- A new three-year plan will help the offshore industry attract the next generation of talent while strengthening skills and competence across the existing workforce.
- Launched at the IMCA Global Summit, the People and Skills Plan is a key part of IMCA 2030, the Association’s new corporate strategy.
IMCA has launched a new three-year People and Skills Plan to help attract the next generation of talent, strengthen workforce capability, and create a joined-up competency management ecosystem for the offshore industry.
Unveiled at last month’s IMCA Global Summit, the plan responds to a challenge increasingly shared across the global energy sector: ensuring the industry has enough people, with the right skills, to meet future demand.
The scale of that challenge was explored during a dedicated People and Skills session at the Summit. Tessa Hillebrants of Heerema, the Chair of IMCA’s People Committee, opened the discussion by examining the barriers to attracting new entrants and the growing pressure on the energy workforce, before IMCA’s People Director Lou Bendall and Head of Competence and Training Natalie Carroll outlined how the new plan will turn these challenges into practical action.
A 2025 IMCA survey found that routes into the industry remain heavily reliant on personal and company connections, with 47% of respondents discovering the sector through companies and 31% through family. Respondents also highlighted the low visibility of offshore careers, unclear entry routes, and the difficulty of securing a first role without previous experience.
The wider demographic challenge is equally significant. International Energy Agency data presented at the Summit showed that 60% of energy companies reported labour shortages, while 2.4 workers are approaching retirement for every new entrant under the age of 25.
Two priorities for the next three years
IMCA’s People and Skills Plan brings its work on industry attraction, early careers, competence, and professional development together around two priorities:
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Growing a sustainable talent pipeline, by engaging early-career professionals through the Next Generation Network (NGN) and attracting new people through a dedicated talent attraction campaign.
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Building transferable skills and capability, by developing a joined-up competence and training ecosystem with Member companies and training providers, supported by the IMCA Skills learning platform and digital logbooks that provide trusted, portable records of individuals’ competence and training.
Lou Bendall, IMCA’s People Director, said: “Our industry needs to attract more people, but numbers alone won’t solve the challenge. We also need better ways for people to develop, demonstrate competence, and transfer their skills throughout their careers.
“Our People and Skills Plan brings those challenges together. By connecting talent attraction and our Next Generation Network with IMCA Skills and a more digital approach to competence management, we can help build a stronger and more sustainable talent pipeline for the industry.”
Growing a sustainable talent pipeline
Launched in March 2026, IMCA’s Next Generation Network has already grown to more than 300 early-career professionals worldwide. A member-led Steering Group is helping to shape its priorities, with regional outreach taking place in India, Nigeria, and Brazil during 2026.
NGN activity will increasingly align with IMCA’s wider events programme, while a new mentoring scheme is planned for mid-2027.
The Global Summit also saw the unveiling of a new identity for IMCA NGN, developed with The Yard Creative. Built around the proposition “Connected, To What’s Next”, it reflects the network’s purpose: connecting people early in their careers, helping them build their skills, and giving them opportunities to learn from others across the industry.
The new identity will also underpin IMCA’s wider talent attraction programme. Its first pilot campaign, The Difference Makers, will launch in January 2027, targeting 18 to 25-year-olds and their parents through social media.
Using career stories from people working across the global energy sector, the campaign will showcase the variety of careers and opportunities available. A teaser for the campaign was shown at the Global Summit, with further activity, including education partnerships and STEM outreach, planned during 2027 and beyond.
Building transferable skills and capability
The second priority focuses on creating a joined-up competence and training ecosystem that supports individuals throughout their careers, from entering the industry to continuing professional development and progression.
A central part of this work is IMCA Skills, the Association’s digital learning platform. Launched in 2026 with Dynamic Positioning CPD, it provides global, on-demand learning across devices, including offline access.
The platform will expand to include Diving Supervisor CPD and member-led learning content, alongside digital examinations.
Digital logbooks will provide companies and individuals with trusted, portable records of experience, qualifications, and competence that are recognised across the offshore industry.
How Members can get involved
Members can support the plan in several ways:
- Talent attraction: Share career stories, amplify The Difference Makers campaign and connect the interest generated by the campaign with real career opportunities.
- IMCA NGN: Encourage early-career colleagues to join the network, sponsor them to attend industry events, or become regional champions helping to organise local networking and careers activity.
- Digital logbooks pilot: IMCA is seeking five member companies to participate in the digital logbooks pilot in 2027. Members interested in taking part should contact Natalie Carroll.
By connecting talent attraction with early-career support, skills development, and competence assurance, the People and Skills Plan provides a joined-up approach to one of the offshore sector’s most important long-term challenges.
