Last night Aberdeen Young Professionals held their inaugural “Discussion Series” in front of an audience consisting of approximately 100 members from various sectors. The event was entitled “Attract, Train, Retain – Pipeline to success” and was investigating the heavily publicised skills shortages in the oil and gas sector and what this would mean for young professionals in the Aberdeen area.
The event began with a fantastic speech from Energy Minister Fergus Ewing who highlighted the need to generate interest amongst children as early as primary school age. A collaborative effort from industry, teachers and parents was identified to generate interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. The need to highlight the opportunities still available for our children and even our grandchildren within the UKCS was also required given the industry is currently being fought over as part of the Scottish referendum and various statistics arising from both the “No” and “Yes” camps seeming to forever contradict each other. The Treasury also have an important part to play in ensuring operators are incentivised to further develop brownfields and also explore greenfields. In 2012 nine new fields came online and in 2013 fifteen new fields came on line (AGCC Oil & Gas Survey 2013) so the future in the UKCS is bright, but the easy oil has gone and the harder more costly to extract remains.
The panel, which consisted of guests from industry/education/industry bodies, were posed plenty of debate provoking questions during and after the event and it was clear a 9pm conclusion could have easily ran on! Questions were discussed in depth and after further discussions with the audience continued after the event concluded with the general consensus that the event was a huge success. Fergus Ewing was also delighted to have a younger audience in order to debate and discuss the perceived skills shortages within the oil and gas industry; after all they are the future leaders…..
It was clear for the AYP Committee that the planned spin off events would allow further investigation into the core issues that our members raised. What effects their decisions to pursue a career in the industry? Are apprenticeships still available – if so with who?! It was worrying reading for the committee that despite a major government drive, the number of young people taking advanced level engineering apprenticeships is falling and the overall number of apprentices is almost flat (The Engineer – Dec 2013). It’s evident from the debate that the industry needs to go on a charm offensive and provide a “fire in the belly” for the next generation to see what a career in the industry can bring. The next issue would be retaining these newly skilled engineers within Aberdeen as companies are not only competing with each other for required skills but also against attractive offers from overseas which can include fantastic additional benefits for an engineer and his/her family. A great presentation from Rachel Mutter at “Why Aberdeen” aimed to promote living and relocating to the city and what it had to offer. But as one of the members highlighted to the panel, are young people being put off by the high cost of living in the area and house prices out stripping Edinburgh and even London?
A thoroughly enjoyable evening was had and it was clear that the issues wont be solved over night. The word “collaboration” was used plenty of times but will it be put into practice? One member of the audience pointed out that “collaboration” has been discussed since the 70s and here we are in 2014 and still having the same discussion. However, if its not addressed soon perhaps the decision will be taken out of our hands with 50% of the workforce retiring in the next ten years and the current culture of buying expertise is in the long term unsustainable.
Let us know your thoughts!
Ross
Aberdeen Young Professionals 