Chevening Career Plan Essay - to continue working in the Oil & Gas industry in my country

Dear contributors
I will really appreciate your comments.
I know I have more than 500 words, please let me know which part is less interesting so I will remove it.

Thank you :)

CAREER PLAN ESSAYS

My country has a natural resource base with high growth potential: it is one of the top four countries in the world for reserves of shale oil and gas and top five world producer of agricultural commodities such as soy and maize.

With that in mind and considering my interests and previous professional experience, my immediate plan after I return to my home country is to continue working in the Oil & Gas industry in order to contribute to its development into a major energy producer, having as first goals the environment care and energy efficiency in its processes.

More specifically, my intention is to continue with my current employment with XXX which is leading a refinery expansion project. The project has a wide scope and it will take a total of ten years to manage the start-up of all the process units required to meet national and regional demand, reducing reliance on imports; and to get the grade of ultra-low sulfur mandatory specifications.

I am convinced that the curriculum that is included in the UK master will provide me with highly relevant knowledge in such a way that, combined with my background, will enable me to get a Project Manager Position in this expansion. Not only will I manage and coach teams, but I also will gain an in-depth insight of the corporate business and I will broaden my network with many influential people from my country energy scenario. Interestingly enough, XXX has recently merged with British Petroleum to integrate the major private oil company in the country, which allows me to expand my horizon even more to a global energy scenario and contribute to this relationship, introducing UK´s relevant people and companies that I will have met by then.

As the years pass, and not only my country but also the whole world changes their energy matrix for a cleaner one, I plan to migrate my expertise into the field of renewable energy. Eventually, I see myself working to boost alternative energy projects and reach my country sights on 20 per cent renewables by 2025.

Furthermore, my country is clearly coming out as a biofuel international supplier due to the great abundance of raw materials, being able to satisfy UK target with Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) requirements in the meantime to the electrification of transport transition via hybrids. Thus, I will be delighted to meet the dual change of working on projects to supply the energy the UK needs to grow and prosper, while also reducing carbon emission.

Looking at the picture overall, I see myself becoming a leader on strategic planning, development, execution and operation of renewable energy projects, building high performance teams and encouraging others about clean, safe and cheap energy, whether it´d be from a company or from a public agency such as the Energy and Mining or Production Ministry.

With my determination and invaluable training in the UK, I will be able to get my future professional goals joining them with the UK corporate interests in our country.

Only by cooperation between UK's expertise in the field of advanced energy and the potential of our natural resources can a better and profitable future be achieved; following a remarkable global energy outlook, ultimately making an impact to my country's socio-economic development.

Having this in sight is that I see myself fostering my managerial skills in a challenging atmosphere such as the one that Chevening Community provides.

Maria, the reason that your highly effective essay is too long involves the way that your career plan covers too many topics. What I mean is, the presentation you are using seems to cover at least 10 years of your career when you are only supposed to present a maximum of 5 years for your career plan. Anything more than that will require another level of education, a doctorate degree in fact. Which means that the contribution of the Chevening scholarship to your education will have ended within that time frame. It would be best if your rethink the content of your essay. Retain only the UK collaboration and career advancement plans for yourself that cover the 5 year time frame only. By doing so, you will limit your number of words and keep the essay focused only on the important aspects of your post study career plans. In fact, you can even remove the first 2 paragraphs that you wrote because those are not directly tied to the immediate response that kept for the 3rd paragraph. It would be better to open with a direct response in order to hold the interest of the reviewer. What you wrote in the 3rd paragraph is very strong and kicks off with a focus on the post study plan. There is no need to include the information in the first 2 paragraphs because you have somehow already touched upon those in your other essays for the scholarship. It is redundant information at this point.

@Mariap88
Dear,

Reading through your essay I noticed the absence of "Timeline" which is a rudiment in addressing this prompt. Career plans should include; Short-term plans, intermediate plans and long-term plans, this shows they are timebound. There are a lot of emerging innovation in your field ranging from clean energy to hybrid transportation and electrification, and you have done well by capturing a few of them which is commendable. Getting a Project Manager role in the upcoming expansion seems to be your short-term plan after your return, when you get this position what next?

For example, in the 6th paragraph, you wrote "As the years pass, and not only my country but also the whole world changes their energy matrix for a cleaner one, I plan to migrate my expertise into the field of renewable energy. Eventually, I see myself working to boost alternative energy projects and reach my country sights on 20 percent renewables by 2025" I know there could be a better way to present this to pass the same message, see an example....(In the long term, I aspire to acquire more knowledge in the field of renewable energy, as the world change their energy matrix for a cleaner one to secure our climate and environment. Particularly I see myself working to boost alternative energy projects and reach my country sights on 20 percent renewables by 2025).

@Holt
Thank you so much Holt. What you are saying come in very handy! I will try to summarize the idea of the two first paragraph either in this essay or touch it in my other essays. I like refering to natural resources as a starting point of the essay but can be in any of them. I will review my essay.

@Excel2017
Thanks! I really appreciate your contribution! You are right, the timeline is not very clear. I will work on it!
Should be more specific with the long term career plans?