By Maria Angela Capello, SPE, Lorenzo Izarra, Monique Schlanger, SPE, Jennifer Calderin, SPE, and C. Susan Howes, SPE.
The Career Advancement Network (CAN) was created within the SPE Gulf Coast Section to support energy professionals through every stage of career transition, whether between positions or while exploring new directions in an evolving industry. Since its founding as “Members in Transition” in 2015 and its 2023 rebranding to CAN, the initiative has served more than 4,000 job seekers through its signature energy professionals hiring events, traditionally held alongside major SPE conferences such as the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) and the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). On Wednesday, 19 August, CAN took a deliberate step beyond its SPE roots, hosting a pilot energy professionals hiring event at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston in conjunction with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG)/ American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) at the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy (IMAGE) 2026. The pilot was designed as a direct test: Would the CAN model resonate with employers and job seekers across the broader geosciences community?
The question mattered because of a structural gap in CAN’s reach. Although CAN was born within SPE, geoscientists can and do hold SPE membership, a substantial share of the geoscience workforce belongs exclusively to the AAPG and SEG, the two associations that jointly host IMAGE as their largest annual meeting. Piloting a hiring event at IMAGE gave CAN a direct way to reach these professionals, who face the same career-transition realities as their SPE counterparts but had, until now, fallen outside CAN’s traditional footprint at SPE-managed conferences such as ATCE and OTC.
The results were remarkable for a pilot event: ten employer companies participated as hiring organizations, meeting with a total of 217 registered job seekers. Employers collected resumes over the 4-hour window scheduled for this in-person event and conducted approximately 300 on-site conversations. The event was endorsed by AAPG, SEG, and SPE, and 12 volunteers staffed the registration desk and floor. For a first-time pilot, the turnout confirmed what organizers had hoped: the appetite for structured, in-person hiring events runs just as strong within the geosciences community as it does across SPE’s broader membership.
The event was chaired by Lorenzo Izarra and Monique Schlanger, working within the framework of the CAN Committee, led by CAN's Chair, Jennifer Calderin, and supported by volunteers and IMAGE organizers. Their months of planning, employer outreach, and coordination with IMAGE organizers translated into a smooth, well-attended 4 hours—one more proof point in CAN’s now 18-event track record of connecting energy professionals to opportunity.
Running CAN’s format inside a new conference ecosystem also meant testing new operational models, and two features distinguished this pilot from CAN’s SPE-affiliated events. First, registration for the hiring event was fully integrated into IMAGE’s general conference registration, rather than routed through a separate CAN sign-up page as is customary at ATCE and OTC. Second, all marketing materials—including the event poster, digital promotion, and on-site signage—were produced and distributed by the IMAGE marketing team itself, rather than by CAN volunteers, who have traditionally carried that workload for SPE-related editions. Both changes showed that CAN’s model can be embedded directly into a partner conference’s own infrastructure, expanding what CAN is able to offer across the energy sector without adding strain to its volunteer base.
Encouraged by this reception, CAN plans to repeat the energy professionals hiring event at IMAGE in subsequent years, adding a third recurring touchpoint alongside ATCE and OTC. Energy professionals, recruiters, and volunteers are encouraged to watch IMAGE’s and CAN’s social media channels for the call for registration ahead of next year’s edition. As CAN extends its reach beyond SPE, its founding premise holds that career transition is a natural part of any professional journey, and no energy professional should have to navigate it alone.
The next energy professionals hiring event will be held at ATCE in Houston on 23 October. Click here to register as an employer for this event.