KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Global oil and gas companies have scaled back on hiring plans due to market volatility and low oil prices, according to Rigzone’s latest Global Hiring Survey.

Rigzone is an online resource for news, jobs, data and events for the oil and gas industry.

In a statement today, Rigzone said current market conditions have caused global oil and gas professionals to remain cautious in the negotiating process, according to Rigzone’s latest Global Hiring Survey.

It said more than 55% of global hiring managers reported that they have not seen an increase in the number of candidates asking for more money in the last three months.

“With that being said, for companies still in the market for talent, now is the opportune time to look, with 76% of global hiring managers surveyed seeing an increase in the number of candidates applying for positions now as compared to three months ago,” said Rigzone.

The survey said while the global candidate pool was getting larger, companies remain cautious, with many companies continuing to scale back on hiring plans due to ongoing market volatility and low oil prices.

It said polling industry hiring managers from across the globe, 47% of survey participants indicated that they reduced their hiring plans in the past three months, while an additional 16% said they had halted their hiring plans completely for the time being.

“Given the continued volatility of the market, the majority of oil and gas companies globally have changed their hiring plans in the short and, in some cases, medium term.

“Fifty-three percent of global hiring managers surveyed said they had decreased their hiring plans for the next six months as a result of the market environment, with only a fifth (18%) saying that present market conditions actually caused them to increase their hiring plans over this same timeframe,” it said.

The Global Hiring Survey results were released in conjunction with Rigzone’s announcement that OilCareers.com, an international oil and gas job board, has successfully integrated this week into Rigzone.

Rigzone and OilCareers combined strengths and now sit under one global platform, operating extensively across Europe, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas.

Rigzone International managing director Mark Guest said that with the integration of OilCareers into the Rigzone platform, the firms were collectively in a more ideal position to support the global oil and gas market and serve as a resource on a more global basis.

“In particular, we are looking forward to increasing our presence in the Asia-Pacific region, with almost a quarter of our total registered candidates from this region,” he said.