Job Market – Quarterly Reports
1Q 2010 Job Market Report
The first quarter started out slow and picked up steam once March rolled along. There are more jobs this year than last year, but there are also more engineers on the market. In short, the market is extremely competitive. Our clients with job openings are being extremely selective in who they interview. Another factor that has made these market conditions difficult is the lack of urgency on the part of hiring companies. The market seems flooded with talent, but in reality the talent is still hard to find. The companies that procrastinate on making job offers are losing the best candidates as they take other offers. If you are a good reliability engineer with several years of chemical/refining industry experience and are willing to consider any geographic location in the US you should receive multiple interviews. In January and February, Mechanical Integrity was the hottest skill. Now, machinery/rotating equipment jobs are hot as well. In the last two weeks we have had many previous clients call us with new opportunities.
Jobs filled in 1Q 2010
- Turnaround Mgr – Rocky Mountains
- Machinery Engineer – Houston Refinery
- Sr. Reliability Engineer – Houston Chemical Plant
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4 Q 2009 Job Market Report
The Houston market improved and several Reliability Engineers received job offers. Overall, Houston salary offers are down almost 10% from the last two years. The market remains tight and we expect 2010 to be to be better than 2009 but still slow in terms of actual hiring. Hiring in manufacturing sector generally lags the overall economy by 6 – 9 months. We are seeing refineries close down and additional layoffs that indicate poor market conditions for that segment. We are making adjustments to find new clients and sources of business. We are encouraged that some of our established clients are telling us they plan to hire new reliability engineers in the coming year.
Jobs Filled in 4Q 2009
- Reliability Engineer in Houston Chemical Plant
- Reliability Engineer in Rocky Mountains
- Maint Supt in Rocky Mountains
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3 Q Job Market Report
Although additional job openings became available to us in the 3 Q and we had several interviews, we did not fill any positions. Many companies held off on hiring decisions or wanted to see additional candidates. The market conditions remained very challenging as companies remained extremely selective and opted to leave jobs open much longer.
Jobs Filled in 3Q 2009
- No jobs filled
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2Q 2009 Market Report
We have been actively working a respectable number of reliability engineering jobs through the second quarter and have set up many phone interviews. However, our clients remain very select and are moving forward at a slow pace in evaluating candidates. We expect the 3 Q to reflect better results as the job market began to pick up towards the end of the second quarter. We have several current needs for fixed equipment and machinery engineers across the US.
Jobs Filled in 2Q 2009
- Machinery Engineer in a major chemical plant in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area
- I and E reliability engineer in Houston
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1Q 2009 Market Report
The first quarter of 2009 felt the impact of the financial sector meltdown. Many companies stopped hiring all together and started cutting staff. We focused our recruiting efforts on niche skill positions which companies still needed despite the slower economy. As companies tightened up their job specifications, we were also challenged to find exact matches for our client’s needs. Although the market is much slower than last year (we are running about 25 % of last year’s job volume), we have maintained a solid book of business and continue to have job openings for machinery engineers, reliability engineers, fixed equipment engineers and inspectors. We are usually able to present multiple job openings to engineers who meet our profile and who are willing to be flexible on their geographic location.
Jobs Filled in 1Q 2009
- Machinery Engineer in refinery in LA
- Machinery Engineer in refinery in Houston
- Reliability Engineer in a chemical plant in Houston
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4 Q 2008 Market Report
The job market began to soften for all engineering disciplines in 4 Q. The impact of the credit market began to effect the hiring of engineers in both the chemical and refining industries. Despite these market changes, the reliability market held its own and we filled more positions than in the third quarter. Our clients still hired, but they were very selective in hiring specific talent matched to critical business needs.
Positions filled in 4 Q
- Machinery Engineer – Major Refinery in Upper Midwest
- Senior Reliability Consultant – Asset Management – Reliability Consulting firm in Houston
- Reliability Engineer – Reliability Consulting firm in Houston
- Fixed Equipment/Corrosion Engineer – Refinery in West Texas
- Manager of Business Development – Turn Around/Vessel Services – chemical/services firm in Houston
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3Q Job Market Update
The job market began to slow over the summer but it still remains active. We experienced more demand for CHE’s in 3Q but are already seeing a switch back to Reliability job openings as is reflected by our 9 current interviews underway for a variety of reliability opportunities. The big news in 3Q was the Hurricane that hit Houston and the Economic Meltdown that hit the US economy in October. Both of these events have impacted hiring. The Hurricane effectively shut down hiring in certain geographic areas for the month of September. We had 8 interviews put on hold during the month of September due to the storm impact. The economic scene has created uncertainty in the market and a couple of companies have decided to delay any hiring until next year. How is the market outlook going into 4Q? We remain very optimistic going into the 4Q. Keep an eye on our website and you’ll stay informed! Also, see our new article on the website – Is it dangerous to change jobs in a slowing economy?
Jobs Filled in 3Q
- Global Reliability Director for a Major Chemical Company
- Reliability Engineer for a chemical plant in Houston
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2Q 2008 Job Market Update
The Mechanical and Reliability Engineering job market in chemicals and refining continues to be a strong market. There are a wide variety of openings across chemicals and refining from East Coast to West Coast in the United States. In 2 Q we noticed a dramatic increase in the number of managerial positions that came open. We have several clients seeking ME’s with leadership experience that can direct and manage a maintenance or reliability program in a plant. We are also seeing a continued need for high level machinery engineers for major oil companies in Houston. The uncertainty in the economy does not seem to be adversely affecting the job market.
Jobs filled in 2 Q (8 jobs filled)
- Senior Machinery Engineer with Refinery in Houston
- Senior Machinery Engineer in Corporate Office in Houston
- Reliability Engineer for a Chemical Plant in Mississippi
- Junior Reliability Engineer with Refinery in Houston
- Electrical Reliability Engineer with Houston Chemical
- Machinery Engineer with Houston Chemical Plant
- Electrical Reliability Engineer with a Los Angeles Refinery
- Maintenance Superintendent at a Houston Refinery
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1Q 2008 Overview
Now that we are nearing the end of the first quarter, how do the results look? As I review the trends news update I wrote in February, the same market conditions are prevailing.
- Demand for reliability talent remains strong and we are seeking no sign of a slow down.
- Just this week we have received 5 new Fixed Equipment jobs in a major refinery in Texas and 2 new Reliability jobs in another expanding refinery in Texas.
- We continue to stay busy with plant and corporate level positions in chemicals and refining.
Jobs filled so far in 1Q 2008:
- 2 Senior Machinery Engineers in San Francisco in Refining
- 1 Reliability Engineer in Los Angeles in Refining
- 1 Senior Machinery Engineer in Houston in Chemicals
- 1 Machinery Engineer in Houston in Chemicals
- 1 Reliability Manager in Houston in Chemicals
- 1 Corrosion Engineer in New Orleans in Refining
