What To Do In This Downturn

 By Rex Arguelles

8 of my friends just got laid off from work. These are great people – hardworking, smart, and highly skilled - but because this oil and price plunge, which is one of the worst in 30 years, even they got affected.

One of my friends asked me what I think about this economic downturn and what would I advise.

Here is what I think and advise.

Save some money

Even though this oil and gas price plunge is one of the worst in 30 years, the downturn should not be a surprise. As you know, just looking at the Brent Oil Price Chart for the past 20 years, we know that these cyclical downturn happens every 4-5 years. We have seen this in 1996, 2001, 2005, 2009 and now in 2015. We know it will happen again in 2019-2020. So if you plan to work and stay in the oil and gas industry, you’d better start putting money in your savings account or in your house so that when this happens again, you can use the money you’ve saved and weather it out.

Relax and enjoy your time off

We all know from the past oil and gas downturns, they only last about 2-3 quarters before it stabilizes again and hire back employees. Use this time to spend time with God, family and friends. You can also use this time for self-improvement like upgrading your skills, reading books, attending seminars or study online or on campus.
Upgrade your skills
There are now a lot of free support from the government and private sectors when it comes to upgrading skills. Look into the Engineering & Technology Upgrading Program supported by the Government of Albert and the CCIS where they help you upgrade your engineering degree or you can contact Alberta Works Centers for other skills and degrees you would like to upgrade to. If these are not in line with what you are looking, start browsing the net and you will be surprised with what you will find.

Do volunteer work

There are a lot of skills that you can gain from volunteer work be it in leadership or technical skills like accounting, engineering, medical or social. Mustard Seed, local churches, Samaritan’s Purse, Food Bank are good places to do this. TFCC also highly recommends Possibilities in Motion Foundation. It is a non-profit organization that helps and collaborates with various program for the Filipino community. You can contact Marianne Malaca through their website https://www.facebook.com/pages/Possibilities-In-Motion-Foundation/127646600595434. The skills you gained or honed are some of the things companies look for when they are hiring new employees.

Redirect your career

Maybe cyclical plunges like this are exhausting you. Look into changing industry. There are a lot of skills that can be transferred to another industry. If you are in project management, there are project management requirements in manufacturing, services and others. Many companies accept and even value experiences gained from other industries. Don’t ever think that you are limited and that you will not find work outside the boundaries of oil and gas.

Do survival work

If you are in a bind right now and the EI is not enough for you to weather this downturn, do survival work for now. There is nothing wrong with a decent manual job so that you can weather this storm. Don’t think about what others will say. There is no judgement on being smart and decent.
I really hope that small advice can help those who got affected by this downturn.
Anyone who have other questions about career development, resume creation and upgrading, please do not hesitate to contact me through TFCC.

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Rex Arguelles is an Operational Excellence Professional who helps individuals, teams and organization reach their highest potential through Operational Excellence and Christian Principles. He works for Flexpipe Systems Inc. as Operations Excellence Manager managing the Quality, Continuous Improvement, Training and Process Engineering Department and is also the Consulting Director for Gintuga Technologies for Project Management and Lean Manufacturing. He champions the development of the Filipinos and the Filipino Community everywhere. He is a volunteer fundraiser and leader for the Free Medical and Dental Clinic Program of the River of Life Alliance Church in Calgary, Mustard Seed Food Coordinator and a regular volunteer at the Food Bank. He currently writes business and career improvement blogs in linkedin.com and the TFCC page.