Laid-off oil and gas workers leaving industry

For 36 years, Sue Jones rode out the ups and downs of Alberta’s oil patch. But after she was laid off last March, she knew her days in the oil and gas industry were over.

Jones, 56, worked in data management and document control before she was let go. She says, “I’m older. I’ve been laid off so many times in oil and gas.”

In the past, great pay and plenty of jobs attracted thousands to the province, but as the decline in crude prices stretches on, some industry veterans are deciding they can no longer take the boom and bust rollercoaster.

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Jones says this downturn is “the worst one” she’s seen. And figures released Tuesday by Statistics Canada would appear to back her up; Alberta lost 19,600 jobs last year, which is the most since 1982.

After months of searching, Jones finally found a job last week working in the back office of a heat and power supply company in Calgary. She has taken a pay cut, but says she won’t be going back to the oil patch.

Lynn Berry, a Calgary career counsellor who also runs a government-supported career boot camp, says more people need to take Jones’ cue and start looking elsewhere.

She suggests people need to get out of the mind frame of needing to work in oil and gas as a way to make money. “The reality of today’s economy, it might not happen. They need to figure out what they’re going to do next.”

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Susan MacDonald, a registered psychologist and career counsellor, also says the downturn is a great opportunity for people to look for a career that better suits them. “When they get laid off they’re seeing it as an opportunity to say, ‘Maybe I should go and check things out’.”

One of her clients (who is in her late 20s) left a career as an economist in the oil industry to go to nursing school, for example. And another in his late 30s left an information technology career in the industry to go to school to become a doctor.

But there’s one problem: recruiters say many companies are hesitant to hire oil and gas workers because they’re concerned they will jump back to the industry when it recovers.

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That why Nathan Tomusange, who was laid off last year, went back to school to make it easier to switch industries. But still, after sending out dozens of resumes, he’s only had one call back from a potential employer, and that company eventually chose someone with more relevant experience.

So he’s started looking into getting a taxi license, and is continuing with more courses to figure out which industry will offer the most stability.