Oil Scheduler/Operator positions requiring experience?

I thought this job requires basically a degree and an internship but all I see is "5 years work experience in commodities or related field".

Should I just ignore the above or this type of job actually require experience? And what type of experience?

16 Comments
 

When I interviewed for a natural gas scheduler position I did not have any experience in the field. They did not require experience, but preferred candidates having some sort of background in commodities. It depends upon the company and how they run their operation. If you do not have experience, make sure you know how storage, distribution, etc work in the scheduler position.

 
"LastFrontier" When I interviewed for a natural gas scheduler position I did not have any experience in the field. They did not require experience, but preferred candidates having some sort of background in commodities. It depends upon the company and how they run their operation. If you do not have experience, make sure you know how storage, distribution, etc work in the scheduler position.

I second this, focus more on the operational side of gas trading rather than on the actual trading side when you prepare for a nat gas scheduling interview. Storage movements and cross-border flows, balancing markets, nomination rules, etc. are what you need to know a whole lot about.

 
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"LastFrontier" When I interviewed for a natural gas scheduler position I did not have any experience in the field. They did not require experience, but preferred candidates having some sort of background in commodities. It depends upon the company and how they run their operation. If you do not have experience, make sure you know how storage, distribution, etc work in the scheduler position.

Completely disagree.

If you have no experience, college interns or new grad or 1-2 years of work exp but no real experience please do not do this. Please do not interview as if you have any understanding.

Take it from someone that's interviewed over 100 schedulers, hired well over 20, and trained up about 10. If you try to convey you "understand" with no real hands on experience, that's a sharp ding from my standpoint and I'm an extremely forgiving individual. Also, please do not underestimate the requirements and work load.

Most shops are at least 3 cycle gigs, 8am to intraday 10am. Lesser 4 cycles and even lesser 5 cycles, but each company has at least if not a few designated folks working till 7pm daily. We work ours to the bones, and it's just dry scheduling. Couple do some same-day cash but not much past that.

 

I work as a nat gas scheduler on a part-time basis next to my studies. My firm ONLY employs students (both undergrads and masters) for scheduling both in gas and in power, regardless of relevant experience...

What they look at instead is your overall intelligence, attention to detail, communication skills and ability to work under pressure. If you have experience, that will help of course but it is by no means necessary.

I guess it depends on the company but I also saw a similar organizational structure in a few other firms. Hope this helps, but I have no idea about the oil side of things.

 

I find that hard to believe. I'm sure some people are students, but the ops guys interacting with the traders and making decisions (not just nominating stuff on pipes and updating spreadsheets) are definitely not part-time students..

For the click click stuff, sure.

 
"Kant" I find that hard to believe. I'm sure some people are students, but the ops guys interacting with the traders and making decisions (not just nominating stuff on pipes and updating spreadsheets) are definitely not part-time students..

For the click click stuff, sure.

Most places, sure. There's one big shop that still has college interns. This shop has been slowly losing its size and power, but still among the top 8 or so in NG specific.

 

Well then you find it hard to believe.

There are full-time trade support employees yes, but ALL of the schedulers are students.

 

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