One of the big decisions to make in entering the energy sector is whether to work directly with energy products, or whether to work in an advisory or supporting capacity with companies who themselves work directly with energy products. In other words, do you want to work for the pipeline operator, or for the bank that lends to the pipeline operator? Should you work for the turbine manufacturer or the fund that invests in the turbine manufacturer? What about joining the utility versus the government agency that regulates the utility? And how about the choice between the oil company and the nonprofit that advocates for policy changes in the oil company?
Looking at Figure 2.3, inside the circle, your primary job responsibility is analyzing, managing, or coordinating a flow of BTUs, electrons, or barrels of oil that your employer directly controls. Outside the circle, your primary responsibility is analyzing, managing and coordinating financial and information services, advice, and rules to facilitate those BTUs, electrons and barrels of oil making their way through the economy. Simply put, the companies inside our circle control BTUs directly, and those outside the circle do not.
The choice of whether to work with things versus ideas should be based on your personality and interests. Inside-the-circle jobs are conceptually hands-on--you may not literally roll up your sleeves, but you are directly involved in operating issues. People who work for the power generators, oil producers, and grid and pipeline operators can point to examples of their work while driving down the highway. Even if you are a lowly financial analyst inside a big oil company, the construction of a new LNG facility, for example, feels legitimately like the fruit of your and your team's labors.
On the other side of the divide, in the world of professional and financial services, regulatory oversight, and equipment supply, we find a far fewer number of jobs in total. In fact, there are twice as many inside-the-circle business jobs out there as there are outside-the-circle positions. However, these service and supply jobs are often very high value: steeper learning and experience curve, faster pace, and higher pay. In this world you are accountable for the creation of a study regarding the economics of oil production, rather than oil production itself; you work to solve problems on paper for energy companies, but are a step farther removed from energy production and distribution itself.
Many people working in professional and financial services companies and equipment supply companies define themselves first in terms of their job function and second in terms of their participation in the energy industry. For example, an energy investment banker will be hired as a generalist, and think of herself as a banker first, and an energy person second. Similarly, the content of work in energy consulting and strategic planning in an oil company may be rather similar, but the consultant thinks of himself as such and may more readily move out of energy and into another industry.
The service and supply jobs--the jobs outside the realm of direct control of BTUs--attract an overwhelming portion of the MBAs entering the energy sector. In part, this reflects traditional stigmas about what is and is not prestigious; but that reputation is linked in turn to who has traditionally offered higher salaries. The high-pressure consulting, banking, and investing jobs in particular are attractive to people who don't require a stable, low-stress lifestyle, and can trade off longer work hours for what can often be a faster career path, more challenge and more money. In addition, these firms often have somewhat more varied locations across the country--entering the energy industry in consulting, for example, doesn't force you to move to Texas the way entering the oil business usually does. Services jobs in particular not only carry a great deal of prestige, but they keep your options open--you can work in a consulting firm or bank and retain many options as to where to go next, whether it's to somewhere else in the energy sector, or to another industry altogether.
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