The Bauer MBA Society Energy Club hosted the Energy 101 Boot Camp Friday morning as guest speakers educated and encouraged MBA students about careers in the growing energy industry.
Paula Marsh, senior development career specialist at Rockwell Career Center, spoke about the general setup of different industries from gas, power and environmental energy.
“The biggest part for the energy industry to break in is not necessarily experience, it’s knowledge,” Marsh said. “The biggest (fields) Bauer students go into are the oil fields services companies — that is the core competency of Bauer.”
Full-time MBA student Ryan Hodge, president of the Energy Club, is passionate to see business students go into a field in energy.
“The energy industry is such a huge industry, no one really knows what it is,” Hodge said. “It is so huge, we really just want to give people a better idea of what the industry actually is and what’s it actually like working for it.”
“Ryan Hodge has done an amazing job of bringing the details together (for this event),” Marsh said.
Many first-year MBA students were in attendance to learn more about the specifics of the energy industry and the different fields to go into.
“I grew up in Houston, so the energy sector has been a part of my life far back as I can remember, but I lack specifics, especially when it comes to career opportunities within the industry, and so my goal today is to understand from the inside out and understand a little bit better what they are looking for in terms of talent and what positions may be available,” said first-year MBA student Jackson Lamb.
With so many opportunities in the growing Houston energy field, the possibilities for Bauer graduates are wide.
“I’m at a point where a career switch is probably a good thing for me to be considering, (as) energy (is) such a dominant employer here in the Houston area.” Lamb said.
Second-year MBA student Kevin Butler has been in the energy business for the past two years and took the opportunity from this event to network and learn more for future growth in the industry.
“I’ve learned about the different aspects of the energy business,” Butler said. “I think it is very important to have a network of professionals, especially here in Bauer — there are so many different professionals already in the business.”
Bauer MBA alumni from TransCanada and Siemens Energy gave the students helpful tips based on their life experiences on how to get into the energy industry.