Entrepreneurs Discuss
VETERANS OPPORTUNITIES
in Oil & Gas
Stanley Richardson
Veterans Opportunity Magazine
debora Chiz
President/Owner: Nova Safety & Health Consulting, Inc.
Greg Henthorn
Managing Partner: Kinetic Clean Energy, Inc.
Travis Buggey
Partner: Kinetic Clean Energy, Inc.
Main Points: How to Succeed Play to Your Skills Industry Training a Plus Identify an Industry Need Finding the Right Opportunity Get out & Network Meet Industry Professionals Don’t be Intimidated You Can Make it if You Try
Business Enterprise
8 | Veterans Opportunity
Business Enterprise Roundtable
Debora Chiz: I worked for OSHA for twenty years and I’m a mining engineer. And, I did safety & health. And, being that the need for the safety and health end of it. I opened up my own business and I go out and do safety and health audits. I do a lot of training, I do the safety on WVU Oil and Gas, the OSHA ten hour forklift Hazwoper. I do any kind of training that they need in the oil and gas industry. Stan Richardson: Yes, well you have to… So you play to your skills?.... Which, is what we are advocating for veteran women. Debora Chiz: Well, there is another point to look at, women, men and I kind of don’t like separating the two, because I’ve always been you know you get jobs in what you can to do. Um there are veterans that are coming out that maybe are not able to do the physical work. And you said exactly, ( it could apply to them as well) it could apply to somebody that doesn’t have all there;… something has happened to them. We actually know a GIS tech at an oil gas company up in New York who is in a wheelchair, and she is one of their best. She’s a geologist, and she’s one of their best employees. And, she does an awesome job, and I know we are going to get veterans that are, that have disabilities after coming out. And, they are going to need to be able to do something like that. So some training, some technical training, and what Greg just mentioned would be something very good for them to pursue something like that. Stan Richardson: So, what are some of the first things, what’s one of the first things that you did when you decided to start your company? Did you look at the demand? Is that one of the first things that you did?
for something outside of the industry, the labor part of the industry, but may not be thinking about some of those things that you raised? How could they or what should they do to kinda match their experience with the possibilities even though it might not be as obvious?
Greg Henthorn: Yeah, that’s a very good question, I think what I would do if I were in that position, is I would look at; I would try to identify what are these types of jobs that are created from shale gas. And, just looking at it from that picture, you have the extraction piece that we’ve been talking about, which for the most part it has a lot, it is very labor intensive. Although, there are components of extraction that are not labor intensive, as we’ve discussed, acquiring the leases and the title abstracts. And then you have the whole pipeline pieces of securing rights of way so that someone can build gathering lines and pipelines and all those sort of, I would try to identify all those different types of opportunities. And maybe that’s something the Veterans Opportunity Network can help to provide as a resource as well, and you have those opportunities and then do some research around what each one of those are, to understand. Are there physical requirements, are there training requirements, do I need a college degree, do I need certification, do I just need to get good at this particular skill? What are the things that it requires? And, then I would probably try to talk to somebody that does that kind of work. If I could just try to find somebody that does that kind of work and ask them how they got started and how they got going. I will say something about oil and gas that is maybe compared to manufacturing or other things; in that oil and gas has a lot of companies that could…, there are a lot of contractors that do different roles. And a lot of things are subbed out to entrepreneurs, and small businesses. And so, if you spend some time talking to people in the industry, I think that maybe you can find those things where you have the skills sets that map well with what some of the needs are, ( the demand) exactly.
Debora Chiz: Yeah, Yeah, I looked out and um, what companies were requiring, cause a lot of their own gas companies, a lot of the producers they’re requiring the training, because they’re using all the subs, so they’re trying to keep their training above and beyond, they’re trying to keep it up to par, so that we do not have any accidents out in the industry. Stan Richardson: Okay, And when it comes to advice that you would offer, Greg, what about playing to someone’s strength? What, how do you address that? How would you advise someone in the military, a woman in the military who is looking
Stan Richardson: And did you for example, did you go about networking within the industry? How did you go about doing that? Debora Chiz: I spend a very large amount of time going to functions, PIOGA functions out of New York, um setting up tables, booths, talking to people, and now that the oil and gas industry is really taking off, you could probably go to something every week, right? You could. There’s functions all the time, you could possibly go to every function there is. And, its amazing every function I go to, you find somebody
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that has something or gives you an idea, (right) or you gain some kind of insight ( right), into what is needed or what you could do. So networking things, for example like this, is very valuable to learn what’s out there. Greg Henthorn: And I’ll tell you what, in networking, I would not hide the fact, if I were a veteran. I would not keep that a secret ( No); I think that’s a good thing. I think just in general, culturally, within the oil and gas sector, that’s, that’s gonna be looked upon favorably for all the right reasons. I think generally a lot of people in the oil and gas sector; view themselves, just in general, maybe slightly compared to the average population. They, they view themselves as doing something important to the country, I mean you know energy independence, and all these kinds of things, it just seems to be a theme that runs throughout the sector. So, you know I don’t, I wouldn’t be a– hesitate at all to share that with others. Debora Chiz: Right, I think veterans are more, they’re more disciplined, and I think they are not afraid of hard work, and I think that they would be very, very good candidates for work in the oil and gas industry. Greg Henthorn:
even though my husband is in the…, a petroleum engineer in the industry, it’s very hard and it’s very intimidating. When you walk into a big show or you walk into a meeting and there’s all these guys maybe in suits or big and you don’t know who they are, so it’s an intimidation factor. And, if you get a women, you get a veteran, you get someone that really doesn’t feel comfortable….., um what I started doing was just walking up to people and saying “hello my name is Debbie, how are you?” and, shaking their hand. And, you get a lot of response its amazing. But, it’s tough to do that, it’s tough to get to that point. So, if you start getting out there and what do companies want? They want people out there that are forward that are going to try work. Greg Henthorn: No, but that whole dynamic, ( that’s exactly right) I mean it applied to me to ( absolutely) it is not unique to women you know, I was just every bit as intimidated ( that’s right) as you described when I first started reaching out. Stan Richardson: So it really does matter to loose your inhibitions ( that’s right speak up) and to get out there ( speak up) and because if you don’t ask, and you don’t put yourself out there your not going to get any results. Well, I think we’d all agree on that one. ( Yeah)
Yeah, and frankly when I talk to people in the oil and gas sector they talk in general that the younger people today just aren’t as hard workers, in general just across the board. ( That’s right) So that probably… ( A lot of veterans that I talk to they’re very respectful, they’re very hard workers) (Yeah, yeah) ( Absolutely) Travis Buggey: It’s critical for veterans to get out and network and get out to these events, ( absolutely, absolutely) because you don’t know who you’re going to run into. You may, it may take two or three meeting for you to kinda get your, your ( bearings, yeah) bearings and figure out exactly what your role might be. You need to get out and get the word out and meet people and get involved. And, you’d be surprised at just by going to two or three events in a row; you’ll kinda start to piece things together and to learn about the industry. It’s critical that you get out. And, 90% percent of life is showing up. So, you just need to get out and get involved with things, things won’t come to you. You have to go get things. Debora Chiz: And that’s a very, very good point. Because when I started my business, being a “women” in the oil and gas industry,
Business Enterprise
10 | Veterans Opportunity
Business Enterprise Roundtable