It is encouraging to see this industry continuing to attract graduates. In recent years, we have enjoyed a strong pipeline of new talent fresh from university filtering through the doors of companies across the supply chain, from major operators to small niche technology firms.
What is not so heartening is the feedback we are getting from industry about these graduates. As usual in this industry, it takes time to get to the root of the problem and to ascertain if it is industry-wide or simply something experienced within certain pockets of the sector.
However, central to our role as the Oil & Gas Academy is to listen to industry, delve deeper into the issues, ferret around to fully understand what the problem is and then come up with a solution that can be implemented by working collectively across the industry and with government.
Armed with an increasing amount of feedback about graduates, we delved, we ferreted and we arrived at the conclusion that the issue is quite simply the work readiness of new graduates.
What do we mean by this?
Put simply, the industry is finding that there is a steep learning curve involving significant time and resources from both graduates and employers before the graduate is able to contribute to the company in a meaningful way.
In an industry that badly needs skills and expertise now, the time lag is, to be frank, a real pain, and may, in some cases, put employers off taking on new graduates.
We cannot afford for this to happen. We need the new blood and new talent if we are to have a sustainable future. But we need our graduates to be able to hit the ground running.
OPITO – The Oil & Gas Academy, along with industry, recognises the contribution that academia makes in the development of knowledge and skills to prepare tomorrow’s workforce. Our role is to find an effective way of working with academia that collectively delivers solutions to the concerns raised.
Currently, there is no recognised mechanism for the industry as a whole to speak with a single voice to higher education. There is successful, but highly fragmented, activity between individual companies and various universities and other higher-education establishments.
The aim of the academy is to maximise existing industry investment or add value to it by having a pan-industry approach. We need to consolidate and co-ordinate effort to avoid duplication and fragmentation, but also to identify and then fill the gaps.
We do not want to replace existing company-specific projects with academia; we want to reinforce these through pan-industry activity. Our work will focus on learning and teaching, not on funded research or recruitment. To kick-start our work with academia, we are setting up a series of annual agenda-setting events involving a small, but influential, group of senior industry and academic representatives. They will agree a 12-month action plan based on a shared agenda that is arrived at through debate and research evidence.
The first of these, to be held this month, will focus on the issues of employability of graduates. How do we work collectively to ensure that the next round of graduates have the necessary skills to quickly integrate into industry to literally hit the ground running?
David Doig is CEO of the Oil & Gas Academy, which is headquartered in Aberdeen