SPE eMentoring: Expert Career Guidance Across Boundaries and Borders

Abstract

SPE 101 If you are, or soon will become, a young member of the oil and gas industry and have questions about which career path to choose, and are looking for guidance in setting and reaching your professional goals, an excellent resource to use is the SPE eMentoring program. For students, mentors can provide academic and career direction. Young professionals (YPs) can receive guidance on how to orient their career progression and diversify their skill sets to speed up their career growth. YPs also have the opportunity to serve as mentors to students. With an online approach, this program helps mentees benefit from the knowledge of experienced professionals from around the world, irrespective of the distances that might separate a mentor and mentee. “Being a mentor in the SPE eMentoring program has been a good and rewarding experience for me,” said Brett Levy, who recently mentored two students, one from Penn State University, and another from Tufts University. “During my mentoring period, I have lived in Denver and Worland, Wyoming, working for Schlumberger, and the program has allowed me to build relationships with my mentees in spite of being thousands of miles away from them. We would communicate regularly via email and LinkedIn to check in on how their classes and projects in school were going, what internships they were interested in, and what career paths they were looking at pursuing after their graduation. I provided as much insight as I possibly could to help them start their careers.”