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Beyond The Reservoir
Welcome to the podcast where we connect you to the people and technology at SLB and go Beyond the Reservoir My name is Hunter Holtshopple, host of Beyond the Reservoir. I am excited to share with you the exciting people and technology that make up the team at Reservoir Performance team at SLB. My hope is that you leave having learned more about the guest and what we do in the energy industry
Beyond The Reservoir
From Career Fairs to Career Growth with Hortense and Michael
Step into the fascinating world of SLB recruitment in this episode with Hortense Viallard and Michael Mikovich, two extraordinary recruiters with diverse backgrounds and a shared passion for scouting talent. Get ready hear Hortense’s international journey from France and Michael’s chance career fair encounter in Ohio, both of which led them to SLB’s dynamic global opportunities. You’ll gain valuable insights into how each of their unique experiences has been shaped by the constantly evolving oil field industry and SLB’s promise of expansive career growth.
Curious about what it takes to stand out at career fairs and nail that all-important interview? Hortense and Michael share tips on engaging with potential employers, the pivotal role of career fairs, and the structured interview rounds you can expect for various roles at SLB. From meaningful conversations to practical do's and don'ts, discover how to make lasting impressions and maximize your recruitment opportunities. Whether you're looking to refine your recruiting strategies or seeking to understand what recruiters are really looking for, this episode offers a treasure trove of actionable advice.
Explore the latest trends in recruiting recent graduates, including the modern-day challenges of social media’s influence and the surprising factors like pets influencing job decisions. Hortense and Michael also reveal their favorite parts of recruiting, from the thrill of travel to the satisfaction of seeing candidates grow.
This episode is packed with both professional wisdom on this special episode with the SLB recruiting team!
My name is Hunter Holtzapel, host of Beyond the Reservoir, and I'm excited to share with you the people and technology that make up the SLB team's improving reservoir performance. My hope is that you leave this episode having learned more about the guests and what they do in the energy industry and their career along the way. Today I'm joined by Hortense and Michael.
Speaker 2:I'm happy to have you both on for a special episode on recruiting, for a special episode on recruiting. So today we're going to talk about the recruiting process your recruitment and a little bit of past experience I had with recruiting and it's going to be a fun special episode. So, Mortans, Michael, thanks for coming on, Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Hunter, for having us.
Speaker 1:Certainly so.
Speaker 2:you know this podcast we typically talk about the careers of people in the Reservoir Performance team. You are both currently outside of Reservoir Performance it's a tongue twister there but have been in RP in the past and now are currently both recruiters for our. What do you call it? Fresh out or early recruiting?
Speaker 4:Is that fair to say? Or university recruiting, yeah, early career.
Speaker 2:fresh out field engineer recruits. Very cool, yeah, very important position and thing to do in the company. So I guess, to get some background, I want to ask you, hortense first where are you from and what was life like growing up?
Speaker 3:pre-SLB? Thank you, Hunter. I am originally from France. That's where I grew up. I did most of my education, but I also studied abroad. I studied in Denmark. I went to the UK to do an internship. I went to the US to study. I knew from the beginning I wanted to travel. So one of the main reasons I joined SLB.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good company to do that with Michael. Same question you are, I think, from the US, but what was life like before SLB?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's accurate. Life was great Growing up. I had a pretty good home life. I started working when I was very young. So I started work as a dirt bike mechanic at Endless Journey Cycles in Manoway, ohio. I just turned wrenches on little two-stroke engines. And then, soon as I became legal age to actually start at 16, I started working at the amusement park. I was doing games, worked at a scale guess your age, weight, month of your birth date, and then look at that. I still got it. And then after that went to university and was just always busy, always wanted to do more. I didn't really get bored, but junior year of college I wanted to do something more and really just wanted to broaden my horizons and even joined the National Guard, army National Guard. So life growing up was always busy, always doing something and always playing outside my early years to always just grinding it out, even to this day to always just grinding it out, even to this day.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I see why you would have joined a company like SLB very hands-on, especially in the field Hortense. Different reasons, but same result, and you're both in the same place right now Very cool. So, as recruiters, I'm sure the process has changed a little bit as the company has evolved, but can you both share what your recruitment process was like when you joined SLB? Michael, we'll start with you this time.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I was just at Ohio State, I was aerospace engineering, handed my resume over to Lockheed, boeing, raytheon, all the big aerospace companies of course and it was maybe the last hour of the career fair and just passed by an SLB booth or slumber show and they said, hey, you ever think about working in oil fuel? I said, of course not, chatted with them and pretty much within 48 hours I got an interview for a round one, did that. They flew me out to Denver for actually not Denver, grand Junction, colorado for a round two where we did our presentations and ended up going to the well site the next day, staying up all hours, maybe got six hours of sleep for the 56 hours that we were there and showed up super early at the well site company man comes on and says, oh, job canceled, go back to the hotel, and it was.
Speaker 4:It was one of those things where it just gave you a taste of, uh, of what the oil field was like, and at that point I already did the military. I know it's hurry up and wait and I was like you know what I could, I could dig this, I could do this, uh, and from what I did see before stuff was canceled. It was yeah, like Hortense said, they promised you the world. They said you want to raise your hand and travel, you will travel and I really liked that. I liked that every few years I could have changed my path of my career and that's been very accurate. And that's been very accurate. So SLB kind of sold me first at the university just by that first 10-minute conversation with the recruiters something very much I'm doing today because my recruiter, megan, at that point she very much imprinted the SLB message onto me and I hope to cast that along today as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very, very cool and I think you know maybe not as much now, but back then Schlumberger at the time was probably the biggest company that like no one ever heard of, at least in the US. I think it's getting better now. As one with an easier to say name SLB, and just our image overall, I think we're more prone and apt to being visible. But I'm curious for your thoughts Is it the same with you in Europe? Did you know what Schlumberger was? Did you know who we were? Or was it kind of a shock when you got your interview and recruitment?
Speaker 3:process. So for me, I mean I actually I did when I was. I did an internship for SLB during my first year at university, but it was in IT, so I knew a little about IT. But when I did my internship I went to an old rig and just like my manager decided to take me there and I was like this is actually what I want to be. I don't want to work in IT, I want to work in the field. So that's when afterward, when I applied online to SLB website, I applied for a field engineer role and that's how I got actually an interview.
Speaker 3:So in France I think the system it was I got interview in France. It was really different from Michael, because it was a two-day interview. We had like, like the first day we had like a test like I mean really academic, like math, physics, english as well and then like if we had to pass those tests, and we had like a first-round interview and a presentation, a presentation about us. So it was actually, I mean it was in Paris, so absolutely I haven't seen anything like like close to an oil field, close to a rig, so it was. And it was like from eight to five, so no long hours. So when I joined after as a field engineer, it was kind of like a rough start, I have to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I can see that and I know. It's why it's so important to be upfront with recruits about what the position is going to be, especially for a field engineer, because that could be an abrupt change if you're used to an office job from eight to five and go into the field. Interesting about the test part I'm glad I didn't have to take a rigorous test beforehand because I probably would not be here today if that were the case. So very interesting, very different. Or today, if that were the case, so very interesting, very different. And I can see or hear from what I hear it's still very similar at least to Michael's process for the recruitment process here in the US, if I'm not mistaken. Very cool, and so, speaking of field, you both started in the field and then had various roles, including some management positions, before ending up as recruiters.
Speaker 4:Can you briefly walk me through that process, michael, and then pass it over to you, hortense? Yeah, so my first assignment was Graham, texas, where I was a wireline engineer. A few of the people that was at my base Raymond Chong, maria Ben-Knery-Dortiz, Everyone's still around Did that for three years until, unfortunately, graham was shut down. Bill Gardner, at the time from Tyler, he was kind of my manager gave me the opportunity to go to Natchez, mississippi, or testing services down in Alice, texas. So once I had the ability to cross train I knew I wanted to do that.
Speaker 4:I always wanted to do something more worked down in corpus for about three years and then we started the multi-phase meter business, essentially right. I was one of the first people to take reception of the new vx spectras and that business kind of grew and anna gachard at the time gave me the opportunity to come to Denver and pretty much do a hybrid sales PSD role of managing the business and trying to expand the market. I worked with a bunch of amazing people and then eventually Fairdo and advocated to make me OU, psd for RP for pretty much the northern part of North America and did that all the way up until September of this year.
Speaker 2:Very cool Now recruiting. For anyone who may not know, we have a lot of acronyms and terms in SLB, but basically you went from the field to a pretty high-level management position in a relatively short amount of time, at least considering, I would say, other companies and industries. So very cool. Hortense, similar, I would say for you, but not in the US Europe and then over here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that is correct. So, um, maybe I mean for me like actually like the first letter I got when I, when I got hired for slb, was to work in algeria, in asim saoud, so I was extremely enthusiastic to go there and to work over there, because it would have been like a change of scenery, completely like what I wanted. But two months before I started there was like a change of plan. It was a little bit like the downturn. So I actually arrived in the closest location from my hometown, like it's three hour driving distance, so I wanted to travel. I it wasn't really meeting my expectation, but I decided to take the job and to start in the.
Speaker 3:I started in the netherlands but, um, but I mean, as a european citizen, I could actually work in any european country. So it was actually really good because I had the opportunity to travel in the Netherlands I mean any European country in UK, in Poland, in Spain, in Italy I mean I also worked in my home country, in France as well, so Germany a lot. So that was like quite like I mean a rich environment to work in. And not only that, it's like in Europe.
Speaker 3:In europe there is I mean oil and gas is is a market, but there is also like something that also maybe closer to what we are doing today in slb, like more sustainability related with like geothermal um or as co2 storage. So this is also what something I could see when I was a field engineer, like a couple of years ago, so that was extremely interesting. And then, after I mean similar, I mean not similar to Michael, but after being a field engineer, I graduated to this um, the graduate program. We have a field engineer and I moved to a management role, so that I did for two years um in the US, so I got relocated to the US and then, um two years ago, I moved to recruiting to hire a field engineer.
Speaker 2:Very cool. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean you both have very different roles or geographic locations, but the same role and there's a lot of similarities. So it's interesting. Maybe you're in the Middle East or Africa or in the US or Europe in your case, but everyone's kind of doing the same thing as a field engineer, just different flavors. So cool. Thank you both for sharing that background. But now we get to talk about recruiting, which is, I think, the special part of this episode. So if you could one of you just walk through what the process is today for a, let's say, field engineer, early recruit, you know, yeah, from A to Z. You know, start to maybe, like you know, you've been hired, type of thing.
Speaker 3:So let me start that first. So one of the routes is like we go to a career fair and we meet some students. So whenever we meet them, we also going to decide if they're going to be more like working in tech centers working in, I mean a function or if they're going to be like field engineer, maintenance engineer, performance life engineer. So that's the screenings that we do at the at the career fair and then after, depending on the screening and the results, we invite them to the first round interview, which is going to be a 30-minute interview through an online interview and then, if they're succeeding successful this first round interview, we will move to a second round interview, which is a two-day event we have in one of our locations and then, upon a successful round two interview, we extend an offer. So like that are the big lines of the recruiting process. Now, michael, if you want to elaborate on like getting some details on the different steps, go ahead.
Speaker 4:And of course, that's completely accurate. The career fair is a good engagement session because that's the first time that you're ever talking to a candidate and a lot of them don't hear about the oil field right, especially anybody that's outside of geology or petroleum engineering.
Speaker 4:And so when you ask them, do you want to work in the field? Well, what's the field? And we kind of get that conversation of, hey, like you can actually be super useful. You can get a 15-day schedule or you get seven days off where you can turn off your cell phone and just unplug, spend all that bonus you just made and enjoy a little bit of a different lifestyle compared to maybe what you thought was going to occur with your major. So you kind of get their gears rolling and you kind of not convince them but you say, hey, there's more outside of college than just your preconceived notions of industry.
Speaker 4:The round one interviews they're just basic behavioral, very, very good cut and dry. Hbrs, behavioral interview list, it's all standard stuff. But then the round twos are really good because we get to actually bring them to our training facility. We are actually returning to the field for round twos, denver, the week of March 11th. We're going to be doing interviews at the Cameron facility, the cement yard in Windsor and Wellington and actually at some well sites around Greeley. So we're going to be returning that to the field. That way we can give them a full experience because Kellyville is good. A lot of the requisitions that we have today don't necessarily reflect the technology that is at Kellyville presently, but Denver can actually do that for us and, yeah, we get to show them like this is the lifestyle. It's tough, it's incredibly rewarding. There's not a day in my career where I haven't sat down and said I didn't do anything today. That's never happened. That's never happened in my career. It's incredibly rewarding, it's impactful, it's meaningful and you leave an imprint into society.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, that's cool. Yeah, I like that. Do you do the same process, round one and two, for all types? Is there a round two equivalent for someone who's going to, let's say, a tech center, or is it a little bit different, or is it like the hiring manager who's doing that?
Speaker 4:So for the tech centers, everybody does things a little bit differently. Digital everyone's kind of a little bit different. It's more tailored towards where they have seen success and less turnover. But the tech centers, yeah, they'll do the same round one interviews. Round two will be in Houston at the technology centers. Digital is a little bit different. They'll do some hacker rank assessments done by third parties before they actually see anybody Functions. It's kind of similar. They'll do round one and then hiring managers will then get involved. So it's all kind of tailored towards the business and how much everyone wants to be involved and where they see success in getting the best candidates and keeping them around.
Speaker 2:That makes sense, yeah, yeah. So let's say I'm a new recruit and I'm walking up to the career fair for the first time. What are some do's and don'ts? Let's say one or two do's and one or two don'ts immediately to get the attention of the recruiter there.
Speaker 3:So I think I mean the do's wouldn't be like I mean it's good to research the company and to know a little bit of what we are doing. However, I mean, like you say, I meet a lot of candidates that they don't know who we are either Schlumberger or SLB and I think like the best question of the candidates can be like what is your company doing? So because so I mean there is no shame to say I don't know, but it's it's bad to say like yeah, I kind of know what you are doing and then actually they have no idea. So it's also good to to hear candidates that if they don't know, they are actually interested in in knowing what we do and see like where could they fit. So the question is I mean, in a career fair, the idea for us is like not to meet candidates, not to get like as many resumes as we can, but to have meaningful conversation with as many students as possible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good, I like that. How about a? Don't you have a?
Speaker 3:uh, you know, this is absolutely a no-no well, for me, like a no-no is a person that doesn't even bother to to talk to me. It's just like hey, here's my resume. I said, well, yeah, I'm not like I, I am not taking resume like this, so this is a huge no-no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay good, yeah, that good, yeah, that's a good. You know, at least start and try to have a conversation. I'll ask you the same question, michael. Is there any do's and don'ts you could even think of from a perspective? Like you know, you're telling someone who's about to go to their first career fair tomorrow.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, I think, starting as, like, freshmen or sophomore, we don't really do lots of internships for them. But I think a big do is, as a freshman, as a sophomore, come and say hi to the company. A lot of companies, including us, we keep digital records and we can see when a freshman's come up and said hi, and then again when they're a sophomore, then again when they're a junior and by the time they're a senior and they're looking for a full time job. We can look in our database and say, wow, these candidates, they're. They're hungry, they want to work for SLB. That's something that we look for. So, as a freshman, sophomore, even if we don't have internship availabilities open, still be inquisitive and come up to us, come up to other companies and and just put your name there, see what they're looking for, learn about their culture. That way, very much, as Hortense said, when you come up as a senior, you can maybe remember something back when you were a freshman, like oh yeah, you know, you can start name dropping people and I talked to Shelly, I talked to Matt. Those can be very meaningful because connections and networking does matter.
Speaker 4:Another do is like very much coming prepared. You'll be really surprised how many garbage resumes we receive. I understand some kids. It might be tough for them to to come up with a resume and I know there's lots of things that could prevent somebody. But all the universities we go to, they have amazing resources for resume building. Even candidates come up to us sometimes and they're just in a t-shirt and they say sorry, I can't afford a suit jacket. Well, there's a lot of universities that are out there that actually have closets where you can go and get a suit that's been donated by previous classmen. I think there's ways to come prepared to a career, fair ones, with a good resume and just polished up a bit. You know, don't be coming in and you're Birkenstocks or a tank top because you just got done playing ultimate Frisbee. I think there's a certain bit of effort that goes in, because jobs aren't guaranteed and I think some people think that it is. So coming in prepared matters.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. You know it is a professional role and you're putting your professional self forward. So, yeah, I appreciate that. I think a new recruit would appreciate both your answers as well. And then maybe just touch on you know briefly, you know just in general, for probably more applicable for most people, whether it's with SLV or not, you know, around one interview or just in online interview in general, I mean, I know not everyone's going to have the best internet connection. Sometimes the internet goes out. It's out of our control, but there's probably some tips that maybe you could recommend for an online interview. Um, that you may have. I don't know, hortense, is there anything that stands out that wow, that person really.
Speaker 3:You know, you know they booked the library room and it's quiet, or something like that so, um, I think I mean a good, like, I mean, video interview is, I think there are two things a candidate should have ready is an introduction, um, an introduction that is maybe like I mean reviewing either its resume, but maybe like going a bit beyond the resume, but just a couple of I mean not a couple of sentences, actually something a bit more more elaborated.
Speaker 3:So then and then, and like giving hints for the recruiter. So then the recruiter is most likely going to ask question about this part that the person presented um in the introduction. And then the last, um, the last, uh, the second point, um, like, I always ask my candidate if they have questions for me and, and it's like, always make sure you have at least one question, because it looks a bit, I mean, unprepared. If you have like absolutely zero question, um, I mean if you're not interested in the role after you do the interview, it makes sense. But it's good to have, like, I mean at least a good, one, good question to answer the recruiter, even if it's like what? I mean at least one good question to ask the recruiter, even if it's like what are the next steps? Which is pretty simple to ask.
Speaker 2:For sure. Yeah, that's good. I actually have been helping you all out with some round one interviews and I would say being able to concisely present yourself is big. Just, you know that to me, looking back, actually that does set apart an interview interview-y, I guess maybe. To me, looking back, actually that does set apart an interview, I guess maybe. And then, yeah, having questions at the end, because some of the questions I've gotten are super basic, but yeah, it shows tell me a little bit more about the company and what does a field engineer do?
Speaker 2:It's like, oh, they're actually genuinely curious.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, good points there, and Michael, any to add for, let's say, online interview Hit the nail on the head, have a little introduction, a little elevator speech for yourself, Come with questions at the end. Nobody knows what we do, right? Even I've been with the company 12 years. I have no idea what we do. I mean, I got a sense, but we're so, we're so broad with what we do. There's, there's got to be questions. It just shows that you're interested, shows that you're intrigued and you want it. Another big thing is just being confident with yourself and because we can see sometimes like oh, that's an incredible project. And we might ask you know?
Speaker 3:oh, tell me a little bit more about it, and if you're not able to really elaborate or go into details of what you did, even though you said you did.
Speaker 4:then it kind of starts us digging and be like oh well, you said you did this, but did you really do that, you know, or are you just inflating what you've done? So being honest and confident as well is a big one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that Makes sense. That's just important for everyone in their careers in general. So good advice Now, changing gears a little bit here. Recruitment 12, 13 years ago, when I was being recruited, is probably a little bit different than it is today, I'm sure in many ways, but one, I guess. Is there any? Are there any trends? You see? I mean now there's social media. I guess there's social media when I was in college I'm not that old but there's, you know, more emphasis on computer science, computer engineering, remote work, work from home. Do you see any big trends that are that are interesting to you? Like you know, people want to work from home more or more computer minded folks, hopefully more diversity, more women I think I've seen that just in the company in general. So any major trends you want to highlight or see that I think are interesting.
Speaker 3:I think I mean, one of the trends that I noticed is really, like the students that we are currently hiring, they went through COVID while they were a student, so they had like remote classes and then it created like really two very distinct pool the people that loved it and that really want a remote job, and the people that hated it and that want to be outdoor and that they would love to be a field engineer because they want to see a team, they want to work with their hands. So I think this, this trend, this like I mean the covid-19 that happened really helped in some way like students to to know a bit more what they want to do in term of like type of work environment. So, um, it split the pool in half for the I mean for the better of the worst, but at least we know that when we meet someone that says I want to be a field engineer, they understand a little bit more what they want to get, rather than someone saying, oh, I want to try the field. So that's one of the trends.
Speaker 3:I noticed and that is positive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's actually really interesting.
Speaker 2:It's probably along the same lines of people, like you know, including myself, going from digital cameras to film. You know, it's like people don't all want to just blankedly go work from home. People like the in-person interaction, like you said, the fieldwork. That's a very interesting trend that maybe has popped out of the pandemic. Yeah, very cool. I'll have to think on that one some more. Where I see that trend in life, joe Michael, any other trends you might see? I know you're probably a bit newer to the recruiting. Have you done like one or two recruiting seasons now?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm still very new, but definitely a trend that I've seen, even compared to when I was in school. But definitely a trend that I've seen, even compared to when I was in school. I don't know about y'all, but once I turned 18, I actually moved out of home when I was 16. But when you're 18, 19, 20, you're ready to move out of home, right, you're ready to go get a job and work. When I was younger at least.
Speaker 4:Now what we've seen here very much kids want to stay with their parents, which is fine because the housing market and I don't blame them, because it's burdensome to even think about homeownership as an adult, let alone when you're fresh out of college so many want to stay with their parents. Many are not interested in relocating. A lot of Denver folks. They want to stay within the area. Even Utah is too far west. Oklahoma is too far north for some people. In Texas, a lot of people want to stay back home. A lot of people are very committed to their pets.
Speaker 4:Now, an interesting trend I've seen is some people say that, hey, this job is not for me because I don't want to leave my dogs. Can I bring my dogs to the well site? Oh, I can't, then I have to forego this opportunity. Kids nowadays, as Hortense said, it's very binary. They know what they want or they don't. But the ones that know what they want, they know it and they're not really budging, which is fine, because that's great, somebody that that has internal values and they know what they see in their future. But it's a very different dynamic now, with students wanting to stay home post-graduation and the remote We've seen, of course, a lot of the opportunities for remote work is very much prevalent now. That post-COVID yeah Well, that's interesting.
Speaker 2:I wonder if that has anything to do with, like you know, we're so connected, so much social media. I just feel like when I was in school, I had an iPhone towards the end there, like the very first version or third version or whatever, but I I was not as connected as I am now and like I feel like it was just so much more freeing and I was a little bit more naive about the world. I feel like kids these days. I think it's tougher, honestly, on them just being so connected. I don't know. It's interesting Some of the comments you both said being very want to be at home and know exactly what you want. I had no idea what I wanted when I was getting recruited. I still don't know what I want, so good on them. I think that's good that people at least know and you know it's, it's don't don't let us change your mind. You know, like if you know what you want, it's good.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, good, good color there, and I know we're getting kind of close on time here, but I got a couple of questions left and I really appreciate the answers so far. These ones maybe a little bit again changing gears about you, specifically with the role as a recruiter. I just have to ask you both what's your favorite part about the job? What do you really like? And maybe a bonus question there what's been your favorite university you've gotten to recruit at so far?
Speaker 3:So two part question.
Speaker 4:I can start.
Speaker 3:Sorry, go ahead. No go ahead, Mike.
Speaker 4:So I think the best part is honestly the traveling and their interaction. We can all say this SLB, we are good at recruiting cultural fits right. We show up to these career fairs and I will have three digital people, two manufacturing, a couple Cameron one. Subsea folks. Never met them in my life. You know. I just approve them when I see them in the volunteer app and I just know there's such good energy that we all just jive and we have a good time at the career fair. If we go out to dinner post event, it's great conversation.
Speaker 4:So the interaction and the networking within SLB and learning more about what we do is, I think, one of the most valuable things that we can. My previous I was very much siloed and we still are siloed as a company and these career fairs really allow you to see the bigger picture. And definitely some of the best universities I've been to, I think, are the ones in Texas, just because they're a little bit larger and they're just crazy. Texas A&M say what you want about A&M, but it's an incredible university to experience. It's an incredible university where you're seeing 500 candidates uh, all within the span of five, six hours. It's. It's insane. I really like the the career fairs, where it's just nuts, you know, and everybody's working to just get it done yeah, very cool, I hope.
Speaker 2:I hope to attend that one in fall. Do it.
Speaker 3:I want to experience the crazy or it's on side by you um so, my um, so the favorite part of the job is actually like so for me, I mean, I conduct a lot of interviews and it's like whenever I have a candidate that is just, let's say, average and the interview starts being like below average. Like the five first five ten minutes is like kind of like a bit difficult, and then the candidate says, like manage to I mean to shine and then it's like it, the interview process like completely changed and actually the candidate at the end of the interview and I'm like, but this person is actually amazing, even though, like the first five minutes maybe its introduction was terrible and I couldn't see any fit or he or she, but then the interview is actually ended up amazingly good. So that's actually like the part I like the most about the job is to find, like this pearl candidate. That is actually fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's probably maybe some of that is like breaking out of their shell or something I can see that Maybe they're nervous.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's really good to see those candidates, because we have always good candidates, always bad candidates, but the candidates that actually we discover are very good behind the shell is good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's probably a testament to you being able to pull them out of their shell, so you're in a good role, uh, and and your favorite university so far so I wouldn't necessarily like talk about a university, uh as is.
Speaker 3:I would rather talk about like the, the event we go, which is a society of women engineer event, which is actually like we have, like I mean, all these companies coming from all over the us, so it's a national conference that that we do attend and it's it's amazing, like to see like the energy, um, the energy that all the company are putting into, like hiring, like I mean, a more diverse workforce focusing on, like, women in engineering, and that's really like maybe like the best, um, the best event, um, I mean I like to go. I am, I am an organized one in houston. I miss the one in uh um in los angeles last, um last year, but I'm looking forward for the one in chicago oh yeah, nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went to the one in houston with y'all, uh two years ago, ish, a year and a half ago. Yeah, it's big, you know, it is an important thing and I think not just you know college-age women, but also kids, and I didn't know this Maybe you all knew already but there was like a Girl Scouts program to get a badge for science that SLV was sponsoring. So it's important, I think, to start young and definitely be a presence there and I'm glad we are so cool. I appreciate that answer. All right, so just to close out. I know I have quite a few more questions but, mindful of the time, I'll close out with if you could give one piece of advice for someone starting their career this isn't just necessarily going to a career fair, but just starting their career in general. Uh, what would that be? Uh, we'll start with you. Uh, any career advice for a a new, new recruit, new engineer?
Speaker 3:so I think the career advice would be like I mean, pick a job that you want so, or like the company is like as a fit with you. Because I mean the recruiting process is it's a two way process, like I mean the candidate also has the opportunity to say actually no, I don't want this job. And let's make sure like no one is wasting its time, neither the candidate nor the recruiter and the company. So we like I mean, know a bit what you want, but also be open to be open to to change. I mean I didn't know much when I joined as a field engineer. I just knew I wanted to be outdoor. I didn't know like the crazy amount of hours I would have to put in, but I was, I was open to it, I was like a little flexible and I really enjoyed it. So that's really like the advice I would give to someone starting his career.
Speaker 2:Very good. Yeah, michael, I would say be useful.
Speaker 4:Nothing's worse than having somebody step in the door of the shop and just putting their hands in their pocket, needing to be told the direction for the day, what tasks need to be done. If you've got nothing to do, go pick up a broom and go sweep the floor. Go organize the O-rings in the can bin. Ask your PSD what type of quest, certifications or commentary tasks should I be working on? Just stay busy, right, I very much believe. Just be useful and you will grow your career exponentially as fast as somebody who is not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think that even goes beyond just being useful to your immediate supervisor. You can be useful kind of like a fixer. I don't know that's the wrong example, but no, if you could be useful to more than just your manager, I think people notice it Maybe not right away, but people noticed it You'll definitely climb in your career. So yeah, thank you both for the answers today. But before we go I'd like to ask a few rapid fire questions. So I'll ask a question and then let's say, Michael, you answer first, and then Hortense, you can follow it up. So I'll start with what's your favorite food?
Speaker 4:Oh, Dave's Hot Chicken Reaper Tenders. Oh, dave's hot chicken Reaper tenders. Oh, that sounds scary.
Speaker 3:What else I would go with a chocolate cake.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, nice, very different answers there. If you were to go to Starbucks or a tea shop, what would your order be?
Speaker 4:Black coffee outside of pumpkin season, then it's PSL all day Nice.
Speaker 3:I would go a latte with sugar and cinnamon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:If you, Michael, could go on vacation tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Would you go to the beach or mountain retreat?
Speaker 4:Since I have a mountainside view, living in Denver, a beach vacation.
Speaker 2:Makes sense, Hortense. How about you?
Speaker 3:I would go to actually where Michael is, to the mountains. I haven't been skiing for ages, so I would love to go back and do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, I haven't been skiing in forever. I need to go, but we'll see. One day maybe this one's a little tougher. If you could meet any famous person, who would it be? Michael?
Speaker 4:I think Lena or Da Vinci would have some amazing conversations to share.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Very, very diverse too. Right, not just one thing? Yeah, there's a lot of things. Yeah, I haven't heard that one before. How about you?
Speaker 3:Um, I say it's going to sound extremely cliche, but I would ask to meet Taylor Swift, just because she goes over the news and I think it's just like to understand how she does all what she does. So.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I like that one, that's no one's ever said that one yet.
Speaker 2:Uh, on this uh show and we've done like 25, so that's a good uh, because you think how popular she is, she probably would have come up. I just also was thinking about her the other day, like how crazy it would be to be, like like, so you know, everyone's talking about you all the time. I don't know, I don't know how they do that.
Speaker 1:Just celebrities in general, it's mind-blowing, um and then finally last one, michael, if you could recommend any book to the audience, what would that be?
Speaker 4:You know I'm not a big fiction fan but I really enjoy picking up any of the Harvard Business Reviews, little guides that they have. You see the bookstores, yeah, anything's really good on leadership, on emotional intelligence, they're all really good little quick reads that you can get done in a two-hour plane ride. Very nice, hortense, how about you.
Speaker 3:So my book is what I'm reading at the moment, which is I Am Pilgrim, from Terry Hayes, so it's a thriller. So it was my plan B as a job. If I wasn't a field engineer, I would be like working in secret service.
Speaker 1:So didn't work as planned. But yeah, yeah, very cool. Well, you never know. You know careers can be very long.
Speaker 3:You know me, you know me already, so I failed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I appreciate you both again the time today no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Hunter. It episode of Beyond the Reservoir. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and be on the lookout for our next guest to learn more about the people and technology that make up the Reservoir Performance Team. Thank you for listening.