Just months before the Covid 19 Pandemic began, Chelsea Jolley graduated with a master’s degree in geology, packed up all her stuff, moved to Houston, Texas, and began working for Marathon Oil.
“I was very excited and very nervous at the same time, but I knew that I just needed to take it one step at a time,” Chelsea said.
Her job was exciting, new, and very fast paced. A challenge she was ready for. But then, something happened that took the whole world by surprise, Covid broke out, and everything shut down. Without people traveling for work or vacations, the demand for oil and gas fell dramatically. Add in a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, and prices fell even further.
Every major oil company began mass layoffs. Exxon Mobile let 14,000 employees go globally, Shell 9,000, and Chevron 6,750. Marathon was no different. Chelsea was laid off along with 200 other employees, in one day. Her dream job was gone.
“I was devastated. Really sad to be honest,” Chelsea said. “It was a hard day, but I had a great support system with my family. When I called and let them know, they said to take a couple days and we would figure out a new plan.”
She was scared and didn’t know when things would pick up again. Thoughts about moving and changing career fields began going through her mind. With so many layoffs in the Houston area alone, the demand for any job openings was very high.
Chelsea said that her family’s support helped her to stay strong, even when her life wasn’t going according to plan. They were there to talk when she was having a hard day, but they also told her, “you can sit around, or you can get up and get going.” This was the motivation she needed to keep going. She found a job outside of her career field, moved to a smaller apartment, and made other sacrifices to make it through.
“It was a hard year, but it was a really good year,” Chelsea said. “I’d have really hard days, then something really special would happen the next day that got me out of that funk.”
After about a year, Chelsea has been able to accept a new job in the oil industry. This time, in Fort Worth, Texas. She’s excited for this new chapter in her life. To those still in the thick of it, she said the following:
“Trust that this life is a good life. There’s always something good on the horizon, sometimes it just takes a little while to get there.”
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