A leading oil and gas boss has called on ex-military personnel looking to make the switch into the energy industry to prove they are interested in making the move and avoid making the recruitment drive a ‘one-way street’.
Former forces members have been seen in many quarters as the answer to the increasing skills gap blighting the offshore industry, with transferrable skillsets opening the door for them to make the switch to oil and gas jobs.
But Sean Girvan, managing director of engineering group CSL, says while many do have skills which could benefit the industry, there needs to be a push by those looking to make the move to show they are as keen to enter it.
“I don’t think it’s a one-way street,” he told Energy Voice.
“I think it’s easy to criticise us for not being open to them but I think they need to help themselves as well.”
The firm, which is looking to expand its workforce with around 30 new engineers this year, has been engaged with armed forces organisations and the Prince’s Trust to help bring in new staff.
But Mr Girvan warned that some of the former military staff looking to make a switch to civilian life were not clear enough about what it was they wanted to do.
“I think some of these ex-military guys don’t really know what the oil industry is,” he said.
“You need to be a little more specific so as well as there being a requirement on our side to be willing to accept these guys and give them six months or eight months or nine months, whatever it takes to make them so that they’re well functioning.
“But there also has to be something on the other side so that these guys understand what it is we do and have taken the trouble to learn some of the key elements of the technology and the language, how we do things.”
A number of initiatives have been launched in recent months, with more forces personnel being left out of work and the skills gap widening in the oil and gas industry.
Last December Petrofac launched a new training programme, designed by the energy industry and the Military of Defence, to turn former RAF and Army engineers and workers into potential oil and gas staff.
Services such as the Career Transition Partnership have also been trying to help place and resettle ex-forces members into the industry.
Mr Girvan also echoed calls from the Subsea Expo event for an end to poaching habits among the oil and gas industry which is being blamed for driving up salaries to an unsustainable level.
“We’re finding that you can’t just steal from your neighbour, you have to go out and do something to bring that skills pool up,” he said.
“It’s not necessarily right or fair that if people are investing in people that other companies just come and steal them like that.
“I’m a big believer in the merry go round in that if you move from one place to another you learn more. But everybody has to take their share of the burden here to bring new people in.”
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