Lyle Andrews, head of graduate recruitment at BP, and Trevor Garlick, regional president, BP North Sea, look at what you should be doing to land a place on a graduate scheme
As many people in the oil and gas business are aware, around half of the industry’s employees will be eligible for retirement over the next five to seven years.
That means that the industry must keep on planning for the continued and sustainable development of our workforce.
The industry faces a talent shortage, as the “great crew change” emerges. However, out of adversity can come opportunity, especially if you are a graduate.
At BP, we have taken steps to ensure that we will have the right talent in place for the short, medium and long term. Each year, we invest in graduate talent, taking on hundreds of graduates in the UK and around the world. Additionally, we invest in BP’s workforce, spending over $500million per year on training and development.
A graduate joining BP can expect to receive some of the best professional development opportunities of any company in our industry. Our graduate programme offers exciting development opportunities working with leading-edge technology. BP’s flagship graduate scheme – the Challenge Programme – ensures that new entrants gain relevant opportunities to develop the necessary skills for their personal and professional development.
Graduates who join the three-year programme receive combined training of both formal learning opportunities and practical experience. The programme further maps out the first three years of a graduate’s career, during which they are normally placed in at least two different roles.
From day one of their placements, graduates work on real projects, while receiving continuous vocational training and support. At BP, we also encourage graduates to work towards getting chartered status in their discipline.
Throughout the programme, graduates are supported by their team but also an assigned mentor, who is able to offer technical assistance when needed, but also help the graduate in building an internal network at BP.
Each year, we also offer graduates the opportunity to discover what a career at BP may entail via a number of graduate engagement initiatives. These include BP Discovery Days (open days where students can apply to come into BP and gain an understanding of what we do), paid internships and a competition for STEM students called the Ultimate Field Trip (UFT).
For the UFT, students are presented with a real-world energy challenge and asked to develop practical solutions. This competition has been held on a yearly basis since 2009 and each year the winning team is sent on a paid summer field trip to an international BP location.
This year, we are expanding the competition to graduates in five BP locations, with teams entering from Angola, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK and US. The winning teams will come together in the summer of 2014 at BP locations in Alaska and Chicago. This year’s UFT competition launched for entry on October 1 at www.BP.com/uft/uk
Graduates are a key element of our North Sea business development and we are taking in a healthy annual intake to help us plan for the long term.
Our North Sea business has some projects that will be producing beyond 2050 so young people can, with confidence, consider a long-term career in the North Sea and globally.
We would encourage students to take part in activities, such as this year’s UFT competition, BP Discovery Days and internships.
They will provide you with the opportunity to discover what a career in the oil and gas industry might entail and the great variety of roles that we offer across the energy supply chain.
Furthermore, these activities help to improve your chances of securing a place on a graduate scheme – whether at BP or elsewhere – by giving you the opportunity to gain relevant industry experience.
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