Josh Shelton and Ryan Ray from the Texas Oil and Gas Podcast have a chat with Greg Purvis with Texas Oil Group on getting US Veterans to work in the Oil and Gas industry
Ryan– Greg glad to have you on the show, how’s it going?
Greg– Hey, appreciate it, doing well thank you very much.
Ryan– Greg is the Manager for the Texas Oil Group, we will discuss some things with the company, I know you have served in Afghanistan and Iraq for a couple of years and right now you are in a position where you help veterans get jobs in the oil and gas industry, tell us more about your company, how it got started and any veterans or any listeners of the show can reach out and find you and get some support.
Greg- Okay, Perfect, Texas Oil Group came about while myself and my partner where working in Afghanistan and Iraq. As government contracting started to wind down. We noted that in the oilfields in Iraq that everything was really picking up, we decided to make a bold move over to the oil and gas market taking the skill sets and the past performance work we had for the government from the contracting days and apply those to the oilfield, more on the sourcing and procurement side. While doing that, we thought it was going to be an easy task being veterans and having experience in the Middle East that it would be kind of a shoe in to start a company and provide services and products. We realized it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. We were able to make some good headway in Iraq setting up some master service agreements with some large oilfield companies but as the oil price started to drop, we had to come back to the U.S. and regroup and see how we were able to keep the doors open by working in South Texas in the Eagleford.
Ryan– You guys are down in the Eagleford and you have a big event coming up, last week we had a slightly disabled veteran email in and talk about how he could get a job in the industry right now, we kind of give him some advice, obviously I have a book out on careers and opportunities but what are you seeing as far as problems with veterans getting jobs in the oilfield and what are you guys doing to facilitate that?
Greg– That is exactly why we are having this event coming up in September, we’ve recognized that there is a disconnect between the veterans community and the workforce. We are focusing solely on the energy sector so we can talk about that. You have the Texas Veterans Commission, Texas Workforce Commission and a lot of entities that are supporting veterans and are pushing them into different job markets. What we are seeing is there is a disconnect with the oil and gas companies that have veteran recruiters, headhunters that promote and push that they are really pro-veterans, come in and apply, we will help you with resumes and kind of hold hands through this whole process but as we said there is a disconnect and they are stalling at the door. Texas Oil Group really want to take the opportunity to host this event in September to bring not just an event where we are going to be able to go out and play golf, shoot some sporting clays but this is truly going to be a networking opportunity bringing the recruiters from the large oil and gas companies, the head hunters to this event and we are pushing it out very heavy right now through the veteran channels that we have and say “Hey guys you need to show up to this event, the folks that you are trying to meet and see, they are going to be here and let’s put everybody under one roof and let’s see how this goesâ€. We are getting some great feedback from both sides.
Ryan– The website is www.20holes.com the event is just a little over a month away which will be on September 21st , the 3rd Friday in September in San Antonio. One of the things that are interesting about this issue is that I would be hard pressed to imagine that you would find a more pro-veteran industry than the oil and gas industry, very pro-veteran and people that love their country. It seems like the disconnect here is that people are not aware of it. I am sure that our listeners and other people at this event, they are going to do everything they can to help out the veterans that served our country.
Greg– Absolutely, I think that there are several unique opportunities that we have to address just why there is the disconnect in this but now that we have gotten folks like Joe Ramirez with Texas Veterans Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission involved and we are pushing to get Governor Abbott’s Office involved in it because there are multiple programs that help veterans from the time before they get out of the military through that transition to helping them with resumes, making sure they understand the whole placement, where they are going to be and what arena they may be better off served. Those opportunities are there for the veterans, I don’t know if it is a disconnect from the oilfield and the folks that are really trying to push that they are pro-veteran and wanting to hire veterans, I think it’s more of just bridging the gap.
Ryan– I would imagine so, sometimes you look at issues and the issues are cause by people not understanding there is an actual issue but you bring awareness to it and it fixes itself, this is what you guys are doing. Let’s talk about September 21st, I mentioned earlier before you came on that I plan on being there, might even do a podcast from there like we talked about, I am excited to do that. If they go to www.20holes.com what can they expect that day, do you guys have a store, kind of walk us through exactly what will be going on, I think you are looking for sponsors and teams and what all do you need to fill your teams and spots on September 21st
Greg– Yes, we have a very short window, less than two months away, there is a great deal of push. We have recruiters in the oilfield that are going to show up, military transition group will be there as well, Doc Brown and the Texas Veterans Commission is going to be there, the event itself is going to be sporting clays, traps set up to where the people can be part of the sporting clay event that we are tying into the golf event and then there is the whole networking side of it, some of these folks are going to have booths setup, tables setup to where they can break out sessions to where they can network with the oil and gas folks to try and get these veterans channelized. If they are more in construction then they can go to this part of the room, if they are more in the production side then they can go into that part of the room, we want this one day organized to where we can get a lot of veterans pushed through a lot of different folks that are looking for them.
Ryan– Awesome, okay so as we mentioned, you are looking for teams, sponsors at www.20holes.com also you can find out more about the Texas Oil Group at www.texasoilgroup.com , Greg is there anything else that you would like plug or promote before we get you out of here today?
Greg– I think also that if there are a lot of folks that aren’t interested in playing golf or shooting clays, they can sponsor these teams, we would like to see more participation with companies and individuals that want to sponsor veteran teams. They can go in and pay for a foursome and that foursome can be donated to folks transitioning out of different bases, I think we are going to have a great draw of surrounding bases, obviously San Antonio houses a lot of veterans and active duty. If folks don’t want to play they can absolutely sponsor the teams, we need a lot of people either sponsoring or coming out to play.
Ryan– Ok Greg, that’s good to know and we will be promoting it on this show and Oil Country Media will be plugging into their network as well, I am sure you will be seeing it various places, again go to www.texasoilgroup.com or www.20holes.com , Greg thank you so much for your time today and look forward to seeing you here in just a little over a month.
Greg- Gentlemen I appreciate your time and thank you very much
Full recording of this interview and many others can be heard at Texas Oil and Gas Podcast
Check out our other current stories, we dare you…
