New project supports workforce development in Canada’s energy industry

By John Ludwick

It’s no secret that Canada’s energy industry is changing, and as it does, the nature of its workforce changes too.

The energy industry is expanding to include sectors like liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen, and while this presents many new challenges, one thing is clear: employment opportunities will abound. Careers in Energy (CIE), a division of Energy Safety Canada, has launched a project to support the development of a skilled workforce in Canada’s oil and natural gas and emerging low-carbon energy sectors.

The project, named “Building a Workforce for Canada’s Energy Future,” aims to address the gaps in labour market forecasting, workforce planning, career information, and training and upskilling opportunities.

Opportunities To Leverage Skills

Canada’s oil & gas producers, the pipeline sector, and oilfield services companies are upping their environmental game and investing in lower-carbon energy. This is opening opportunities for workers to leverage their existing skills to be part of the emerging clean energy sectors.

The LNG sector offers a tremendous opportunity for Canada to feed markets hungry for greener energy from reliable sources. Abundant natural gas from Western Canada can offset higher-carbon fossil fuels such as coal, especially in Asian markets located closer to our shores than to other producing countries.

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) will play a vital part in achieving Canada’s net-zero emissions goals. Energy com- panies and other industries capture, transport, and store carbon dioxide in geological formations or use the carbon for other applications such as strengthening concrete and steel.

Meanwhile, the federal and many provincial governments have announced strategies and incentives to spur the development of Canada’s emerging hydrogen industry, with an estimated potential of $1 billion.

Canada’s geothermal energy industry could create numerous jobs for drilling contractors and oilfield service workers, as many of the skills are directly transferable.

Many of the skills oil & gas workers possess are transferable to these and other clean energy sectors. Canada is known as an experienced and responsible energy producer underpinned by a highly skilled workforce, allowing us to not only contribute to emerging energy sectors but also to lead them.

Planning Your Career

CIE’s website offers abundant resources for people seeking jobs in various energy sectors, allowing them to determine which careers are within reach and which ones require additional training or reskilling. They can also explore more than 170 career profiles to find the one that best matches their interests and skill set.

The Assess Your Career Change tool helps energy workers evaluate their skills to transfer to other careers in energy. CIE defines three transferability pathways: direct, refocus, and reboot.

“Direct” means jobs with the same core qualifications, technical knowledge, skills, and work environment with a high likelihood of recruitment and retention in the sector. “Refocus” refers to similar work but with some skill or knowledge upgrading required to increase the chance of a successful transition. Finally, “reboot” denotes that the job requires the worker to undertake additional education or gain new skills to be successful.

On CIE’s Explore Careers page, job seekers can search for careers that align with their skills, qualifications and preferences. This resource allows the user to filter by field of work (e.g., engineers, operators, geoscience professions), working environment, level of education, or keyword. Results are organized into sector categories such as oil & gas, cleantech, renewables, etc.

For people who prefer to learn from someone else’s experience, CIE has amassed dozens of real stories from real people who work in the energy industry via its “Day in the Life” profiles. For others who’d rather kick back on the sofa with their headphones, CIE offers a podcast – Not Your Grandpa’s Industry. Each podcast series focuses on a particular topic or area such as working in the energy services sector; pivoting your career within or into energy; and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the energy industry. Listen or subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Free Training

What’s more, CIE provides training opportunities through a trio of providers. And the best part? Participating in these programs will be free.

geoLOGIC systems offers a micro-credential program focused on basic knowledge in sustainability and environment, social, and governance (ESG). Lighthouse Labs provides digital reskilling and upskilling programs to help participants expand their career opportunities in a more digitized energy industry. Higher Landing supports a career transition program where people from across Canada can learn about opportunities in the clean-energy economy.

Interested in learning more? Whether you’re starting a new career or already have roots in the sector, visit CareersinEnergy.ca to plan your future in energy. v