PETROLEUM ENGINEER CHANGES TO HR

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Esther Ogologo decided in her final year studying petroleum engineering to switch to human resource management because she has a passion for working with people.

In this article, Esther will take us through her journey thus far, how working in human resources is, her growth, and how she is settling into human resources

Kindly introduce yourself.

My name is Esther Ogologo. I am the assistant manager of HRBP services at Aureole and have been a Human Resources professional for close to three years.

Which school did you attend and what did you study?

Wow, I attended Covenant University and I studied petroleum engineering.

What is a petroleum engineer looking for in human resources?

Oh my God, wow, I can’t believe you are asking this question. Hmm, what is a petroleum engineer doing in HR? Well, I think it will be passion. Trust me, if we want to dive into that, we won’t leave here today. But I will summarize it. I got to a point in school when I was studying petroleum engineering, I just knew I wanted to dive into something different and so, I will say, lucky for me , there was a drive to try and see what human resources is about and I still don’t understand why, but I am here. That’s the most important thing.

If you have an opportunity to go back, will you pick human resources?

Answer: Hmm, this is a very dicey question because I am more of a God-focused person. I believe that whatever happens in life is predestined for a particular purpose and God has the ultimate plan. So, I don’t know if I will want to go back. Like I said, in a situation, if I had gone back to do human resources management, then I would come out and say I don’t like human resources. I don’t think I will want to change anything about my life now. I’m doing HR to see if there’s a connection, and my long-term goal is to work for an oil and gas company. I want to infuse human resources and petroleum engineering together. God has a master plan, and I am at where he wants me to be now and the whole process is following it.

Your parents don’t have issues with you transitioning into another career path.

At first, they were confused; they didn’t know why I wanted to switch because it didn’t sound right to them. How could I study for five years and finish with good grades and decide to switch career paths into something that I did not have any idea about? I think they later saw my passion. My dad is indifferent so long as you are not idle, and you earn money and you won’t disturb him. My mom is very supportive of my passion, and she has learned more about human resource management because of me. She is happy I am doing what I love, though she is surprised at how I am handling human resource management without prior knowledge and she is very proud of me.

What is the human resources profession to you and what do you like about it?

Answer: I think I love 360-degree human resource management. Human resources involve different aspects in terms of the whole 360-degree cycle, like from when an employee joins to when an employee leaves, which includes searching for talents, interviews, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and training and development of the employee. I like employee engagement, benefits, and so on. I enjoy the fact that I get to be involved in not only the strategic part of the company but also assist in managing people. Like I always say, people are what comprise the company. If there are no people, there is no company. I don’t really have a particular part of human resources I like because I like everything, which might sound selfish.

Have you taken any Human Resources-related courses?

I have my Human Resource Management Certification. That was the first course I did, and it made me a Certified Human Resource Management Practitioner. I have taken a couple of other master classes in human resource management and employment laws, and I will still take more courses.

Will you go back ten years with the knowledge you have now, or will you go twenty years into the future with twenty million naira?

Trust me, I will go twenty years into the future my darling, because the past is in the past and I feel the past is part of my growth process. Instead of going back to dwell in the past, why don’t I go forward because I feel I have so much to achieve. I mean, they say the sky is your starting point, and I feel there is so much to do, so much to learn, so many beautiful people to meet in the future, so why will I dwell in the past? So the future it is , mehn, forward ever, backward never.

What is the next thing for Esther as the assistant manager of HRBP services?

I think the next step for me is to understand what I am doing and my new role. If you understand what you are doing, then you will know what to put into it. Because this is a managerial position and I will get to harness your leadership skills, for me the first thing is to understand why I am in this position, what my duties are, and how to improve, because for me, being moved from HRBP consultant to this position means my bosses saw some qualities in me and I want to know how to properly use these qualities and how to work with my team, because now people report to me and I need to be responsible for their outcomes and their performance. My plan is to create the best and bring profit to the organization in terms of my new role.

If you are interested in transitioning from one career path to another, you may need to start by creating guidelines; do you have passion? Are you ready to learn? Do you have the skill set to transition? Can you do unpaid internship to learn about the profession? You can also register for career counselling with Aureole by send an email to info@aureole.ng.