As the global economy continues to claw its way out of the recession, oil and service companies are beginning to sense a return to normalcy. Consistently high oil prices have helped provide a needed break from the rollercoaster that commodity prices sometimes emulate. New projects are being taken off the shelf and reexamined. And staffing issues are starting to come to the forefront.

As well they should. At a recent conference on talent management in Houston, one speaker indicated that in the U.S. 20% of petroleum engineers will be eligible to retire within the next four years. While many postponed retirement due to the recession, it is likely that a more robust economy will see older workers rethinking their strategies.

Meanwhile, incidents like the Deepwater Horizon disaster don't exactly burnish the industry's image. Younger people considering their career paths have not been immune to media images of the burning drillship or the spreading oil slick. It makes recruiting extremely difficult, to say the least.

According to Mark Guest, managing director for OilCareers.com, the industry must address the misconceptions that prevent people from considering oil and gas careers. "We live in bubbles," he said. "We know everything about the industry. We know hydrocarbons make the plastic on this binder, that it's all around us. It's not just running your car.

"But the vast majority of people think it's harming the environment."

How does a recruiter overcome these misconceptions? For starters, the benefits of a career in oil and gas might be surprising to people who are unfamiliar with the industry.

"It's a good career," Guess said. "It will allow you to progress. You will be well-paid and well-trained. You'll learn a lot, and you'll get opportunities that other industries just can't offer-- the opportunity to travel, the opportunity to develop, and the opportunity to earn.

"I think we need to go back to communicating some of these basic messages."

The need is certainly there. In addition to the looming threat of a mass retirement, demand for hydrocarbons continues to grow, and meeting that demand means that by 2030 the world will need to find more proven reserves than are currently known.

This provides hiring opportunities for two main professions, geoscientists and production engineers. The geoscientists will be looking for these "missing" reserves, and the production engineers will figure out how to wring every last hydrocarbon out of them.

Where will these new recruits come from? Increasingly from Asia. Western companies are challenged by visa issues for certain nationalities, but Guest said it's imperative for them to figure out how to hire and retain these people.

"Otherwise the companies in the emerging markets will take the lead," he said.

Ultimately, recruiting the next generation is going to require some education, he said. "If we don't have oil, what do we have? The answer is, in their lifetimes, nothing. If a young person would say to me that the oil industry is dirty, I would say, 'Then why don't you do something about it?'"