Meet Hayley Adlam from Salisbury, UK. Hayley has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marine Geography from Cardiff University, and currently works as an Online Surveyor and Reports Coordinator in European waters.
Hayley’s love of marine wildlife inspired her to work on the water. She started out as a Marine Wildlife Observer Intern and has spent much of her 5 year career on offshore wind farms. Women Offshore caught up with Hayley to learn more about her exciting career:
Hayley, please share a memorable experience you’ve had while working offshore.
“Standing in the bow of our vessel whilst working off the coast of Cumbria, watching bottlenose dolphins playing in the bow waves! Such an amazing experience! You certainly don’t get that with an office job!”
What motivates you to continue working on the water?
“I really enjoy the dynamic work environment and the personalities of offshore personnel that tend to be of a certain caliber. I really thrive off of the humour, warm community aboard the vessels, and when it comes to operations: the team spirit. I feel really passionate about helping female graduates to move into the offshore industry and hope to build on this over the coming years too. I look forward to staying in the industry so I can see this element of my work grow.”
What challenges have you faced in your career?
“Sometimes it can be quite difficult being the only female within the work force. I have found this quite hard at times particularly at the start of my career. Alternatively, there are often some really great guys who are very supportive and treat you with the same respect as the rest of the team irrespective of gender. But, I do genuinely feel that sexism within the offshore workplace is still something that needs to be tackled and the perceptions of women in the offshore industry need to change because we are just as capable as the men we work alongside.”
What do you think can be done in your industry to encourage more women to pursue similar careers?
“I would love to inspire other women to work offshore and to embrace this unique and dynamic environment. I hope to work in collaboration with the university I studied at to help guide more young female graduates at the start of their careers to help build their knowledge and confidence in the world of survey so that they can develop a strong career in the offshore world – and give the boys a run for their money of course! I have been involved in pageantry since a young age and next month I am competing in the finals for Miss Great Britain, the UK’s oldest pageant system. I hope to use pageantry as a platform to say to other women out there, ‘You can be girly and still pursue a career in engineering – go for it!'”
Thank you, Hayley! Our Team has enjoyed talking to you about renewable energy offshore. Best of luck to you in the Miss Great Britain pageant!
The Women Offshore Foundation is an online organization and resource center for a diverse workforce on the water. Its mission is to propel women into meaningful careers through access to a worldwide community and professional development resources, while raising awareness amongst industry leaders and decision makers about issues affecting women on the water. Contact Women Offshore today: hello@womenoffshore.org.
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Interested in working offshore please provide me with any information
Hello Monique! Thanks so much for reaching out. We will email you back shortly.
Hi, I’m interested to work offshore as well. I’m a practicing local classification surveyor.
Hello Joycee, please send your resume to hello@womenoffshore.org and we will see if we can help.