IPTC 13429

A Multidisciplinary Professional Onboarding Program for E&P New Hires

Tamir Aggour, Saudi Aramco

Copyright 2009, International Petroleum Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology Conference held in Doha, Qatar, 7–9 December 2009.

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Abstract
This paper describes the Saudi Aramco Professional Onboarding Program (POP), a two-week multidisciplinary project-based
program designed to accelerate the development of young engineers and their integration as contributors into the workforce.
The POP initiates E&P new hires into the Saudi Aramco culture, serving as an initial bridge between academia and working
in the company. The program is an introduction to the technical E&P environment and to the business and interpersonal skills
required to be an effective and efficient professional. The project-based program provides participants the learning
opportunity to develop lifelong, transferrable skills and values. The program also helps set the framework and context for
future career development activities. The results of the pilot of the program will be presented, along with future plans for
enhancing the program in anticipation of an E&P-wide rollout.

Introduction
As the oil industry works it way through the sometimes violent throws of energy price swings, some of the underlying
industry issues remain pertinent and must continue to be addressed. In a brief time span where large industry projects have
been initiated/cancelled/postponed/restarted worldwide, and a worldwide recession has resulted in increasing job losses, the
oil industry is still hiring and the crew-change is still underway. Oil companies taking a long-term view of the industry
continue to aggressively hire new employees, and developing young professionals into independent contributors as quickly as
possible is a top priority.
As companies scramble to replace a retiring workforce, they must also deal with retention issues in an extremely
competitive market. The issue of employee retention has long been a favorite topic of discussion in the HR community.
Research shows that the first six months of a new hire’s tenure are critical to future employee retention and motivation. This
suggests that the initial experience for new hires must be a good one, allowing them to integrate effectively into their new
workplace and immediately feel engaged. Another critical factor impacting retention rates is the availability of training and
career development opportunities. Companies that appreciate these concerns can take action by providing an engaging
induction process for new hires, and ensuring that efficient professional development and training opportunities exist, are
easily accessible, and are highlighted to new employees.1, 2, 3
The term ‘onboarding’ is used to refer to the process of integrating new employees into the organization. Ideally, this
process will make new hires feel welcome and engaged, and prepare them to be productive contributors. Typical HR
onboarding programs serve as a new employee orientation, familiarizing the new hires to the company’s structure, policies,
and benefits. The nature of these topics is somewhat dry, and care must be taken to avoid overwhelming participants with a
barrage of paperwork and boring presentations. First impressions last, and care must be taken to provide a positive initial
experience.
To be effective, onboarding must be extended beyond the typical HR efforts, and the technical organizations where
engineers and geoscientists will work are responsible for accommodating this vital need. Thus, line organizations, including
management, must help to facilitate the successful integration of new hire into the workforce.

Recent Graduates. While the previous discussion is applicable to all new hires regardless of experience, hiring university
graduates directly upon graduation poses additional development challenges that must also be addressed immediately.
Dealing with newly hired recent graduates poses a twofold challenge: develop recent graduates with little or no experience
into contributing employees as quickly as possible, while providing a positive experience (both initially and throughout their
early careers) that will motivate them to be effective employees.
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When dealing with recent graduates, developing into effective contributors requires both technical and non-technical
development. Companies expect recent graduates from accredited programs to arrive with both a sound technical foundation
and a basic non-technical skill set that includes effective communication skills, familiarity with working in a team
environment, and an appreciation of the need to be a lifelong learner.4 Often referred to as ‘soft skills’, this category of non-
technical competencies has been universally identified as being critical to effective contribution in the workforce. Perhaps the
term ‘behavioral competencies’ would be a better phrase, to avoid the possible negative connotation of the word ‘soft’ which
may be interpreted as being less important than other skills.
The transition from academic life as a student to a responsible professional is not an easy one, and companies who truly
want to accelerate the time to competency must consider the development needs of this transition. Many universities require
students to participate in an industry internship before graduating. These internships can provide some early insight and
training for the professional world, but the lack of consistency in the experiences that students are exposed to means that
there is no standard of exposure to professionalism and responsibility that can be assumed. Thus, a specific focus on
developing professional workplace skills should be embedded into the development plans of newly hired recent graduates.
These skills include taking responsibility for and managing one’s work, effective workplace communication and interactions
etc.
The increasingly collaborative nature of our industry requires both technical depth and breadth to complement the non-
technical skills. Awareness of the entire E&P cycle and how each discipline contributes to the process is important, providing
insight to how employees fit in to the success of the company.
New graduates with petroleum engineering degrees will have sound fundamentals in drilling, reservoir and production
engineering theory, and an awareness (but no depth) of the geosciences, usually having taken a couple of geology courses
(basic and petroleum) and being introduced to the basic concepts of exploration geophysics. They should have a basic
understanding of the E&P cycle. Graduates with degrees in geology will often not have a solid understanding of the oil
industry, perhaps (but not always) having taken petroleum geology course and occasionally an elective ‘Introduction to the
Petroleum Industry’ course. Geophysics graduates will likely not have been exposed to the post-exploration aspects of the oil
industry workflow. Graduates of other engineering/science disciplines who are hired into the oil industry (e.g. mechanical
engineer hired as a driller, electrical engineer hired as a log analyst, mathematics or physics major hired as a geophysicist
etc.) will probably have no oil industry knowledge. Thus, providing an early introduction to the industry is necessary to
provide an understanding of the ‘big picture’, helping to understand where and how they will contribute to the business.

Upstream Professional Development Center

Saudi Aramco is continuing its tradition of prioritizing professional development to sustain its ever-expanding operations
with the Upstream Professional Development Center (UPDC). Set to open in 2010, the UPDC will be a state-of-the-art
facility where upstream professionals from Exploration and Producing will receive training that spans their entire careers,
from recently graduated new hires through to senior professionals and technology leaders. The center will be equipped with
the latest technologies, specifically designed to enhance learning and customized to the development needs of Saudi
Aramco’s professionals. This includes providing interactive learning environments, simulators, immersive visualization
caves, and ultra-modern classrooms. The center is designed to accommodate the large number of new hires expected in the
upcoming years, the majority of which will be new graduates.
In conjunction with this effort, Saudi Aramco is evolving the way it develops professionals. As described in a previous
paper5, the existing model of competency-based training has been enhanced, resulting in a curriculum-guided development
roadmap that is customized to the specific business needs of each discipline. Providing technical depth and breadth in an
efficient and timely manner, the curricula accelerate the development of young engineers and geoscientists into independent
contributors while providing a career-long development framework.
The curricula consist of both formal training and structured work assignments, providing an opportunity to practice
specific skills in a timely manner subsequent to learning the prerequisite knowledge and skills in a classroom, online or
virtual environment. Structured assessments throughout all phases of professional development activities ensure that the
desired knowledge, skills and behaviors are effectively delivered6.
The formal courses are a combination of internally developed and externally sourced offerings. The development of
internal courses incorporates adult learning theory, with teams of instructional designers, graphic artists and technical writers
collaborating with the company’s Subject Matter Experts to build training that is effective, efficient and customized to Saudi
Aramco’s operating environments. Working with external instructors, the UPDC Professional Development Advisors ensure
that vendor-offered courses are also being adapted to be Aramco-specific, focusing on the true business needs and
incorporating appropriate data and examples.

Training for Newly Hired Recent Graduates. To address some of the development needs described above, recently
graduated new hires from all E&P disciplines will participate in a series of multidisciplinary development activities designed
to:
• Familiarize them with the E&P cycle and workflows within Saudi Aramco
• Expose them to the company’s diverse operations and field operating environments
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• Develop critical professional and non-technical skills

• Provide an understanding of how they will contribute to the success of the company
• Provide an opportunity to interact with young professionals from other disciplines, kicking off their internal
networking and preparing them for future multidisciplinary interactions
This initial phase of professional development includes activities in classroom and field settings, and will be completed
within the first six months of joining the company. The combination of early multidisciplinary exposure along with some
discipline-specific courses results in ‘immediate contributors’ who can start to participate in real work as they continue on
their paths towards independent contribution. The focus of this paper is the first element of the immediate contributor phase,
the Professional Onboarding Program.

Professional Onboarding Program (POP)

Overview. The Professional Onboarding Program initiates E&P new hires into the Saudi Aramco culture, serving as an
initial bridge between academia and working in Aramco. The POP is an introduction to the technical E&P environment and
to the business and interpersonal skills required to be an effective and efficient professional. The project-based program
provides participants the learning opportunity to develop lifelong, transferable skills and values. The program also helps set
the framework and context for future career development activities.

Description. Throughout the two-week program participants work on an integrated field development project linking the
various elements of E&P together to demonstrate the multidisciplinary interactions and how components link to each other
rather than acting as separate elements. Working in teams, participants use data from a real Aramco field and proceed from
exploration through to full field development planning and economic analysis. The simplified project emphasizes the E&P
industry life cycle and workflow, rather than the technical depth involved in specific disciplines. In doing so, it introduces, in
context, current and emerging technologies, and emphasizes that managing uncertainty is critical to the E&P business.
The participants get hands-on practice at working and contributing in teams, and learn the value of networking and
accessing all of the available resources available to them. Structured presentations and reports on their work product provide
an opportunity to develop critical technical and professional communication skills. The program is designed to simulate the
modern working environment, preparing participants for their professional careers. As such, it is conducted during regular
work hours. While a few planned breaks are provided throughout the day as appropriate, as in a normal work environment
participants are free to come and go as they deem necessary. There is minimal lecturing during the program; the learning is
mainly experiential, with a small number of lectures and discussion sessions interspersed throughout the program to facilitate
the learning. Participants get a chance to work both individually and in teams. At the conclusion of the course, the teams
present their results to a management panel.

Participant Outcomes. The POP delivers important behavioral competencies, and introduces key technical concepts in a
manner that sets the stage for their upcoming training and professional activities. Upon successful completion of the program,
participants attain the following benefits:

Non-Technical Outcomes. Participants will understand and appreciate the importance of, and get real practice on,
• Appropriate work behaviors in an office environment
• Working effectively in teams
• Appropriate meeting behavior
• Leadership
• Technical communications (reports and presentations)
• Communication within the workplace
• Identifying personal strengths and areas for improvement
• Basic HSE awareness

Technical Outcomes. Participants will leave the program with:

• Hands-on practice at working a complete technical project from beginning to end and reporting the results
• Hands-on practice at economic evaluation
• Practical awareness of the E&P life cycle and workflow within Aramco operations, and the technologies employed
• Awareness of the integration of various disciplines in E&P
• Appreciation of the role they will play, and how they fit into the big picture of Saudi Aramco’s technical operations
• Awareness of a systematic approach for asset development, optimization and management
• Insights into the knowledge and skills needed, and the technologies used, to become a competent technical
contributor
• Awareness of the risks and uncertainties associated with the industry, and how they can be managed
• Appreciation of the personal relevance and overall context of future technical training
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Feedback to Participants. All participants are expected to actively contribute to in-class discussions and to their team
projects. Throughout the program, participants receive continuous feedback on their project work, presentations and reports.
The program concludes with presentations to management, who provide immediate feedback to the participants.

Instructors. The course is facilitated by both technical and non-technical instructors. The technical facilitators guide the
participants through the technical workflow, providing information and guidance as they proceed from exploration through to
field development planning. Ideally there is a geosciences facilitator and a petroleum engineering facilitator to facilitate the
Exploration and Producing aspects of the workflow, respectively. However, the simplified nature of the project makes it
possible to have only one technical facilitator throughout, provided that the facilitator has technical breadth across the E&P
workflow. The soft skills facilitator provides instruction and feedback on teamwork, communication and professional work
habit issues.

Course Content
Rather than simply provide a daily schedule of the program, a more detailed narrative of the course will be presented. To
simplify the discussion, the technical and non-technical elements will be discussed separately. The actual delivery of the
course interweaves the two elements from beginning to end. It should also be noted that the majority of the course time is
spent working on the technical project and practicing behavioral competencies, with less than eight hours of formal lectures
being delivered over the ten-day program duration.
The program starts with an introduction to the course and its objectives, and the simulation scenario that is the premise of
the project is presented. The participants are presented with some initial information about an area of interest, and asked to
conduct an analysis on the commercial development potential and attractiveness of the area that results in a recommended
course of action.

Non-technical. The non-technical components of the project are integrated throughout the program, addressing specific
issues at the appropriate time and within the context of the technical project. Being able to practice these behavioral skills on
a continuous project is an engaging and effective approach that transfers to the real work environment, as opposed to
standalone soft skills courses that are usually more generic in nature. Standalone courses are useful as a complement to a
more contextual application and can also serve as a refresher and reinforcement to these important skills.
The importance of non-technical skills is communicated to the participants at the beginning of the program, supported by
showing them data from the analysis done as part of developing the various curricula, which showed that non-technical skills
were ranked as being highly critical to effective contribution in the workforce. The fact that these results were consistent
across all disciplines emphasizes the importance of these skills, and throughout the program participants get a chance to
practice and further appreciate this issue.

Project Management. A brief overview of both personal work management and project management principles is presented
to help them plan their project work. The importance of using a systematic approach (systems model) to solving problems is
presented and discussed, and basic project management tools such as RACIE charts are introduced. Specific to the E&P
cycle, the overriding importance of rates, volumes and uncertainty is also discussed. These topics are referenced throughout
the project work

Group Norms. To help instill professional work behaviors and habits, a discussion of group norms leads to the participants
coming up with a set of ground rules and a code of conduct that they hold each other accountable to.

Workplace Personalities. The importance of developing and improving self awareness, and understanding individual
differences in the workplace, to being a successful professional is discussed. Participants get exposed to models that clarify
these issues and a chance to do a self-analysis to better understand their personalities from a professional perspective, and
practice using this information to develop a mutual understanding between individuals within their team. Exposure to
personality and learning models such as the Johari model and the conscious-competence learning model, and taking
assessments such as the MBTI, provide valuable insight that will help participants in their professional careers.

Teamwork & Leadership. Through a combination of interactive discussions and activities, the various issues related to
working effectively in teams are introduced and continuously practiced throughout the program. As the teams are formed and
begin working their projects, the functioning of the teams is continuously monitored and feedback is provided. Reference to
standards of team development, such as Tuckman’s Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing team development model, are
used to help the teams assess how they are performing and see where they can improve. It is important that the technical
project work is designed in a way that lends itself to requiring effective teamwork to be successfully completed. Leadership is
also addressed, providing guidance on effective leadership practices and giving each participant to get some practice on this
skill by rotating team leaders on a fixed schedule.
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Communication Skills. The importance of communication skills in the workplace is universally acknowledged, and the POP
provides a significant dose of verbal and written communications practice. During the project, two formal presentations and
two formal technical reports are delivered. The first report and presentation coincide with the conclusion of the exploration
phase, and the final report and presentation are delivered to a management audience at the conclusion of the program. Brief
lectures on effective presentation preparation and delivery, and technical writing, are provided at the appropriate time during
the project. Supporting references are provided to the participants to help guide them, including links to industry standards
for technical writing and presentations, templates, and work samples.
Daily status reports, both written and verbal, are presented by the rotating team leaders each morning, providing
additional practice for each participant and simulating an event that occurs in most work environments. Continuous feedback
on all written material and all presentations ensures that participants have a chance to identify areas for improvement and
further refine their skills. The importance of communication within teams is also addressed, both during the project work by
observation and direct feedback, and in a daily morning meeting held with the team leaders and the facilitators. Several
course-related communications within the teams and between the participants and the facilitators are conducted on the
company’s online collaboration network, introducing participants to another valuable corporate resource.

Technical. The technical project worked on during the POP is a simplified (but legitimate) analysis of a prospect area from
exploration through to field development planning. Considering the diverse group of participants (freshly graduated new
hires from all disciplines) and the overall objectives of the program, the challenge is to design a project that is realistic,
engaging and challenging, while maintaining a level of detail that is appropriate for the audience and allows the project to be
worked in an efficient manner while integrating the non-technical elements. At the end of the program, teams recommend an
optimal field development plan.

Simulation Scenario. Participants are presented with an offshore area of interest that had some seismic coverage and is
nearby to a producing onshore field. They are tasked with moving through the exploration process to determine the potential
for future development of the prospect. At various stages in the project, participants are allowed to ‘drill’ wells and use the
resulting data to move forward with the project analysis, ultimately leading to an optimized field development plan.
Projections of the economic potential of the project as well as an uncertainty analysis on both volumes and profit are
required. The following sections will briefly describe the technical workflow and decision points for the project. All data
used in the project is from an actual Saudi Aramco field.

Exploration – Seismic Interpretation & OOIP. Participants interpret existing seismic lines with the objective of identifying a
subsurface structure that has the potential to trap hydrocarbons. With guidance from the facilitator, each team develops a
contour map that should indicate a potential hydrocarbon trap. A very rough estimate of Original Oil In Place (OOIP) can be
calculated using the contoured area and the analogous data, to get a rough sense of the potential volume of the deposit.

Exploration – Wildcat Drilling & Rig Selection. If the seismic interpretation and initial volumetric calculations justify it, the
teams can propose a wildcat well to establish the presence of hydrocarbons. This requires participants to competitively bid on
a drilling rig, selecting from a limited number of rigs on a first come, first serve basis. The rigs are rated for different water
depths and have a wide range of day-rates. Based on the available data (which they may have to search for), participants must
select the cheapest rig that is available (some suitable rigs are listed as unavailable), and will have to retain the same rig for
all planned drilling activities. This will have an impact on the economics of each team’s project. After securing a rig,
determining the exact drilling location and target depth, and calculating the estimated drilling cost, each team must submit a
drilling proposal and authorization for expenditure in a format similar to that actually used within the company.

Results of Wildcat Drilling – Update OOIP. In the simulation, the results of the drilled wildcat wells are delivered to the
teams (the news of a discovery is posted to the online team spaces overnight) and they are provided access to core samples
and well logs from the discovery well. The participants use information gathered from inspecting the core and analyzing the
well logs to confirm the initial seismic interpretation and calculate an updated OOIP.

Delineation and Field Development Plan. With the confirmation of a commercial discovery, the next stage involves
developing a delineation program to confirm the extent of the reservoir, and an optimized full-field development plan.
Participants are provided with all the necessary technical and economic data, development options and constraints to proceed
with the project. Each team considers multiple scenarios and eventually arrives at an optimal recommended plan.
Development options include different well types (vertical, short horizontal, long horizontal) and different production
facility options (FPSO, build a production platform with separation facilities and pipeline). Production forecasting is
calculated using exponential decline methods. The drilling schedule is constrained to limit the number of wells that can be
drilled per year, and participants must come up with a detailed drilling schedule and field-wide production schedule for each
scenario they consider. Delays in the start of production are allowed, and in some cases required (e.g. waiting on the
construction of a platform). All development scenarios must maximize areal drainage of the reservoir.
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Economic Analysis. Throughout the project, the economic impact of all decisions is considered. Participants conduct a full
cash flow analysis on the development scenarios they consider. The projects are optimized based on Net Present Value, while
ensuring that all of the economic indicators (e.g. Rate of Return, Payout Time and Profit to Investment Ratio) satisfy Saudi
Aramco’s actual economic screening standards.

Uncertainty Analysis. To emphasize the importance of properly identifying, quantifying and accounting for uncertainty,
participants are required to perform uncertainty analyses on volumes and economics. Using ranges for reservoir properties
(e.g. thickness, porosity) and economic inputs (e.g. oil price, drilling costs), the teams perform three-level estimates (low,
high, best estimate) reflecting the best and worst case scenarios along with the expected case, and probabilistic analysis
(Monte Carlo simulation) yielding distribution curves of likely outcomes. The results of these analyses reinforce the value of
acquiring accurate data and as much information as possible, and highlight the potential pitfalls of neglecting to account for
uncertainty and risk.

Reference to Future Job Roles. As participants move through the project, reference is made to the relevant Saudi Aramco
department that is associated with each portion of the workflow. This familiarizes the participants to the roles and
responsibilities within the company and shows each individual where they fit into the value chain. The various phases of the
project also involve discussions of the tool and technologies associated with the various tasks. For example, whereas the
production forecasting for the project work is simplified using decline curve analysis, during that portion of the program the
facilitator leads a discussion of the production forecasting tools used in the company, as well as the various inputs to the
simulation models and where they come from. The discussion of reservoir simulation as a predictive tool provides valuable
awareness to the members of other disciplines, and a forward look into future professional development needs and job roles
for reservoir engineers.

Project Platform/Simulator. As discussed earlier, the technical objectives of the program focus on awareness of the E&P
workflow rather than detailed technical depth. Aligned with these objectives, to facilitate progress through the project work, a
digital platform consisting of a series of integrated spreadsheet-based interfaces was developed for use in the pilot of the
program. The POP Field Development Simulator performs all of the required calculations for the field development planning.
The platform allows users to specify a drilling schedule, allocating the number, type and order to drill wells year by year.
Using participant-entered input variables, production profiles (oil, gas and water) for the different well types are calculated
and automatically incorporated to generate a field-wide production profile based on the drilling schedule. The production
facility options can be selected, and the production profile for the field will adjust the start of production based on the option
selected. A further delay in the start of production can be dictated by the user if desired. All of the costs associated with
drilling, processing etc. are calculated and integrated into a cash flow model. Users specify product prices, price escalation
and discount rate, and the cash flow model calculates the required economic indicators.
The ease of use of the simulator allows users to investigate multiple scenarios in the quest for the optimal plan. Issues
such as the cost-benefit impact of accelerated production from horizontal wells compared to the additional cost, the
consequences of start-up delays and the effect of oil price fluctuations can be easily examined and understood using the
platform.
It should be noted that while the simulator is used to do the majority of the development planning project work
calculations, participants will get a chance to manually work each calculation that is required at least once before turning to
the simulator for the repetitive calculations. Thus, at the appropriate time during the project, participants will individually and
manually calculate the cost of drilling a well, develop a production profile using exponential decline, calculate economic
indicators from a series of cost and revenue streams, etc. Having demonstrated that they understand and can perform the
various calculations, there is no need to spend extra time building and programming their own spreadsheets to perform and
link the repetitive calculations.

POP Pilot
The program was piloted with 18 participants from various disciplines within upstream E&P. The course was facilitated by a
geoscientist, a petroleum engineer and a soft-skills facilitator. Throughout the program, participants had a chance to work as
individuals, as a part of a team, and as team leaders. As planned, two major presentations and two technical reports were
delivered, in addition to daily status reports. The final presentation was attended by management representatives, offering
participants a chance to demonstrate their work product and communication skills to a high-level audience.
The feedback received was very positive, with participants confirming that the learning objectives of the program were
achieved. Participants highlighted the benefits of the non-technical training received during the program, and felt that this
aspect of the program gave them critical skills for their professional careers that they would not otherwise receive. Awareness
of the integration of the various disciplines throughout the E&P life cycle was identified as being very beneficial. Several
participants commented that they appreciated being treated as young professionals who were expected to produce high
quality work and were encouraged to be interactive throughout the program, rather than students who were there to passively
absorb information. Also critical to the success of the program was the tangible technical work product that participants
generated, allowing them to get a feel for working a realistic problem from beginning to end and delivering results. The
IPTC 13429 7

program was designed to be both challenging and engaging, and these qualities motivated the young professionals to take
pride in their work. Despite having little work experience (less than one year), the participants demonstrated a high level of
professionalism that included excellent punctuality (sometimes an issue with training courses) and an excellent work ethic.
The management representatives were impressed with the quality of the presentations and the project work that was
accomplished. They were also pleasantly surprised with the quality and thoroughness of the technical reports, which was
even more impressive considering the short time period that was available to prepare them. As a result of the success of the
program, it has been recommended for all future upstream E&P young professional new hires. The next section will discuss
the future developments planned for the POP.

Future Development
The success of the POP pilot served as a ‘proof of concept’, and with the decision to establish it as the first professional
development activity for all newly hired recent graduates in E&P comes the need to perform a thorough review of the POP
and implement any suggested enhancements.
One factor that was considered for the widespread rollout of the program was the number of participants expected to
attend the course in the future. The forecasted attendance for the POP is very high, so there was a desire to streamline the
ease of progressing through the project even further. The numerous annual sessions anticipated also places a burden on
sourcing enough qualified technical facilitators to handle the load, as the class size must be kept low to ensure an effective,
interactive learning environment. Thus it was determined to ensure that the design would allow for the program to be
delivered with only one technical (E&P) facilitator and one soft skills facilitator. It was also desired to slightly expand the
Exploration portion of the workflow, having it start at an earlier stage if possible.
To accommodate these needs, a new digital platform is being developed for use in the POP. The platform will allow
participants and facilitators to access all POP-related material, including presentations and reference documents, from a
single location which is also where the technical project work is performed. The technical workflow will be expanded to
allow participants to select a seismic program, i.e. choose the amount of coverage they want with a corresponding variable
cost, and the exploration workflow will be part of the platform. Certain elements of the project workflow, such as ensuring
adequate areal coverage and determining well spacing, will be made easier to perform by allowing users to ‘click and drag’
well locations and drainage areas onto a digital map of the area. Saving the results of different scenario runs for comparison
will also be made easier, and will all be done from the unified platform. The enhanced platform is cosmetically appealing and
functionally efficient, expanding the technical workflow and allowing a smoother progression through the project.

Conclusions
Integrating new hires into the workforce as contributors as quickly as possible is a primary objective for oil companies. Most
recently graduated new hires in E&P companies will have a solid background in the fundamental sciences, but they usually
will have little real-world work experience and limited or no E&P-specific knowledge. Training programs must
accommodate the needs of this population and develop both the technical and non-technical skills needed to effectively
contribute in the workforce. The early portion of a new hire’s career is a critical phase that impacts future motivation and
performance. The Professional Onboarding Program represents a proactive way to engage young professionals and generate
interest in their future careers at an early stage, while delivering several technical and non-technical skills crucial for
professional success. A pilot of this program demonstrated the value of early engagement, and showed that today’s young
graduates are capable of delivering quality work and adapting to the professional world with the proper guidance.

Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Saudi Aramco for permission to publish this paper.

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