By Matt Nemeth

As oil companies start to rehire, some former workers decide not to return

Feb 2, 2017 | 4:42 PM

Medicine Hat, AB — North American oil production has been ramping up as of late. After a few rough years, companies are boosting output as they look to improve their bottom line. However those companies, especially oilfield service operations, now need workers. But some former ones are no longer interested in the industry.

Resumes in hand, job seekers came down to Canyon Technical Services Thursday. The oilfield services company was hosting a job fair as they look to hire around 30 additional people.

“Things seem to have stabilized quite a bit,” said Medicine Hat base manager Randall White. “Our customer base is ramping up a lot of their programs, so we’re hiring to make sure we have sufficient staff available to be able to respond to that.”

One person looking to land a job at the fair was Amir Wahdan, who has let go from Halliburton in February causing him to have to scramble for work.

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“It was pretty difficult,” said Wahdan about life after losing his job. “I just need(ed) to find a job pretty fast, I went to lift some furniture and this kind of stuff, then I went to work with PepsiCo./Frito-Lay.”

Because oilpatch workers like Wahdan went out and got other jobs during the downturn, staffing has actually become a bit of a challenge for companies like Canyon.

“Some people have left the province, and the people that have stayed behind they’ve taken jobs in construction, retail, agriculture, wherever they can find a spot,” said White.

Neil Osadchy is one such person. After working for nearly 10 years in the patch, he decided it was time for a change after being let go from Trican when they shut down in Medicine Hat.

“The money isn’t there anymore, big companies aren’t paying the money or bonuses they used to,” says Osadchy. “And my kids love me being home.”

Osadchy now works for ReStore, Habitat for Humanities main revenue generator in North America. Even though things are starting to pick up in the oilfield, Osadchy says he’s not even a little bit enticed to return. And he’s not the only one.

“There’s a bunch of guys that have already gone back, but there’s also a bunch of guys like myself that are just done with it,” said Osadchy.

But as things continue to get better people like Wahdan will still be looking to get back into the industry.

“If you’d asked me 3 months ago I would have said cautiously optimistic, but as of right now I’d take out the cautious…I’d say we are optimistc” said White.

There just may not be as many former workers who share that same level of optimism after what they’ve gone through the past two years.