11/18/2010 4:43:40 PM
Oil & Gas: When I grow up I want to be a....
So there I am, aged 15 and waiting to speak to the school
recruitment advisor to decide on what I want to do with the rest of
my life.
"Well at the moment I like science and working on computers,
Miss," I offer.
"OK, have you considered medicine? Your computerised profile
also suggests an IT career or a solicitor..."
Growing up on the south coast of England, nobody I knew had
heard of the offshore or subsea oil industry, and as youngsters all
we knew of Aberdeen was that its football team was the first
Scottish side in our sticker albums!
So why aren't the amazing opportunities within the oil and
subsea industries a strong consideration for school-leavers when
they are planning what to do with their lives?
From hands-on roles working offshore to the designers and
engineers who build the infrastructure, there is such an abundance
of jobs from which to choose.
According to the Oil and Gas UK
website, "You could find yourself working on multi-billion pound
projects which incorporate new, cutting-edge technologies to
produce a commodity required by people the world over". Some recent
reports suggest that investments made in the oil and gas industry
could make up for about 20% of all investments made in the UK.
Quite a decent-sized sector to enter into, then.
Conversation with my clients over the past few years suggests
that graduates are just not entering into the oil industry and
instead are looking at “sexier” industries such as IT and
aerospace.
It’s a shame because the oil industry workforce needs to be
nourished by new blood yet the necessary volume of graduates
doesn’t seem to be coming through. From my experience the
opportunities to work in the oil industry are fantastic, with the
chance to work all over the world on real cutting-edge engineering
projects – and the chance to earn a really good income.
So if I was that 15 year-old waiting outside the recruitment
office again, I would seriously be considering the oil industry and
the different opportunities it can offer.
David James
Oil &
Gas Section Manager
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ARM