Geoscience Internships in the Oil and Gas Industry: A Winning Proposition for Both Students and Employers

The oil and gas industry provides many opportunities for graduate students in the geosciences to experience professional life in one of the largest industries in the world. Students often get to apply what they are studying, whether it is at the Master’s or Doctoral level. Just as often, they get to learn something completely new within their specialty (e.g., stratigraphy, seismic processing). Successful internships consist of a well-defined project that is aligned to the student as well as properly selected company staff. Students should choose opportunities where the project is aligned with their goals when possible and make the most of opportunities to learn from industry professionals across a range of disciplines during the internship, both technically and on the business side. Student internships are a major recruiting vehicle for both oil companies and service companies. Faculty play an important role in internships as well: They must ensure that the student is ready for an internship and use their professional network to identify opportunities. At the end of 3 months, both student and company know each other well and are positioned to move forward in terms of career choices and hiring, respectively.