Tom Davenport - BSc (Hons) Physical Geography and Geology graduate

“Meet as many people as you can in the industry; you never know how they can help or where they will crop up again! Don’t be afraid to approach companies/people directly rather than through faceless careers pages: LinkedIn is extremely useful here.”

Tell us about your career path since graduation.

Straight after graduation I joined Faststream recruitment as a consultant for the Oil & Gas industry (specifically Geology & Geophysics). This job allowed me to attend EAGE in Amsterdam where I met the VP of Seismic Reservoir Characterisation in CGG and managed to get myself an interview leading to my current job.

Has your career path changed since graduation?

When I finished university I was keen on engaging in a career offshore as a mud logger but jobs were far harder to come across than I thought. This led me to heading into recruitment to earn some money and start making contacts within the industry.

What is the most difficult thing which you have faced in your career?

Finding a job out of university wasn’t the hardest thing as there are “jobs” out there. However, finding the job you want is where things get difficult.

What is the best, most exciting or fun thing that you have done in your career?

Moving to Abu Dhabi has been extremely exciting and I get to experience a completely different culture and way of life. The Middle East is an amazing place and my job allows me to travel, recently returning from trips to Cairo, Bahrain, and Erbil.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to get in to the same line of work?

Meet as many people as you can in the industry; you never know how they can help or where they will crop up again! Be willing to look at slightly different specialities. But most importantly don’t be afraid to approach companies/people directly rather than through faceless careers pages: LinkedIn is extremely useful here.

How did studying at Plymouth help you?

The breadth of topics I covered at university has given me a really good grounding for my current job as I work with the integration between SRC and geology so it is useful to have the basics of each which I am now building on.

I am still in touch with several of my lecturers: Martin Stokes who was my tutor and Iain Stewart. There are still several course mates who I am good friends with and it’s nice to see more and more get jobs in the industry.

I would recommend taking a geology based course because of the breadth of topics covered and the expertise of the lecturers. I have also met a lot of older Plymouth alumni in the industry and the University has a good name.