Job growth is booming in the oil and gas industry. The Hays Oil & Gas 2014 Global Job Index showed an increase in available oil and gas jobs in the first quarter, and strong growth is expected throughout 2014. But oil and gas still faces a significant shortage of skilled talent. Industry job boards have grown considerably as firms compete to attract the talent they need.

But what are oil and gas leaders doing to leverage the skilled workers they already have? APQC’s recent study on growing STEM expertise shows that oil and gas firms find people-oriented approaches—like mentoring and communities of practice—effective to accelerate time to competency and address expertise gaps. More than other industries, oil and gas also uses learning, competency, talent, content, and knowledge management programs to grow and leverage experts.

But the industry can do more when it comes to growing mid-career employees, especially because the pay-off for developing mid-careers is often larger and more immediate. Oil and gas can also do better in integrating formal programs (like knowledge management and competency management) into a comprehensive strategy to accelerate learning across the employee life cycle.

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