From oil to alginate
Geir Ivar Seime (44) focuses on creating value in the projects that he works on. That has always been the most important aspect, whether he has worked for Statoil, Shell or in the position that he now has as Security Manager for projects in FMC/Dupont Nutrition & Health.
Omega-consultant, Geir Ivar Seime, enjoys life as a consultant where he gets to learn new things and has a varied workday.
A friend got Geir Ivar Seime to apply for a job in the Omega system back in 2011. At this time, Seime worked in Bilfinger and was ready to take on new challenges.
«Life as a consultant was unknown for me and a little scary, but at the same time it was exciting. I have never regretted that I accepted the position at that time. Omega has been a great employer and I enjoy working here. »
«I have also been quite lucky and have assigned a lot of the jobs that I wanted. This also resulted in me not being as affected by the oil crisis as others, which was a time when many were uncertain of their jobs, » explains Seime and refers to the downfall in the oil sector which started in 2014.
Seime has a degree within industrial plumbing and has gone to technical college. For the past 10 years he has worked with different tasks within management, project management, and construction management. Seime sees the importance in meeting companies and employees with an open mind, and it is important to be flexible and welcome challenges.
«It is important to have a network, but networks are in constant change; people move around, the company management often look different in a matter of short time. For me it is important to be open and show respect to those I meet. I want to go on assignment with a company and take both my heart and head into my work, in order to do a better job.»
«The process of finding a consultant position has also changed during the past years. Now, there is more competition between consultants and we have to sell our competency in a completely new way. This poses a bigger challenge for our Department Managers in Omega now than before, » says Seime.
Seime has had a range of different project positions in companies such as Statoil and Shell.
«Many of the projects have been demanding and taken a lot of time. Sometimes there is a lot of work and not a lot of time for family and hobbies,» says Seime who in his spare time uses hunting and gun shooting as recreational breaks in between the busy days of work and family life in Haugesund.
From working with oil-related projects, he is now a consultant in FMC/Dupont Nutrition & Health, which is a leading company in Norway on sustainable harvesting and ennobling of kelp. They produce alginate which is, among other things, used in medicine. FMC in Norway is a part of FMC Corporation that delivers products to companies within the farming, industry, environmental and consumer markets. In 2015, FMC had, according to their websites, a turnover of 3,3 million dollars. The company has 6 000 employees across the world and mainly operate within three market segments; FMC Agricultural Solutions, FMC Health and Nutrition, and FMC Lithium. The company has two locations in Norway, and Seime works at the factory on Karmøy where they produce alginate from seaweed. Approximately 120 people work at the factory, in addition to a group of people who work with harvesting seaweed along the coast. The company explains that the extraction of alginate is a long and complicated process, which requires a lot of technical competency.
«I like people and challenges. Life as a consultant fits me pretty well, since I enjoy learning new things, and often get inpatient if every day looks the same. Even though a lot of the work with projects looks the same, it is obvious that the learning curve is steep when working with new disciplines. I have learned a lot about alginate in a short amount of time, and still have a lot to learn, » says Seime.