Patterson-UTI specializes in land-based drilling, pressure pumping services, directional drilling, wellbore placement, and oil and gas technology, serving clients throughout the United States and western Canada.

Merging talent and technology

When Patterson Energy, Inc. and UTI Energy Corp. merged in 2001, it marked a convergence of talent and technology that continues today. Attracting and retaining experienced employees in the highly competitive oil and gas industry is key to both their ongoing success and corporate culture. But finding the right candidates requires the right tools and drilling down to reach them required a new approach to recruiting.

More than just social media

“Utilizing social media has been a great way for us to reach potential candidates, and also to help build and promote our brand,” notes Rob Emr, Director of Talent Acquisition at the company’s headquarters in Houston, Texas. “Many people outside of the oil and gas industry may not be familiar with Paterson-UTI. Energy Job Shop offered us a new way to create more interest, reach those candidates and generate more hires.”

Metrics that matter

Not every professional works behind a desk. Oil and gas industry expertise is in the field, which is why reaching prospective employees through a mobile-friendly platform was essential to meeting Patterson-UTI’s recruiting needs. Qualified candidates are also a scarce resource which requires creative sourcing techniques,

“When we have promoted our jobs on social media sites such as Energy Job Shop we have been able to track the reach, engagement, and overall interaction with our brand. The metrics on their platform show how effective our posts have been,” Emr explains. “Looking at Energy Job Shop’s data, we can track the performance of our posts and gauge the traction. It gives us visibility into the process we didn’t have before. The metrics definitely show how this kind of traffic increases the awareness of our job openings and our company’s brand which drives more applications.”

Rapid recruiting creates a new standard

In the past, Patterson-UTI was highly dependent on word-of-mouth recruiting—more than one in four of their hires came through referrals, despite no formal program. Patterson-UTI has a strong reputation in the industry which makes employees want to recommend and refer their friends and colleagues, Emr says, making name recognition and outreach to those outside of our industry all the more crucial. Especially when emerging from an industry downturn, like there was in 2015.

“Looking back several years ago, the recruiting program was very different,” Emr recalls. “After implementing new processes and utilizing new tools we were able to come out of the downturn and be very effective with hiring at a very fast pace
to meet the aggressive requirements of the business.”

“The new recruiting model became our standard across all of Patterson-UTI’s companies and Energy Job Shop has been a part of that success, a great tool in our toolbox.”

— Rob Emr, Director of Talent Acquisition, Patterson-UTI

ENERGY JOB SHOP’S ENGAGEMENT WITH PATTERSON-UTI IN THE FIRST 18 MONTHS:

  • Job leads and events reaching 3 million users
  • 275,000 likes, shares, and comments
  • 91,000 unique views verified through Google Analytics
  • 27 percent reach to prospective employees internationally