As a member of the Black Employee Network Group and the IT Inclusion Steering Team at ConocoPhillips, Corley recruits students in college. “One of the things that we have done over the past three years is to start to recruit at Prairie View A&M University, an HBCU located in the Houston, Texas, area,” she said.
“We are trying to introduce technology and oil and gas [career paths] to our students at historically Black colleges, and I am very proud of that. It is an opportunity for us to expand that and for us to get other companies to come out and start to see the great resources that we have at our historically Black colleges.”
Corley said it is important that companies like hers recognize the talent and resources found at HBCUs because these institutions “can help to build our talent pipelines, provide needed technical skills, and help address the talent shortages of the future.”
Having worked for ConocoPhillips for 28 years, Corley had this advice for students interested in entering the oil and gas industry: “Understand the industry. Learn what technology is being used. Work hard and get a mentor.”
“Average is not good enough. You [have] got to be above average,” she added. “You [have] got to do more, so you want to be seen in that first three years of your career because it is really, really important.”
