Oil and gas industry skills body Opito said today its first transition training programme of this year is under way – and all nine attending have already found new jobs.
This course is for mechanical technicians and will be followed by further programmes covering instrumentation, process and electrical disciplines.
The initiative is targeted at skilled workers with relevant practical experience in other industries with fewer career opportunities.
By developing their existing skills to suit the oil and gas industry, the programme aims to provide a trained, competent workforce in a relatively short space of time.
All candidates on the first programme have already secured full-time mechanical technician roles in the industry and will begin work after their seven-week training programme.
One of them, Paul Mason, 29, has joined the course after 13 years as a workshop technician with the RAF. Originally from Billingham, near Middlesbrough, his career has seen him travel across the world, working in places like Afghanistan, Cyprus and the Falklands.
Mr Mason said: “After 13 years in the RAF and visiting the vast majority of locations available to me, I was in pursuit of a new and exciting challenge. Leaving the RAF for a career in the oil and gas industry was daunting at first, but it seemed like a natural progression for me, as there are many parallels to draw between the two.
“In the military you must have a firm set of technical skills and be able to constantly think on your feet and adapt to even the most demanding situations.
“I heard about the transition training programme through the Career Transition Partnership and I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to improve my chances of gaining employment after leaving the RAF, while building on my existing skills. The promise of a role in the industry at the end of the course was a big pull for me as getting your foot in the door is sometimes the hardest part.”
Larraine Boorman, managing director of Opito UK said: “With around 10,000 new jobs expected to be created in the oil and gas industry over the next five years, the UK oil and gas industry is well aware of the pressures to attract the right people with the right skills.
“Finding such large numbers of people with the necessary skills prompted Opito to create transition training programmes intended to encourage workers with an established knowledge base and experience of other industries to switch to oil and gas where there is a long-term need for core skilled employees.
“We are always looking into different ways in which we can help keep the talent pool growing and provide a structured mechanism for replenishing the oil and gas workforce, over the short, medium and long term. With industry and key stakeholder collaboration we can ensure the programme expands and provides a workforce specific to the industry’s needs.
“Industry engagement is vital in the development of these programmes in order to ensure employment opportunities are guaranteed to those individuals successfully completing the programmes.”
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