Thursday, July 7, 2011

Qualities Needed To Be An Oil Consultant

By Lilian Hinton


An oil consultant or oil industry consultant is sometimes seen as the backbone of the oil industry. They come from a variety of backgrounds within the oil industry and can make quite a hefty amount of cash from their work. Apart from this, they are also seen as experts in their fields and are admired for their work and experience.

First of all a firm desire and commitment is needed should one choose to be a consultant in the oil sector. Four years is usually the requisite experience needed before one should venture into this profession, but the average benchmark is around ten years required experience. Likewise the experience gathered should be uninterrupted and also relevant to the field.

In the past few decades, starting with the Exxon Valdez incident up to the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there has been a clamor for more safety measures. Definitely for those professionals with the requisite backgrounds in environmental and occupational safety will have foreseen edge in the next couple of years or even decades. Issues on environmental protection and safety have never before had an unprecedented stay in the limelight.

There are basically two ways one can become a consultant. One way is to do it as a freelancer and the other is to go with an agency or firm. The former method or strategy is not recommended unless one has plenty of contacts, impeccable experience and skills and professional qualifications to the hilt. The latter method of joining a recognized firm or agency may in fact be the easiest entry point for this professional cluster.

This sort of work of course goes without saying, has very handsome or high paying remuneration schemes. Popular methods go with per hour charging starting from 100 to 500 dollars or more per hour. In a good year, a good project can earn one upwards of US75,000 to US500,000. And that is only for one project!

Once a decision to make this career choice is made, several changes must be expected and coped with. One thing to adjust to will be the frequent change in schedules, workplaces and also irregular hours. Irregular payment schedules are more the norm than the exception as some projects pay on milestone and performance agreements.

It goes without saying also that this kin of job also entails a lot of hard work and discipline. The increase in accountability coupled with short deadlines can be very stressful for the novice consultant. Therefore good work skills, stress management techniques and people relations skills are also needed in this kind of job.




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