“The award itself has been better than a bonus.”
These were the words of Graham Skinner, named Young Professional of the Year, at the Offshore Achievement Awards (OAA) two years ago.
The well engineering and operations manager with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) never expected to be nominated or even win an award.
But his hard work and determination in his role helping others coming into the industry paid off and he was recognised by the judge for his hard work.
He said: “At the time I was working through a graduate development programme with the drilling contractor KCA Deutag.
“It was an international programme and we were working rotationally in the field and then back in the office.
“During that time and over and above the programme I was doing a lot of additional tasks within the business, volunteering every possible opportunity.
“I was doing extra stints in the field to maximise my learning and I helped with the development of the graduate programme I was on.
“Gathering lessons learned and feeding it back into a more thorough competence assessment for the first two years of the programme.
“As a result of that I was also quite involved with the mentoring of the new graduates who were coming through.
“Taken as a whole that was the basis of my nomination. I think it was the variety and especially the mentoring aspect that stood out for the judges.
“I was thrilled to be nominated in the first instance and I had a look at the other nominees who were also very strong.
“I was pleased to be alongside them. I was very surprised when I won. I think what set me over and above them was the feeding back into the business to develop things for those coming after me.”
The oil worker had words of advice for those trying to get their foot in the door and move up the industry ladder.
He said the low oil price had made it “very tricky” to get into the industry currently.
Taking any opportunity available, he said, had helped him in getting where he is today.
He added: “One of the things that has always stood out in my cv during interviews is the fact that I have got my hands dirty and that I’ve worked at the coal face so to speak. Worked with the tools and understood how they work, so any opportunity to get involved so any opportunities should be grasped.
“You’ve got to stay positive, what I’ve found in my experience is if someone really wants to get into the industry they always do.
“It takes time and it does always take a break. I was recently at a mentoring event for Oil and Gas Skills week last year.
“Every one of the mentors was able to talk about the exact break that they got that got them in to the industry and certainly a personal network helps but also being prepared to things that
are slightly different to maybe your final job or what you envisaged but will help you get some related experience.
“I’ve certainly appreciated the personal recognition I’ve got from the award, I really feel they’re not given enough value in the industry at the moment.
“It’s a great way of demonstrating to someone in detail what they’ve done that you appreciate. It’s the sort of recognition that lasts a lot longer than a cash bonus.
“Here we are talking two years after I won my award and there have been lots of other opportunities I’ve had in the last two years. That award itself has been better than a bonus. “
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