Gas, oil and energy construction jobs in hot demand

1. The industry

The UK power and energy industry is worth billions of pounds. Contributing to nearly 5% of the UK's gross domestic product, it directly employs over 135,000 people, with many more thousands employed through supporting businesses.

Oil and gas are the UK's power and energy industry's biggest sectors. The transmission, distribution and supply of these fuels alone create thousands of gas, oil and energy construction jobs nationwide. But smaller divisions like renewable energy are constantly growing thanks to the ever increasing focus on the environment. This is creating fresh and exciting new power and energy construction jobs.

2. What do gas, oil and energy construction jobs involve?

New advances in working practices and the technology used within the power and energy industry are made constantly. This means many gas, oil and energy construction jobs offer excitement and new challenges on a regular basis.

There's a huge range of gas, oil and energy construction jobs to choose from. Many power construction jobs centre on engineering. In fact, power plant engineers are considered to be some of the finest engineers there are.

As industries look to go green, you'll find many gas, oil and energy construction jobs focus on environmentalists and ecologists, as well as the traditional power construction jobs like planners, modellers, operational engineers and consultants.

3. The current climate

Energy construction jobs are still going strong despite the global recession. Research by Energy & Utility Skills suggests the industry needs 9,000 extra skilled workers by 2015.

A rising trend in nuclear power is also providing many new energy construction jobs. Currently there are over 50,000 people working in nuclear power in the UK. This has produced over 15,000 highly skilled power construction jobs, which are required to operate and decommission nuclear power stations across the UK.

Over the next ten years, these 9,000 new power construction jobs, comprising everything from scientists to engineers, will be essential to cope with the demands of creating the next generation of nuclear power stations.

Another industry in continual growth is renewable energy, which is helping to maintain the nation's resources. As it does so, more and more energy construction jobs are made. Currently there are about 5,500 renewable power construction jobs in the UK - a number that continues to rise.

In fact, Britain's expanding offshore wind industry will miss targets unless it employs more people in power construction jobs to lay the cables and cope with increasing demand. At its current rate of expansion, the industry is heading for a major skills shortage.

4. What will employers look for?

Employers will favour you if you're flexible and adaptable with high levels of mathematical, scientific and technological skills. These attributes are key in order to meet many of the challenges in gas, oil and energy construction jobs. A genuine thirst for variety and challenges will also help you stand out from the crowd.

Candidates with technical abilities who work well within a team are in high demand. This is because the machinery involved in energy construction jobs is often vast and highly technical. It is therefore necessary to work alongside a whole team of engineers for quality, time and safety reasons.

There are plenty of power construction jobs waiting for skilled graduate applicants too. These include a wide range of technical, commercial and support opportunities.