Training & Personal Development at Santos

Formal training is abysmal and very much lacking. On the job training is reasonable however there is a lack of defined steps in reaching the next level and there seems to be a little contradictory with pushing us to perform however capping every graduates pay at the same level regardless of performance and regardless of job position.

Officially, graduates are assigned a series of learning modules to revise technical knowledge. I find a lot of these modules to be ill-fitted and sometimes mixed. While working in the ProdEng space I was given ResEng related modules which are useful for my current role, but ill-suited at the time. The modules sometimes sport errors or issues in their exercises. On-the-job training by team-mates is subject to the team and their workload. My first team did not do a good job training me as they tended to be busy. My second team did an excellent job training and instructing me. So it tends to be variable. Generally my largest learnings are with practical day-to-day tasks and contextual knowledge (i.e. seeing facility equipment in person).

Induction could be improved. Felt overwhelmed at the beginning with Santos systems and didn't have someone show me through or knew where the appropriate guides were so took me longer to get up to speed here.

I've learned a huge amount from being thrown in the deep end with my current team, with sufficient support from mentors who are always willing to answer questions. Formal training has been poor, as the confusing training programs are frequently rolled out, adjusted, redesigned completely, and rolled out again. It is often unclear how important these actually are, or where I am supposed to get the information to answer specific technical questions.

Good training opportunities but need to work additional hours to keep up with workload.

Training offerings extended to graduates and early career staff are excellent. I have been privileged to attend several training courses across the country as well as a conference. I have picked up skills in sequence stratigraphy, core analysis, modelling, evaluation, petrophysics. An improvement would come in greater external involvement to Santos. On the job training can be hit or miss as time is very stretched for many in the company.

The budget for training is great and I have never been knocked back when I have asked to complete an external course. There is a big focus for on the job training but because there is often a limited number of senior staff with high workloads it can be difficult for junior engineers to learn one on one.

The employer does not focus on employee breadth across the industry but rather how to do your specific job better which is both good and bad.

More training courses should be offered to graduates. Petroskills were not helpful, too long and not manageable to complete more than 1 or 2 short courses.

Not heaps of formal training. It has been more learn on the job.

I feel like I have received a lot more informal/on the job training than formal training as formal training seems to have limited offerings and limited spaces which may then be allocated to more senior team members (who have been waiting for the training longer). The options and availability of formal training that we are able to do also depends on what your leader is happy for you to do and if your leader is aware of trainings and will ask you to complete them. There should be some more general training available to anyone to complete any time that suits them so you can tailor your training to your development plans from the very start (I believe petroskills is coming to do this but it is still yet to be rolled out)

The formal training is very good and accessible but informal training is completely up to you to get people to show you how things are done etc..

Very good, very well supported by most team leaders. Trainings are often very professional with hand-outs and documents well prepared. Some of the training is a little messy - e.g. You need to join via a Teams invite link, and the link is never sent out, or I've been enrolled into a 2-day course which was actually just a 1-day course (would have been worse if it was the other way around)

Santos offers a wide range of training and courses which is excellent. Senior employees in the company are always willing to help and take time to mentor you. On the other hand, Santos says they like to prioritise graduate learning but if you put in a large team or if there is more than 1 graduate in your team, training is not distributed equally. For instance you may be the team for a long time and have expressed you would like to attend a specific training course. When the training coarse finally arrives, the other graduate is selected to attend while you are not. When you raise your concern, you are told that the there is no more room on the training budget and that seeing you have been in the team longer you are more valuable in the office rather that attending the training.

You get thrown in the deep end, which means you learn a great deal on the job. There are great people to learn from and work with. Formal training can be limited, you need to be very self-driven to seek out opportunities and there has not been any structured training across the graduate program making everyone's opportunity very different.

Petroskills is still not available for this year. Last year I have 5 months to complete 60+ hours of online training. It doesn't work if it is not rolled out at the start of our rotations. My on the job training is great and my supervisor is very helpful in seeking out external courses for me.

Various formal training opportunities provided at random by vendors. Online platform (PetroSkills) is also useful but struggle to find time to complete courses. On the job learning was limited in office role, but has improved significantly since moving to site

There are lots of opportunities for training. However, they are often pushed from HR and the technical function. Rather than actually being the kind of training we are asking for.

Extreme lack of mentorship and day to day or formal technical training

I think the informal training is great, as there are lots of people available and happy to help. I have learned a lot through doing, and have been given huge amounts of responsibility which has taught me hard skills in Petroleum, as well as soft skills in project management, managing people, etc. Formal training they are trying to establish, but people don't tend to get time to do the training as they are caught up in their day-to-day responsibilities.