In the male-dominated world of oil field services, Deborah Close is a pioneer – reputedly the first woman to head a well-servicing company in Alberta. She is used to smashing barriers, first as a French-degree graduate who became an engineering technologist, and then as a Canadian in London and Houston selling energy software. Now, her career path has taken her, at 58, to her hometown of Calgary, where she heads Concord Well Servicing – and where on Nov. 10 she tells her story as part of the Women of Influence speaking series.
What’s with this BA in French?
It’s most unusual for the work I do. I’m so rusty [on French] because I really haven’t used it for 30 years. But I was already working when I finished my degree. I had started in an Alberta regulatory agency as a clerk, and finished my degree part-time.
How did you end up in an engineering technology position?
It goes back to a time in 1974 when the oil industry was short of people – just like today. If you could think and were willing to work hard, a lot of the larger oil companies had their own technical training schools, and they put you through the program. I was at Amoco Canada – which was a great company for training. I stuck up my hand and said ‘Yeah, I’ll do that’ and they sent me off.
Are you left brain (logical) or right brain (creative)?
I’m a bit of both so I can do technical work but I’m probably more right-brained. I am very much a people person. My strengths are probably more on that side. Halfway through my career, I decided I was probably more interested in the business than the technical side and so I made that switch.
Could someone get that same on-the-job training today if they came in as an arts or humanities grad?
It is harder today, but there are opportunities. Once you get into a company, and show you have the aptitude and you can work hard, many companies will advance you. In Concord, many of our workers start out on the rigs out of high school, and we provide them with all the training. Our vice-president of operations today came up through the rigs. The opportunity is still there, but I won’t pretend it’s as easy as back in 1974.
How has it changed?
In those days, having a degree – any kind of degree – was your ticket to get anywhere. Now you need a master’s, maybe an MBA, and that bar just continues to climb. Still, there are lots of people, maybe from a general business program and without that specific [skill] training, and they will have to learn it on the job.
You once told an industry publication that Canadians aren’t aggressive enough sellers. What did you mean?
If you look at Canadian companies in general, as a nationality we tend to be somewhat understated. We don’t like the hard sell ourselves and so we tend not to do it. But if we are to compete globally, we have to put the hard sell on a little bit more.
Can you personally do that?
I can, although it is not always comfortable for me. After all, Canada is my background. But I worked in the U.S. for 13 years for [energy services giant] Halliburton and for a small Calgary software company that was active down there. You have to be more assertive there, whereas we tend not to tout our strengths and advantages. It is seen as a bit like bragging here, whereas in the U.S. it is more expected.
In the U.S. sales environment, they lead more with their strengths, whereas we tend to underplay them. Outside North America, people might not be able to tell the difference between a Canadian and American, but here we can pick out the subtleties. A lot of American companies take that assertiveness elsewhere and are quite successful.
