This is an incredibly tough summer for students, especially those graduating into a global recession. More than 200,000 students will graduate this year in the UK and, with more than 13% of employers apparently set to further reduce their graduate recruitment targets for next year, the situation is not looking too optimistic.
The energy sector would appear to be one of the few bright spots, whether renewables or oil&gas. And Aberdeen might offer the best opportunities of all, despite the air of caution that pervades the city following the oil-price rollercoaster ride up to nearly $150 and down to less than $40 per barrel over the past 12 months
While companies have undoubtedly reined back, some, such as drilling consultancy Norwell Engineering, have held firm on graduate recruitment.
This admittedly small firm says it intends to take on as many as ever. Norwell currently has 20 on its Aberdeen payroll and generally takes on one graduate a year, though it has been as many as five at one time. Of those hired, the company claims to retain 50-70%.
Norwell offers an internal training scheme that was accredited by the Engineering Council in 2003 and which allows staff to progress to Chartered Engineer status.
The firm’s MD, Iain Adams, says: “It is unrealistic and probably not desirable to retain everyone we recruit and train in our offices. Some personnel are more suited to working in larger organisations and some go on to work as consultants in the industry.
“The reality is, however, that many companies don’t have a structured training programme in place at all. We put a lot of effort into giving them a solid grounding and I’d like to think that the time the graduates spend with us is viewed positively within the industry and benefits them further in the future.”
Graduates at Norwell get an introduction to the drilling industry by working in the Aberdeen office for six to 12 months.
This allows them to be involved with project planning and preparation, eventually implementing such skills for real on rigs three or so years further on.
The company also encourages all employees to further develop their theoretical skills by undertaking additional university courses, as one of its graduates is doing.
Adams: “Our engineers are mainly recruited from engineering disciplines and all employees are given the opportunity to further develop their theoretical knowledge by undertaking the MSc in Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh. It is a distance-learning modular course and so there is flexibility in the time period and intensity.
“Our main goal has been to organically develop our staff base from new graduate engineer through well site engineer, drilling supervisor to project manager, and this has been the process over the last 10 years.
“From a company perspective, hiring new graduates is a time-consuming way of recruiting new personnel as it requires significant time to train and mentor them.
“For us, the positives of this approach definitely outweigh the negatives, as we are effectively starting with a blank canvas and they don’t come in with any preconceived ideas or self-imposed limitations on what they are capable of.
“We now have an excellent group of engineers with a broad knowledge base to draw on. We look at our staff group and see our future managers coming through the system, which makes the effort at graduate level all worth while.”
In its 20-year history, Norwell has worked for more than 70 client companies, including BP, Shell, Petrobras, Talisman, Dana, Apache, Venture and Statoil in virtually every oil&gas industry location in the world from Alaska to Australia and China to the Congo.
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