Oil & Gas

Name: Lee Blowers

Rank on Exit: Corporal

Years of Service: 30 Years

Qualifications Gained: Engineering and an ILM level 5 in management

Corporal Lee Blowers, 42, served in the RAF for 22 years, specialising as a General Technician Electrical. He left the service in early 2011, having gained civilian qualifications including some City & Guilds qualifications in Engineering and an ILM level 5 in management. He adds, ‘The experience I gained during my Service career was invaluable in helping me prepare and adjust to civilian life, to learn new equipment, to be able to adapt to new surroundings and people’, and his CTW, he says, was very useful: ‘It helped me get a CV together and focus my mind. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do when I attended the CTP and they helped me consider a number of different industries and job roles. I’m not saying they made the decisions for me – that’s something you can only do yourself – but with every idea or option I was willing to explore, they helped point me in the right direction by providing advice, website links and contacts. They were very supportive throughout, and enhanced my own confidence and belief that there was life outside the military.

‘As part of my resettlement I also took an HND in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, PRINCE2 Project Management, BOSIET and MIST offshore survival and safety training, and CompEx: Explosive Environment Electrical Regulations.’

In terms of finding work, he says, ‘I registered with a number of oil and gas agencies and even took the opportunity to go in to a few while I was in Aberdeen on the offshore survival course, but I heard absolutely nothing back. I was constantly networking and found an ex-military friend I hadn’t spoken to in 15 years. He had left the RAF and was now managing the engineering side of an offshore drilling company. He told me if I were to get the offshore courses, he would put my CV forward to a couple of his colleagues. A few weeks later I got a call from an oil company offering me an interview in Aberdeen – it was the same company I had already applied to five times! They organised and paid for all my travel to the interview, after which they told me they would get back to me: 20 minutes after landing at Heathrow they called me and offered me the job! It is then that I realised that this industry is very much one where “who you know”can be just as important that “what you know”!

‘I am currently a co-director and a consultant for an oil and gas recruiting agency for ex-military personnel, called Last3Recruitment Ltd (www.last3recruitment.com). As part of my networking, I met an ex-RAF Officer, David Christie, who was very well connected in the oil and gas industry, and had delivered the Safe System of Work on behalf of many oil companies. The conversation turned to how people leaving the military are perfectly suited to this type of industry. Before I knew it, we were discussing a business plan that would combine both mine and David’s experiences over the past 20 years to form a business to “fast track” the process of getting ex-military personnel to the oil companies that are in need of their experience and ability.

‘There are already quite a few ex-military working offshore, but the oil industry has an ageing workforce and is starting to realise that it needs to find a new source to man its oil rigs in the future. Ex-military personnel fit the bill perfectly. They have experience of taking on responsibility, are used to going away from home (usually for much longer periods than you would offshore), and are hard-working, self-motivated and capable.’

Published February 2012

Name: Jeremy Douglas

Rank on Exit: Flight Sergeant

Years of Service: 30 Years

Qualifications Gained: AACMT, HS&E Assessors’ Course,

Flight Sergeant Jeremy ‘Dai’ Douglas, 55, left the Forces last September after 6½ years in the Army followed by 30 years in the RAF. His time in uniform gave him ‘a belief in myself that I can do anything, the “can do” attitude, plus all the courses I undertook – AACMT, HS&E Assessors’ Course, etc. The military taught me the value of keeping standards as high as you can, no matter what you do.’

Of his CTW, he says ‘The most valuable lessons were on CV presentation, and the many ways of tracking down jobs.’ In addition, during resettlement, ‘I took advantage of the ELCAS scheme, which put £2000 towards my ROV course at Fort William, plus my resettlement grant of £534. There are other providers offering ROV training for less, but the Underwater Centre is recognised as the premier one, and the only one that offers concurrent ROV and diver training – an important skill for an ROV operator to master. It is completely upfront about what is on offer: no one can make you a qualified ROV pilot/tech in three weeks. It gives you the skills required to start off, and then it’s up to you. What it does offer, which is priceless, is a commitment to support you once you have completed the course. As a minimum, that means regular emails about upcoming jobs.

‘In my case, Paul Bury, director of ROV training, was instrumental in securing me a week’s work experience, then my first offshore mobilisation with Film-Ocean, a small ROV company. The latter approached him as it was short of a man for a contract to clean, then inspect, the risers on the semi-sub Balmoral. I visited the company, had an informal interview and I was in. A week later, I was working offshore using the SAAB Seaeye Falcon ROV, the same one they use for instructional purposes at the Underwater Centre.’

Now working as a freelance ROV pilot/tech, Dai’s job involves ‘Piloting, servicing and repairing remotely operated vehicles – and, pre-contract, mobilising and checking the ROV, the spares, tools and equipment that will be used offshore. Once offshore, operating the ROV, the launch and recovery system, making good any repairs necessary, and completing the scope of work (survey, diver support, subsea intervention, etc.).

‘I have been told by several people,’ he says, ‘that the most difficult job to secure offshore is your first, as no one wants to gamble on you when you’re starting out. Once your first mobilisation is under your belt (and provided it went well) doors start to open for you. My first door opened for me thanks to the Underwater Centre. For that, the price of the course is completely justified.

‘Salary,’ he concludes, ‘is dependent on two things: day rate and the amount of time you work in a year. It’s an upward cycle, though – the more you work, the more experience you gain, the more your services are in demand.’

Published February 2011

Oil & Gas - Case Studies