Transitional energy

GETI 2025: Transitional energy

Transitional energy professionals are eager to shape their careers in a way that positively affects climate change and the energy transition. The industry’s trillion-dollar project pipeline does not disappoint, offering career development and training opportunities along with attractive salaries and job security. However, with professionals indicating unwavering interest in technology, organisations will want to keep pace with innovation to keep employees engaged.

Pay trends

Highlighting the buoyancy of the sector, salary increases have steadily risen since 2021, only falling slightly this year. Fifty-four per cent of professionals report a pay rise in 2025, compared to 38 per cent five years ago. A quarter (24 per cent) say pay has risen by more than five per cent. Only five per cent report a pay decrease.

Hiring managers report a similar trend, with 66 per cent saying pay has increased this year, compared to 49 per cent in 2021. Those reporting that salaries have risen by more than five per cent increased year-on-year between 2021 and 2024, levelling out in 2025.

Janette Marx, CEO of Airswift, says: “Attractive salaries are vital for securing the specialist expertise needed to deliver the high volume of energy transition projects in the pipeline for the coming years. For the same reason, we’ve witnessed a notable increase in companies paying for employees’ training for niche, in demand roles.”

Optimism for salary progression has risen 12 per cent since 2021, up to 74 per cent this year. Forty-two per cent of professionals foresee pay increasing by more than five per cent. This upward trend is shared with hiring managers; over three-quarters (77 per cent) project pay to rise in 2025, a significant increase from 61 per cent in 2021.

Global mobility

Over the past five years, the expatriate workforce has remained relatively stable, averaging 30 per cent and peaking at 34 per cent last year. While the percentage of employers offering cross-regional transfers has risen from 48 per cent in 2022 to 58 per cent in 2025, the percentage of professionals who would consider relocating has fallen sharply. Now, only 74 per cent would consider relocating, a decrease of 13 per cent since 2021.

Marx observes: “This doesn’t necessarily mean that global mobility is slowing down, rather, it is evolving and being influenced by digital ways of working. For example, historically, an expatriate may have visited home every couple of months and paid for their own travel; however, now companies are prepared to pay for monthly travel home to ensure they are consistently staffed for major projects. Therefore, professionals do not have to relocate permanently to lend their expertise.

Europe remains the destination of choice for transitional energy professionals considering relocation, although interest has dropped to 33 per cent this year, down from its peak of 37 per cent in 2023. Meanwhile, interest in North America and the Middle East has remained consistent, averaging 17 per cent and 15 per cent respectively between 2021 and 2025.

Hall comments: “This reflects the trillion-dollar investment that is taking place in the power grid infrastructure globally to support the electrification of the economy and the integration of renewable energy. The demand from Asia for skilled workers will be one to watch with countries including Japan and China announcing vast power infrastructure investment plans.”

Year after year, career progression has been the driving force behind relocation with lifestyle and low cost of living a distant second. In 2021 and 2022, culture ranked as the third most common reason for relocation. From 2023 onwards, however, professionals have been drawn to opportunities offering better technology or access to innovative tools and ways of working, such as AI.

Marx notes: “Although career progression is consistently king, the influence of work/life balance on professionals’ decision to relocate should not be underestimated. For example, for North American respondents that selected Europe as their top choice this year, thirty per cent said work/ life balance was the reason they would relocate there.”

For the minority not wanting to move, proximity to family has remained the top concern, although this has fallen year on year, from 45 per cent in 2021 to 38 per cent this year. In second place, respondents cite a lack of relocation opportunities, a barrier which has increased significantly from nine per cent in 2021 to 20 per cent in 2025.

Hall suggests: “Employers could overcome some of professionals’ concerns around uprooting their family by offering more support to settle in. For example, they could help find work for the spouse and school for the children or arrange social events to support community integration.”

Attracting and retaining talent

Since 2023, there has been a slight increase in professionals interested in transitioning to roles outside of energy. Concurrently, there has been a slight decrease in interest in moving to roles within their own or other energy sectors. This year, 43 per cent would switch to another energy sector, down from 48 per cent in 2023, while 26 per cent would switch to a non-energy sector role, up from 23 per cent.

Over the past five years, renewables have been the most attractive sector for transitional energy professionals considering a switch, with oil and gas a distant second. Technology has held the top spot for the non-energy sector, although interest was highest in 2022 at 48 per cent, declining to 35 per cent in 2024 and rebounding to 38 per cent this year. Interest in manufacturing has remained stable over the past five years, averaging 16 per cent, followed by transport, logistics and infrastructure at 15 per cent.

Hall notes: “Some energy sector employees were drawn away from the technology sector by the pay and opportunities for career development. However, the demands of maintaining critical infrastructure such as fitness for duty can have an impact on work/life balance and understandably some professionals are eager to return to the relative comfort of technology sector roles.”

Opportunities for career progression have remained the number one reason for switching roles over the past five years, peaking in 2023 at 38 per cent and declining to 29 per cent in 2025. Interest in the wider sector alongside technology have remained drivers of sector switches, although, in earlier years, other motivators such as ESG and innovation were also prominent.

The number of approaches that transitional professionals are experiencing for positions outside of their current company is increasing year on year, indicating intensifying competition for talent. This year professionals received 6.08 approaches on average, up from 5.71 in 2023 and 5.89 in 2024. Around a third (37 per cent) of these approaches came from outside the industry – a figure that has remained steady since 2023 (also 37 per cent).

Hall comments: “Professionals are increasingly receiving the same job details from multiple recruiters which puts them in a strong position to decide which recruiter to work with to negotiate the best package possible.”

Career intentions

When it comes to career intentions, 88 per cent of transitional professionals say that it is important that their career makes an impact on climate change and/or the energy transition, with nearly two-thirds considering it very important.

The results vary a little between age and gender demographics, with 67 per cent of women saying it is very important versus 63 per cent of men. 25-34- and 35–44-year-olds are also slightly more likely to consider it as being very important to their career. Only four per cent of professionals say that it is unimportant to them.

Hall comments: “Many younger transitional professionals are motivated by the desire to leave the world a better place than they found it for their children and are attracted to the industry as a place where real change is happening year after year.”

Progressing the energy transition

The increasing importance of the energy transition in the workplace is reflected in the rising number of professionals reporting that their organisations have taken steps to reduce operational emissions or diversify their energy portfolios.

Two-thirds of professionals claim this to be the case, an 11 per cent increase on 2023. Two-fifths (39 per cent) say their organisation has made significant reductions. More promisingly still, only three per cent of professionals say their organisation has increased emissions or fossil fuel investments, down two per cent since 2023.

Observing progress in the nuclear industry, Hall comments: “Investors are pressing ahead with plans to build a large fleet of small nuclear reactors which are easier and quicker to build than traditional nuclear plants. This will create a huge boost to the clean power available globally.”

This trend is also reflected in the positivity around organisations’ contributions to the energy transition. Two-thirds (65 per cent) of professionals say their organisation is doing enough to enable the energy transition, an eleven per cent increase on 2023. That said, 18 per cent believe that their company could do more.

Interestingly, professionals in Asia and Africa express the most optimism about their organisations’ contributions to the energy transition, while those in CIS and South America are least optimistic.

Marx observes: “Professionals in some regions are feeling the effects of political uncertainty. In the US, potential plans to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act have made project developers nervous to press ahead. In Australia, there has been a significant slowdown in energy transition investment commitments, particularly at the utility-scale.”

Summary

Most transitional professionals have a mutually beneficial relationship with the energy transition.They are motivated to make an impact on the world around them, and in return for their skills, salaries and career opportunities are rising to match.To engage employees beyond these factors, hiring managers may want to consider how work/life balance and exposure to technology may influence transitional professionals’ career choices.