Why BG Group?

Whilst doing my PhD at the University of Leeds, the research group I was involved in had good links with BG Group. I had the opportunity to meet and chat with a BG Group employee on a couple of occasions and a lot of it came down to the fact that the people that I knew who worked for BG Group were decent, approachable, friendly and good humoured. My initial thoughts about a company are based on the people I meet that work there, and I liked what I saw at BG Group.

Where do you fit in?

As a graduate geologist you’re given the opportunity to work in a variety of different business units in order to expand your technical knowledge and range of skills. This also helped me decide what aspects of the business I wanted to focus on once I had completed the programme and was deciding on my first longer-term assignment.

I currently work in the geological operations team, monitoring the progress of the wells that BG Group drills globally. This means being first in line to learn about technical successes and technical difficulties! It’s the ideal place to learn about drilling operations - after helicopter survival training, I was whisked away on to a rig and have been offshore three times in the last six months. I also have had the opportunity to learn about drilling operations by being on the drill floor watching it all happen at 2am with a gale blowing through the UK's North Sea. It’s moments like this that I realise how much I like my work.

What would I need to do your job?

BG Group is an exciting place to work. It seems to be growing quickly and the changes that this brings about will affect you as new ways of working and new workflows are established. Often as a geoscience graduate trainee you will get to experiment with looking at data in different ways and perhaps establishing a new workflow that can be applied within the geoscience community – this opportunity to be able to make significant contributions to your discipline is what I really like about working in BG Group.

And the highlights?

As part of the graduate programme, I was given the opportunity to work in the Trinidad and Tobago office for six months. What I loved about this placement was doing my day to day job – but doing it in a completely different working environment, with different local customs and workplace habits. It also was an excellent way to expand my networks. Many BG Group employees move around and you bump into old friends in BG Group offices when you least expect it. I have also thoroughly enjoyed my offshore visits to the UK's North Sea. There’s nothing like being there, seeing wells drilled and knowing the impact a success can have. And all the while standing in dirty, muddy overalls!

What’s the work environment like?

At BG Group, we mostly work in open plan environments. I like this because, as a graduate, you need to be immersed in the team and know what is going on around you. I’d find this much more difficult if we were in enclosed offices. Our UK headquarters are located next to a nature reserve by the river, yet close enough to Reading that I can cycle to work.

Has BG Group met your expectations?

My first two years at BG Group have exceeded my expectations. From previous website testimonials I guessed I’d be working on pretty exciting stuff straight away and that really did happen! This can sound a little scary, but I received so much support that I never really felt out of my depth.

I have had a lot of opportunity for international travel - if six months in Trinidad and Tobago wasn’t enough, I’ve been to the USA on a few occasions for training field trips to some classic outcrops, as well as Argentina and the Andes on a fantastic field trip earlier this year. Whilst in Trinidad and Tobago I got to travel to Venezuela to meet with our partners. The training opportunities, both classroom and field based, are plentiful. This has been something that’s exceeded all my expectations.