Will alberta oil industry recruit an international student?

<p>Hi, I'm an international student planning to enter University Of Calgary. Most probably I'll major in Bsc Oil and Gas Engineering.
I'll be authorized to do summer internships when I get the off campus job permit ?
I will also get a 3 year work permit upon graduation.</p>

<p>Given that I'm an international student do you think I'll have success in finding internships and jobs in Alberta?</p>

<p>It will be good if someone knowledgeable about job climate in Alberta.</p>

<p>I would contact the University of Calgary career center if they have one. I know in the US a company won’t give an international a job (or internship) unless they have permanent work status in the US (this is specifically for undergraduates).</p>

<p>I disagree with you. You can get a job for any of the service companies. From all of the international Petroleum Engineers I know, the super big oil companies such as Shell, Exxon, Chevron and BP generally ask for around 2 years of experience from the international undergraduate PETE students before being invited for interviews. What you have to do to end up with the best is to work for a service company such as Halliburton, Baker, Weatherford and others for a few years and then apply for a job with the super majors. However if you have connections in the oil industry, you could try using them to get a job. </p>

<p>Vindpuss, I would also recommend that you look at schools such as: </p>

<p>Texas A and M
UT Austin
LSU
University of Oklahoma
Penn State
Colorado School of Mines </p>

<p>These are the best schools for Petroleum Engineering in the United States and I believe that their placement rates are higher than their Canadian counterparts. However, University of Alberta and Calgary are good options as well. Many oil companies recruit from there since only 2 colleges in Canada have the program. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them as long as you stay at the top ranked programs as an international. Just focus on getting a few internships, a good gpa and building personal connections and you should do fine.</p>

<p>You can disagree with me all you want, but I assure you, you need permanent work authorization in the US to be hired to work in the US. Each company is granted a certain number of sponsorships but those are almost exclusively used for masters/PhD students.</p>

<p>To be clear, this has nothing to do with being international. An international student can get any job he/she wants. This has everything to do with work authorization. I don’t know how it works in Canada, but in the US I would not give someone a job or internship that could only work for 3 years. I would spend thousands of dollars training them only to lose them when they become valuable.</p>

<p>I can apply for PR status after 1 year of work experience. With the Alberta oil boom do you think I’ll be able to find a job in Canada. If not what are the choices. Please answer this question only if you know how things work in Canada.</p>

<p>Another question you should ask. If you are relying on an “oil boom”; how long will that boom last. It will be 4 years from now when you will be entering the job market.</p>

<p>For what it is worth, I’ve seen business climates change significantly in less than 4 years.</p>