Trends in the Maintenance and Reliability Market
What’s Hot?
Refining companies continue to offer top wages and benefits and continue to hire all types of reliability and maintenance engineers. Rotating Equipment engineers are in demand at plant locations and in corporate engineering groups especially in the Gulf Coast. The job market in refining is especially active on the Gulf Coast and West Coast. Fixed Equipment engineers are also in demand although there are not as many as these type of opportunities available. Turnaround Engineers and Turnaround Managers have been in increasingly high demand as companies begin to view TA’s as a means of competitive advantage and also due to concerns of plant safety during the TA Events. One of our biggest clients does not want to become another BP. Salaries remain highest on the Gulf Coast where there is the most competition for talent. The highest salaries we have seen are in the corporate machinery groups of the large oil companies.
We have been successful recently in moving engineers out of pulp and paper processing and into chemical plants and refineries. The skill set is the same and a good engineer seems to be able to adapt to the new process fairly quickly. Our Gulf Coast clients are especially interested in tapping into the pulp and paper market for reliability and maintenance talent.
What’s driving the market?
There are several factors creating the perfect storm of the best sustained job market I can remember. The investment IS moving overseas so there is very little new domestic investment to tip our markets into over supply. The operating rates remain solid (but not as high as I would have guessed) and the refineries can’t keep up. Several refinery expansions are underway but some seem to be in doubt of moving forward. Currently, US producers are enjoying strong exports and a good domestic market with no new flood of domestic capacity expected. Secondly, the overseas projects have become very costly and are taking much longer to complete due to high raw materials costs and labor shortages. Projects that had great payout expectations even two years ago now look like they will cost 2 ““ 4 times more and take much longer to complete than expected. Finally, there are fewer engineers in school and more engineers retiring. This looks like a solid trend and we expect it to continue especially with a strong stock market that is boosting retirement accounts and making retirement seem even more attractive.
What does this mean?
There are many great job opportunities available in this current market. However, some things always stay the same – you still need to find the right match in culture and job fit. We can help you with this as we see new jobs almost every day and are therefore able to bring the best matches to your attention. Our interview processes helps us understand you and also our understanding of our clients needs helps us make the right match. As always — keep in touch!
