Screeds have been written about the skills shortages facing the oil and gas industry, which appears to struggle to attract the skilled people it needs, and at a time when the British economy could hardly be described as being in rude health.
Skilled people have been described as in “dangerously short supply” and the situation as being “severe” and an “obstacle to growth”. And yet this is an industry that may create up to 34,000 new jobs in the next two years.
This is an industry that, despite its maturity and cautious approach to challenges, is nonetheless pioneering on the engineering and technology fronts.
Great ingenuity has been displayed time and again as oil companies and their supply chain face up to increasingly complex technical challenges, especially on the subsea front, whether green- or brownfield developments or operational challenges.
“Perhaps then, it is inevitable that the skills shortage currently facing the industry is particularly acute in the subsea sector, and the solution has to be for the industry to become more proactive and resourceful in terms of recruitment and training,” says Morag McGowan, Wood Group Kenny’s regional HR manager for the North Sea
WGK is a unit of the Aberdeen-headquartered Wood Group. It specialises in engineering design and life cycle management of subsea facilities, pipelines, risers and marine renewable energy developments worldwide and is among companies leading the way with a two pronged approach to tackling the current skills shortage.
This involves an innovative new cross-industry training programme “New Energy Jobs” that aims to plug the current gap in availability of experienced engineers, and development of their graduate recruitment programme, which McGowan reckons should go some way to ensuring that the problem does not persist in years to come.
“The New Energy Jobs programme is actively targeting engineers who have upwards of three years’ experience in diverse areas such as civil engineering and construction sector, the armed forces, and the building and fabrication sector, as well as engineers who have worked within utility and transmission companies, and gained experience of onshore pipelines,” she says.
“Recruits embark on a comprehensive, five-week industry-specific training course that includes a wide range of topics including HSE, risk management, the lifecycle of subsea operations and industry specific terminology as well as soft skills such as client awareness and presentation skills,” she says.
“Wood Group Kenny has an In-house On-Line “Academy” with over 40 lessons available as learning primers for new recruits needing to understand the basics. Within two months of joining the company, they will be in their new post and working on real projects.”
Tim Galbraith recently joined Wood Group Kenny as a project engineer having previously worked as a civil engineer.
Talking about the training he said: “I didn’t know much about the oil and gas industry before I started thinking about a career change, but I did think that my project management skills would be transferable.
“My current role is really very similar to the one I had before, but in a different industry. The skill set required is the same; I just needed to pick up the technical knowledge. I learned a lot from the initial five week training, there are ongoing opportunities to improve your knowledge via regular “lunch and learn” sessions, and I have also been on a number of training courses.”
While engineers recruited through the New Energy Jobs scheme undergo periods of industry training, McGowan says it is important to emphasise that prior work experience is valued, with placements that acknowledge their past.
For example, applicants with less than five years experience might be recruited at project or operations engineer level, while more experienced individuals might be offered senior engineer, project manager or team leader positions.
James Csöppü joined WGK after 27 years in the Royal Engineers and is currently a project manager with the company.
He said of his transition into civilian working life: “There has been some adjustment in coming from a senior position within the armed forces to my current post at Wood Group Kenny, but overall the move has been a very positive experience.
“While the principles of engineering are the same, and project management skills are transferable, some things are done differently and you need to take time to learn about those.
“I have been given the opportunity to learn from other people’s experience, but at the same time, it is clear that the people I’m working with who know my background very much value the project management skills I developed in the Royal Engineers – after only a few months with the company I have been invited to join some working groups.”
He believes his past life equips him especially well for overseas assignments.
On graduate recruitment, McGowan says the WGK programme is all about getting out to universities around the country and working to increase the diversity of applicants by letting people know more about the opportunities that exist within the industry and what the company can offer.
“Our main focus is on finding the right people with the right skills, rather than fixing a specific number of graduate vacancies,” says McGowan.
New Energy Jobs recruit Kellie Grumball did consider the oil and gas industry as a career when she first graduated with a degree in civil engineering, but then decided to stick with what was more familiar. Therefore her experience may be quite representative of many.
Though there are pockets of expertise around the country, in general, as one moves away from the Scottish north-east, awareness of the industry declines.
People may think of the industry primarily in terms of the companies that have a strong retail presence, while engineering companies like Wood Group Kenny are likely to be less familiar to new graduates. This is an issue, therefore a challenge for the entire industry.
It needs to work with educational establishments to improve knowledge of the full range of opportunities that exist.
McGowan says WGK’s graduate programme itself has met with a very positive response and there was a healthy level of applications at the last round.
“Another issue we are working to tackle is the misconception that the opportunities within the industry all revolve around a two week onshore, two week offshore rota,” she adds.
“While of course many people do work on that basis, Wood Group Kenny engineering posts are generally more office-based with occasional offshore or other site trips.”
Two cycles of New Energy Jobs have already taken place in Aberdeen with the next round of applications now being received, and the scheme is due to be replicated in other WGK locations around the globe.
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