Soon after appointing industry stalwart Fraser Moonie, Unique Group says it has plans for “exponential” growth in its headcount.
Moonie’s appointment to Unique was announced Monday and he appeared on the show floor of Subsea Expo in Aberdeen the following day.
Prior to joining Unique, he held senior roles at a number of firms and organisations including Rovco, Decom North Sea – now known as Decom Mission – and McDermott International.
At the event, the new global commercial and strategy development director for survey equipment told Energy Voice: “We’re in all the major energy hubs internationally, of course, right now the UK is our biggest market for survey equipment.
“My aim will be to grow every region to maximise what we can to, to take off and accelerate that growth.”
The private equity-backed firm has bases in the Middle East, US and Australia as well as three locations in the UK. Founded in 1993 in the UAE, Blue Water Energy took a stake in the firm in 2014.
On his ambitions for Unique Group, Moonie said that jobs will be created.
“I don’t want to go into the details of revenue,” he said.
“Headcount, that will grow exponentially to match what we’re trying to achieve. The opportunities in the space are massive.”
The growth in headcount will come to the UK, but also the other regions the firm operates in.
When pressed on the job creation, Moonie commented: “We need to make sure that we’ve got the right skills in the right areas and of course that’s difficult right now, I’m not going to make any bones about that.
“But if you’ve got the right culture, you’ve got the right direction and leadership behind that and people are treated properly with the right investment and training, which is what Unique is all about, you can be successful in that side of things.
“Of course, it’s going to be difficult. I think it’s something every company is finding right now is attracting the right talent and retaining the right talent.”
Last month, the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) published its latest workforce census which found that 71% of employers across the engineering construction industry (ECI) are experiencing issues with recruitment.
Additionally, the trade bodies sector report highlighted that the oil and gas industry will face challenges in replacing its ageing workforce with younger talent as workers retire.
ECITB CEO Andrew Hockey said: “On current trends, it is unlikely the number of younger people joining the sector will grow sufficiently to compensate for those taking retirement in the coming years.”
Offering further insight into the growth in employees he expects for Unique Group, Moonie added: “I’ve still to get my hands round what that growth looks like so when I said exponential growth that was off the top of my head, thinking of the growth that we are planning to do.”
He added that the headcount increase is “one of the things on the list” as he enters his new role with Unique Group.
Moonie explained his new job “covers predominantly growing their survey equipment business to start with.
“Another part of that will be looking at future innovations, both in the survey equipment and for the company as a whole.”
Listen to the full conversation in the video above.
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