Aberdeen-based Aiken Group has filled a gap in the market by “growing” its own talent in-house in a project spearheaded by the initiative of two students.

The 23-year-old oil and gas firm is a leading and innovative supplier of integrated, solutions-based engineering and a specialist service provider.

Aiken Group provides clients with “a one stop shop” service across a wide range of disciplines and it recently announced that turnover is on track to hit £10 million.

Disciplines include project management, accommodation upgrades and new builds, modular units, electrical, HVAC and refrigeration, plumbing, maintenance services and facilities management. Aiken Group provides these services to both offshore and onshore clients across the UK and global markets.

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Although the company was not advertising vacancies, BSc. Architecture students Jamie Filby and Scott Mitchell cold called the company looking for work – and their initiative paid off when both were offered positions.

Aiken Group Managing Director Danny Donald explained: “We weren’t looking to recruit at that time, but we were so impressed with these two RGU students that we took them on as draftsmen with a view to them working through our development programme to become project engineers.

“In our experience, it can be difficult to recruit in that area so we basically decided to grow our own.”

He continued: “Our team includes many people with years of experience in their field who have a lot of knowledge to impart and it is crucial that there is a steady stream of young, fresh graduates to learn from them.

“There is a definite shortage of young people ready to join the industry and it is vital to address that in order to take the company and industry forward.

“Because Aiken Group is quite a large company, it is easier to provide mentoring as it can be shared between people and the result is that the mentee gets a much broader view of the company resulting in a more flexible and multi-disciplined employee.”

(GK/KMcA)