On January 27th, the SUT Houston Young Professionals committee held their first “Speed Networking” event at Fox & Hound on Westheimer. This event was aimed towards young professionals who are in their early part of their career, and college students who are approaching graduation. The purpose of the event was to offer young professionals a chance to sit one-on-one with several industry experts/hiring managers to discuss growth, industry trends/hot topics, and build relationships. We offered a diverse group of industry experts in order to cover multiple areas in the industry, including subsea or geotechnical backgrounds from manufacturers, service companies, EPC, and operators.
In total, we had 20 industry experts and just under 30 young professionals attend the event. The “speed networking” portion lasted for approximately one hour. The young professionals were given 8-10 minutes to rotate through up to six seasoned professionals. A social/happy hour was held at the end of the session, which opened up the floor to informal networking and continued conversations.
At the conclusion of the event, several of the experts commented on how impressed they were with the turnout, and their pleasant experience giving guidance and inspiration to the young professionals. It was also recommended that SUT YP hold this event annually.
One of the focuses of SUT YP is giving back to the community. We provide educational programs, scholarships, and events to support young professionals entering into this market. This event would not have been possible without the generous support from our annual sponsor, Technip Umbilicals Inc., and our industry experts.*
(*Anadarko, Benthic, BP, C.A. Richards & Associates, CB&I, C-Nav, Deepsea Technologies, Inc., EXP Engineering International, HESS Corporation, Houlder Americas, KBR – Granherne, MMI – Geosyntec, Oceaneering International, Saipem, Technip Umbilicals Inc., T-REX Engineering + Construction, Xodus Subsea)