Canadian energy workers world's most confident about career prospects: survey

Energy professionals who are based in Canada are the most confident in the world about their career prospects, according to a global online survey of the industry. A majority of Canadian energy workers (54 per cent) expect that it would be easy to find a new position in their field in 2012. This confidence is just a fraction higher than that of peers in Australia and the United States. Workers in South America, the Middle East and Europe come in with descending levels of confidence.

More than 1,100 Canadian-based energy professionals noted a substantial increase in recruitment activity during the latter half of 2011, with more than three-quarters of respondents reporting at least one contact from a recruiter in the last six months of the past year, particularly among petroleum and design and construction engineers.

When asked what would induce them to consider switching employers, Canadian-based professionals were split nearly evenly. Not surprisingly, the most popular incentive would be an increase in salary, followed by an opportunity to work overseas.

Rigzone surveyed oil and gas professionals from around the world during the first week of January. More than 27,800 employed professionals responded to the email survey, with 1,123 identified as working or residing in Canada.