By Michelle Sandlin | February 26, 2015
Houston Chronicle
RCEL’s Kaz Karwowski was quoted in this article from the Houston Chronicle.
Preparing students for robust careers in their chosen fields of study is a top priority for Houston-area colleges and universities. But, as the job market adjusts to layoff announcements within the energy sector due to declining oil prices, should soon-to-be college graduates be concerned as they get ready to enter the workforce?
Jamie Belinne is assistant dean for the Rockwell Career Center at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. As for the availability of jobs within oil companies, Belinne said that the students don’t really seem to be particularly worried, which she attributes in part to the fact that an oil slump is new terrain for the millennial generation.
Houston’s diverse economy means there are more job options for students to consider. Belinne said she expects the Bauer College’s placement rates to be as good as they have been in the past, but that students may need to be willing to consider industries outside of oil and gas.
“There’s still a lot going on with health care and technology in the Houston marketplace, and there’s still a lot of growth in those areas,” Belinne said. “But most importantly, Houston is one of the best cities for small businesses, and what we’re trying to do is help people think beyond the huge global oil and gas firms, and think more about the smaller firms where they have a chance to wear many hats and really broaden their skill base.”
Bauer College also works closely with Houston-area employers in developing specific business curriculums for ensuring that students are graduating with the necessary knowledge and skill sets in demand today.
“I teach a course called Connecting Bauer to Business. We work with 40 to 50 employers each semester to figure out exactly what skills need improvement among our students (specifically the soft skills), and we incorporate that into the curriculum. Then we even bring employers into the classroom to help us present information,” Belinne said.
Through the course, students get experience working in a corporate environment on small group projects and receive feedback from the companies. Belinne said this helps prepare the students for internships and future employment.
Some companies also may offer career opportunities to students to work outside of Houston and even overseas. This fosters career development and leadership training right out of the gate for many interns.
“What we’re finding in particular with the Big Four accounting firms and the oil and gas companies, is that they commonly take their interns and send them out so that they can have a chance to work with other divisions of the company, and get that exposure to other parts of the company before they accept a fulltime offer in the headquarters location or the office in Houston,” Belinne said.
Kaz Karwowski is executive director of the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership at the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University. He said he is seeing mild concern among students with regard to the changing landscape for jobs within the oil and gas industry.
“I think there is a mild concern primarily because students don’t have any experience in the workforce, and they’re not sure how the system works and how companies are going to approach it,” Karwowski said. “They realize that they have the least experience and that they are the most expendable, but none of our students have lost offers for any of the positions that they have been offered yet, so I think it looks promising.”
By and large, Karwowski said companies would be hiring more people as the older generation continues to reach retirement. This, in turn, opens up positions for the new generation that is entering the workforce.
Amid layoffs, he said that companies also tend to look at who their top performers are and eliminate some of the people that may not be performing at peak levels within the organization.
According to Karwowski, career development opportunities are very important to students at the Brown School of Engineering, which currently has 1,340 students. That figure represents a third of the University’s total student population.
Within the Brown School of Engineering, Karwowski said the students seek out companies that are willing to give them opportunities to work in a location for one to two years and then move them elsewhere.
“Students are excited by those opportunities. Obviously they’re young and don’t have as many responsibilities, so it’s easier for them to move around. But, this generation likes to travel, and they like the idea of being able to see different areas of the world, and different areas of the company,” Karwowski said.
Michelle Sandlin is a writer and relocation industry expert. She serves on the Board of Houston Relocation Professionals (HRP), and was President of the organization in 2014. Follow Michelle on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HoustonRelocation and on Twitter: @MichelleSandlin. Also visit “On the Move – Exploring Houston Relocation with Michelle Sandlin” at blog.chron.com/onthemove. If you have something to share or contribute, please send an email to michelle.sandlin@me.com. Please look for another Michelle Sandlin “On the Move” relocation article in today’s Homes section.