My first impression of the BP offices at Canary Wharf – BIG and very open plan, no stingy offices anywhere in sight, but lots of places to get a decent coffee!
BP is split into a number of departments that all work with one another to either buy, sell, trade, transport etc… gas and oil to meet the supply demand market. It was interesting to be able to listen to a number of employees and hear about the routes they have followed into this multi million pound organisation.
BP employs people straight out of school and following A-levels, although there are only a small handful of apprenticeships at present. However, having heard from an ICT apprentice today, the level of support and training received in the post is comparable to any degree program at a reputable university. In fact, they will often allow and support degree qualifications to be obtained through their own programs.
Today we met traders whose responsibility is not only to buy gas and oil, but to buy and sell currency to allow these transactions to take place. The trader who spoke to us today was a physics graduate. We have always known the attractiveness of good science graduates into the financial industry. Not only is supply and demand important, but to hear the trader talk about fear and greed driving markets was fascinating. We also heard about demurrage (organising payments to ship owners and port authorities) and the headaches this causes when timings for filling and discharge of cargo do not run to plan. The lady that runs this department joined BP as a 16 year old and has worked her way up through the company. She was initially employed as a secretary/PA. It is good to hear of opportunities in big companies for employees to stretch and challenge themselves in the work place.
What was apparent today, from speaking to employees from trading, demurrage, LNG (liquid natural gas), analytics and origination was that they all had come from very diverse backgrounds and held an eclectic mix of qualifications and experience. The lady who helps ship LNG around the world was a languages graduate, we met the only meteorologist in Europe whose responsibility was to use weather and tidal patterns to help predict the rise and fall of the oil and gas markets. A degree in Geography and a Masters to follow was her route into this company.
However, what was also apparent was the need for good communication skills and the ability to work both individually and as a team whenever required. Business writing skills and telephone communications are areas that appear to have been identified as lacking in some employees and schools really need to think about how they prepare pupils for the workplace. Is there room in the curriculum for “careers” where this may be addressed?
Many of the people I met at BP today have worked in several different departments since joining the company. However, the skills and qualifications required for such posts cannot be summarised in a single line of an advertisement. BP is willing to offer positions to people from a diverse range of backgrounds providing they show the qualities required to be able to work with people or from their own initiatve, often both. Life skills appear to be an important factor in the employability equation. Are the schools addressing this? Let us hope they are.
Finally I would like to thank the staff at BP Canary Wharf for their hospitality today and their willingness to enagage with the teachers present. Every person that met with us today was open and frank about how to market oneself and increase their chances of employment in this, and any other, industry.
Tomorrow, we visit Sunbury-upon-Thames. Really looking forward to this.
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