Last week two of our colleagues from Apollo spoke at Topsides UK.
Paul Ellerton presented on asset life extension and Apollo’s unique proven method of extending our client’s oil and gas assets life. Apollo is the market leader in the north sea for asset life extension and is currently conducting this on behalf of 5 operators.
One of our engineers, Scott Rosie sits on the Topsides Young Professionals group. He presented and chaired the panel on attracting and retaining young people in the energy sector. Scott and his colleagues from CNOOC, Sparrows, Worley and OEUK researched and surveyed young people within the industry and presented the findings. I caught up with Scott below:
“We wanted to look at how we could address the skills gap emerging in the energy industry, specifically the oil and gas industry, from a young professionals perspective – how we can attract the next generation, and how we can retain those currently working in the industry. We shared our own experiences from those in the young professionals committee, ranging from those in the early career phase to mid-career. We also conducted a survey, open to anyone aged 40 or under working in the energy industry – of which the majority (95%) worked either partially or exclusively in the O&G industry.
We found that although the vast majority of respondents (91%) were satisfied in their current role and looking forward to the future, about half of them said they had considered leaving the industry in the past and feel their skills or knowledge would be better suited to a different industry. The solution to retaining these workers, according to respondents, is to allow young professionals to have more control over their career paths and expose them to different roles and experiences. There is a wide variety of roles available in the energy industry. Perhaps those who feel they would be better suited elsewhere just need to find the right role for them in this industry, rather than feel like they have to move elsewhere – it’s up to companies, but also young professionals themselves to push for this.
In terms of attracting new talent, government support to guarantee a future in the energy transition was thought to be an effective option (42%) in both attracting and retaining talent. However, getting people from the industry in front of young people and telling them about the opportunities available was also thought to be crucial – and this was found to be what influenced the majority (68%) of respondents to join the industry themselves. The majority (63%) thought visits to education establishments (school, college, university) was the best way to attract new talent – and 87% either currently are or wanted to be involved in this type of STEM work. So we have people who want to get involved and it’s proven as a way to attract people to the industry – we just need education and industry to join forces and makes these events happen.”
At Apollo, one of our core values is Future. We believe in supporting and nurturing the next generation of energy talent. We hold graduate assessment days every year and take a number of engineers on in each discipline. Scott was a part of our 2019 intake.
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