From the time I launched ALLY Energy as a platform for the entire sector, I’ve heard from executives at all sorts of energy companies seeking talent. But never has the push for great workers been as voracious and urgent as it is these days.

It’s happening on all fronts. Energy companies need people with a vast array of skills – including, suddenly, large numbers of people who know how to build.

A slew of headlines from across the country last year showed this profound change: “Manufacturing roars back in 2022,” “Made in America is back,” “A brighter future for ‘Made in ‘America.’” We have moved into a new, golden age of U.S. manufacturing.

A great deal of this revolves around energy. With the push to decarbonize, an influx of capital from private markets, support from Washington and more, opportunities abound. And the new demand keeps growing by the day. The country needs to shore up infrastructure, electrify, fix dams and lakes, upgrade pipelines, plug wells, expand solar and wind farms and hydropower plants and much, much more.

But here’s the problem: For decades, the United States has largely outsourced this kind of technical, hands-on work. We moved so many of these jobs overseas that we failed to grow the needed talent pool at home. Fixing this requires both short and long-term solutions.

Energy companies need to offer training and development to help people who are already in the sector upskill and reskill. Companies also need to help people from other industries learn skills that will allow them to transfer in.

As a sector, we also need to focus on building a talent pipeline for future generations. This means working with schools, colleges, universities, trade schools and communities – where fossil fuel workers live – to strengthen STEM programs and training opportunities.

But it isn’t only technical skills at issue. Some of the most crucial skills of today’s workplaces are communication, leadership, people management, creativity, empathy, critical thinking and social awareness. These are human skills, and no amount of artificial intelligence will allow machines to take over anytime soon. Energy needs these as much as any other industry. We need grit, which I think of as an acronym for growth, resilience, innovation and transition.

Deane Ilukowicz, chief people officer for wind blade manufacturing company TPI Composites, notes that the rapidly growing field of renewables “will require adaptable individuals, committed, resilient and passionate about a world with cleaner energy. That said, the skill sets that exist across the energy sector are largely transferable between one form of energy and another. As an industry, we need to come together to help showcase our jobs to a broader talent pool and balance that with the equitable talent transition.”

This task before us may sound daunting, yes. But the good news is that we are not starting from scratch. In this great country, there are already people who have these skills –and many more who are ready to learn them. We just need to find them, reach out to them and help them discover the benefits of building a career in energy. It is the world’s most exciting and rewarding profession.

So here’s what I tell these executives when they call me, desperate to fill open positions: Believe it or not, fantastic potential employees are out there. They can absolutely be brought into this field. But to attract, retain and nurture them, you have to take a whole new, holistic look at the realities of the workforce. Just about everything about the workforce has changed. How well you navigate this new reality can make or break the future of your company.

It’s difficult to overestimate the extent of this seismic transformation. Today’s workers have options like never before. They’re largely driven by different goals from what used to predominate in business. They need tools and opportunities that they have not been given. And they come from parts of our nation that have, all too often, been overlooked. They also aren’t going to just come to you, you have to reach out and engage with them about the benefits of a career in energy.

Embracing DEI

For years, there has been a lot of talk about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in energy. But the numbers show that we still have a very long way to go.

The latest U.S. Energy & Employment Jobs Report finds that women make up only 25% of the energy sector workforce, compared to nearly half (47%) of the national workforce. Only 8% of energy workers are Black or African-American, compared to 12% of the overall workforce.

In some other ways, the energy workforce looks more like America. For example, the percentages of Asian, Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native workers are about the same as the overall workforce.

Still, the racial and gender gaps tend to become even more pronounced as you look at the higher ranks inside many energy companies. This, in turn, sends the signal to many women and minorities that they may not have adequate opportunities for advancement and promotions in energy.

A great deal of research shows that the more diverse, inclusive and equitable a company is, the more successful it is. People of different perspectives and experiences bring new ideas and innovations. So workplaces need to not only draw diverse staff from across the country and even around the world; they also need cultures that empower employees to speak up and be heard.

The same goes for ridding the industry of problems like harassment and bullying. In recent years, numerous reports have brought attention to the work needed on this front. Increasingly, people are sharing their stories -- including women and members of the LGBTQ+ communities. In one survey, almost 35% of workers in the energy industry said they had “witnessed or experienced discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation” over 5 years, Energy Live News reported.

There's also another big step energy businesses need to take to attract and retain people. It’s one that the pandemic brought into focus.

Work-life balance and integration

The “great resignation” of the last couple of years has been driven by multiple factors. The strong labor market and a plethora of opportunities are a big part of it. But so is the desire, among today’s employees, to have a greater work-life balance -- or, as some prefer to say, work-life integration.

Some of this revolves around caregiving. People who have children want, and expect, time to care for them – and this applies to everyone, not just women. It also isn’t just children who need caregiving. The “graying of America” means more people than ever have elderly parents who need to be taken care of as well.

Businesses need to give workers as much flexibility as possible. Some jobs can be done at whichever hours are most convenient for the employee. Some can be done from home. Others require on-site work at specific hours, but workers may wish to job share for these positions.

Increasingly, people are also seeking contingent work, consultancies, project work and freelance arrangements as well. Building the workforce means allowing people as many different kinds of opportunities as possible and making those opportunities both desirable and rewarding.

There's more. Sometimes, people take off a block of time from work for caregiving, whether for parental leave or family leave. It’s crucial to never give up on these workers. A great many want to come back. But at the breakneck pace of today’s business and technology, they can’t simply pause their careers and then resume as though they were never away. In the time they take off, a lot can change.

So people need “returnships” and career reentry programs. Organizations need to invest in training opportunities to help get these folks up to speed on the daily ins and outs of business. Fortunately, businesses don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” to make this happen. Small businesses, like Houston-based Parents Pivot, can be engaged to help people resume their careers – and to help businesses usher those employees back in.

It’s a marathon

The pressures on the energy sector are unprecedented. It’s not just that the world needs more power than ever; it’s that the world is also demanding that we lead toward a better future. We are transforming how energy is harvested, provided, distributed and used. It’s no exaggeration to say that billions of people are looking to energy leaders to play a major role in saving the world as we face climate change.

With all that pressure, we can quickly become overwhelmed. This is why we need to take on a very different mindset. We have to accept that we’re not sprinting, we’re running a marathon.

Having run marathons in the past, I’ve learned crucial lessons about what it entails. If you try to sprint, your body and mind will give out long before you reach the finish line. You have to pace yourself. You have to set small goals along the way and commit to achieving them. You also have to tune out the “noise” and focus on your goals. Don’t let anyone or anything distract you.

These days, proverbial “noise” is all around us. It’s in the news, social media, political debates and more. It’s not that these things don’t matter. It’s crucial to be educated and aware and to listen to numerous perspectives. But we can’t let all this distract us. Any day, we can give in to the latest battles and squabbles that suck up our time and energy. This is what we need to avoid. Setting goals for each stretch and staying laser-focused on them is essential.

There's another piece of this mindset that's crucial: understanding that we’re running as a team.

Uniting to forge ahead

In the ultra-competitive business world, organizations tend to work separately. In the energy sector, we’ve long operated in silos, with different businesses focusing on different forms of energy keeping distance. This needs to end.

Tackling the challenges ahead of us requires teamwork. All of our organizations have the same goal: to build the energy workforce of the future.