

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Sep 14, 2022, 08:00 ET

New report from Eightfold AI reveals the majority of renewable skills currently captured by adjacent industries and maps out a path forward for expanding the available talent pool

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eightfold AI, the leader in AI-powered talent intelligence, today announced the publication of a new Eightfold Talent Insights Report, "The Great Energy Transition: What's Next for Talent in Oil and Gas." The report contains the findings and insights from the Eightfold Talent Intelligence Platform, a deep-learning platform powered by the largest global talent dataset, to demonstrate the skills advantage and opportunity for energy companies.

To understand what's next for talent in oil and gas, the Eightfold analysis of the most common roles and skills across oil and gas – and renewable energy – companies found that:

Of the top renewable energy skills outside of the energy sector (oil and gas, utilities, coal), the highest concentration of talent currently works for manufacturers (22%), followed by construction (12%), renewable energy (11%), technology (6%), real estate (5%), and government (4%). To meet energy consumption and carbon emissions demands, energy organizations must consider talent from adjacent industries that boast forward-looking skills.
68 percent of today's most common oil and gas roles are either stable or declining in demand. For example, a drilling engineer, a highly penetrated role in the industry, is declining. On the other hand, chemical and mechanical engineers are rising.
86 percent of the most common skills in oil and gas are declining in demand. By seeking talent with adjacent skills for a wind power role, such as electrical or mechanical engineering, a company could expand its potential candidate pool by approximately 59 times.

By 2050, energy consumption will increase by about 50 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In addition, renewable energy production will increase by nearly 150 percent. Worldwide pressure means fossil fuel companies are taking steps to improve their availability of renewable energy. Most recently, the Biden administration claims the Inflation Reduction Act will enable the U.S. to reduce carbon emissions in 2030 by 40 percent below 2005 levels.

This worldwide spotlight on energy transition to renewables requires a forward-looking strategy for innovation, cultivating culture, and transforming talent. According to the World Economic Forum, the clean energy transition could generate 10.3 million net new jobs worldwide by 2030.

"Given that the roles to meet energy demands do not necessarily exist yet, limiting our talent searches only to those with particular knowledge sets no longer makes sense. Recruitment tactics that include individuals with skills from adjacent industries are more prepared to build a future-ready workforce," said Kamal Ahluwalia, President of Eightfold AI. "By shifting our mindsets, we can boost our access to more qualified people – and reach lofty goals – when hiring for potential based on their ability to upskill themselves."

The report further outlines how energy companies can develop talent strategies, calibrate future roles, and hire for potential to expand the available talent pool, such as:

Upskill and reskill the current workforce to bridge the gap between declining and rising skills. Oil and gas companies can target areas of the workforce with declining skills like drilling. Through strategic upskilling, individuals with adjacent skills like hydraulics and preventative maintenance can pursue future roles such as wind turbine technicians.
Calibrate roles with emerging skills to benchmark the organization against leaders and competitors to source the most current and relevant skills within that domain. For example, chemical engineers can add biofuels and carbon capture to their skill sets.
Hire for potential to understand transferable adjacent skills and tap into a significantly larger pool of qualified talent. For example, organizations seeking talent with biofuel skills can expand the talent pool nearly four times when biorefinery and chemical engineering skills are used in their search.

For this analysis, "The Great Energy Transition: What's Next for Talent in Oil and Gas" report leveraged Eightfold's global dataset and considered publicly available profiles from leading oil and gas companies, in addition to renewable energy companies. The report contains the full methodology.

About Eightfold AI

Eightfold AI's market-leading Talent Intelligence Platform™ helps organizations retain top performers, upskill and reskill their workforce, recruit talent efficiently, and reach diversity goals. Eightfold's patented deep learning artificial intelligence platform is available in more than 155 countries and 24 languages, enabling cutting-edge enterprises to transform their talent into a competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.eightfold.ai.

SOURCE Eightfold AI