Good Day. I am consider myself to be an experienced and qualified man who has worked in the HSE industry for quite some years. At this late stage in my working life I appear to have hit the wall. My work has stopped and I just can't seem to make any progress in finding alternative work. I have an idea that a possible cause for this blockage could be down to the kind of work that I did and probably the location as well. I'm a UK national who's career path took me from UK military service and into the UK fire service. After several years in UK fire and rescue service (and doing well) I became involved in training oil field workers from North Africa in oil and gas firefighting. This in turn led me to actually going to work in North Africa myself in oil and gas, initially as a fire station commander in down stream production facilities. In turn I took Safety and Environmental qualifications and moved on into work over an an HSE Manager and eventually working for a long time as a client rep drilling HSE coordinator for several large and international oil companies involved in exploration drilling. I enjoyed my niche job very well and excelled in this work. However as world events unfolded as they have Myself and many people from the oil industry of North Africa are not really in a very good position. I have been trying hard for quite some time now to find a relevant job back in UK where I could use my skills and acquired experience and I have to say that I'm not doing at all well. I'm a very proactive person and took all of my safety and environmental quals in UK paying for every course at my own expense. Last year I also decided to take the National Construction Certificate in order to broaden my work horizons. To date this has not been successful. Having worked in a high profile job with a lot of responsibility for a lot of years in what must be considered one of the highest disciplined industries, I know that I have excellent work history and experience to move forward. I can only think that possible employers aare put of by the fact that I come from a pretty unique background which was also based in Africa and not UK. However I am a UK national and all of my training was completed in UK and I have UK certification. I am sure that all of my skills and knowledge in HSE and Environmental Management are fully transferable and I really need to try and get that message through to people, though this seems to be a mammoth task. As mentioned I am a totally proactive person and I'm not afraid to invest and imporove on what I already have achieved. The trouble is (as identified by Stephen_G entry) There are just so may courses and different areas to cover and we just can't possibly afford to pay for and cover everything alone. I would gladly be willing to pay for and attend some other quals if I knew that would pay the dividend in returning me with work. At present I am based between the North of UK where I have a family home and Malta I would be very interested in finding any kind of long term good quality work in UK or on a travelling basis in EU or safe areas. I am willing to discuss a shift in role and training if necessary or I would equally be interested to hear from any person who has any constructive advice or help to give. I'm using this web site as a genuine attempt to get a life back together at the later stages of a long career. I still have a lot of years to work and I would like to complete my working life on good note. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Yours Keith R

Carrying on from Binniem; U may also be scaring/confusing people as people like to put people in boxes and on the whole they do not want those around them to be more experienced etc. as they could be a challenge to them and people on interview panels in many cases do not understand the profession & how things from 1 area can be used in another I have even come across comments from a peer reviewer - in private of course - saying that did not like the experience etc. of a nominee! - in my personal view they felt threatened & were jealous) Keep trying and look further into this forum to get a view on how the job market is in the UK at this time

You have already identified the problem.... its all to do with the price of oil. Nothing personal!! Last figure I heard for the UK was 65000 jobs lost, 90% of all engineering projects cancelled. Never mind,George and Call me Dave say the economy is strong with plenty of jobs....provided you don't mind taking minimum wage jobs.

I wish I would learn to check my sentences before hitting the send button

Like referring to them as 'glorious' for instance :0)

Keith, I think with your skills and experience you will not find it too difficult to land a decent role. The trick is to promote your transferrable skills. I have worked in railways, nuclear, construction, utilities and now in local government - the principles of risk management are exactly the same. What area in the UK do you hail from or intend to reside? Ray

Hello Gets and thanks again for the good solid replies. There are a lot of good comments ,all relevant and positive. With the comments from Ray, yes I totally agree with what you are saying. In fact I now actually have a section on my CV which reads "Acquired Transferable Skills" ..... in other words the skills that I have acquired over the years which are indeed as you say transferable. I'm really trying to push that point. To answer the other point regarding the Middle East. Yes another good point mate. I'm on all of the usual .... Oil Careers / Rigzone / Oil and Gas sites etc and I do actively look for work out there. In particular Oman and Angola are two good possible areas to work. So yes I take that comment and will keep on looking out. Meanwhile I know that this is a global problem and I know of others in places around the world who are in a similar position as myself. Thanks again for the replies K