Turning Curiosity into Careers

Developing talent, whether through structured or on-the-job training, is central to how our people grow within SLB. But we think just as much about the talent still to come: the students in school and university, still deciding where they want to build a career.

Science and engineering students don't always grasp the full breadth of the energy technology sector – what the work involves, the challenges we solve, and the impact we make. Together with academia, we set out to change that, driven by the shared belief that the best time to invest in future talent is before they've made up their minds.

The way we act on it is hands-on. We meet students where they are, giving them access to mentoring, high-level challenges, and training on the key technologies and solutions our industry runs on. More than a classroom exercise, it's a real glimpse of what our work is like under pressure—so that when the time comes, they'll want to be a part of it.

It’s the thinking behind SLB’s first-ever PetroChallenge in Guyana. Over 48 hours, teams from the University of Guyana's Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and The Bishop's High School built and ran their own energy companies from the ground up. Exploration risk, production decisions, environmental responsibility, and long-term value creation. The full lifecycle of the industry, compressed into two days. And students rose to the challenge.

The same formula traveled to the other side of the world. In Kazakhstan, our Artificial Lift Solutions team and the SPE Astana Section organized an engineering Case Championship. Ten student teams from Nazarbayev University spent five days working through real operational challenges — prioritizing underperforming wells using Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) data, analyzing failures, finding root causes, and proposing fixes. Faced with genuine operational problems, their solutions didn’t disappoint.

From a machine-learning concept for real-time well scoring, to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), powered by an AI assistant, that calculated the economic impact of their approach, the quality of solutions was remarkable. One team’s solution so closely mirrored what SLB is currently piloting in the field that the four winners earned the opportunity to join SLB for summer internships.

Preparing students for a career with us means giving them access to the same digital workflows we use globally to solve complex energy challenges. That’s exactly what we’re offering 300 students and their lecturers in Mozambique, alongside hands-on training to turn that access into real-life proficiency.

Deepening a partnership that started in 2014, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Universidade Eduardo Mondlane to donate licenses to our industry-leading software portfolio – including Petrel™, Techlog™, PIPESIM™, ECLIPSE™, and INTERSECT™ – to the university's faculties of Science and Engineering. As Mozambique's energy story gains momentum, the goal is straightforward: make sure the people who will shape that story have the tools and skills to do it well.

The common denominator to all this is our people. They come together, wherever we’re based, to continuously engage with the next generation of talent to share what a career in technology and energy can look like.

Our industry needs curious, bold, and adaptable change-makers. They're already out there. We just have to find them early enough. 

The common denominator to all this is our people. They come together, wherever we’re based, to continuously engage with the next generation of talent to share what a career in technology and energy can look like.

Our industry needs curious, bold, and adaptable change-makers. They're already out there. We just have to find them early enough.