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The LinkedIn Cold Call: How one young professional used social media to get her dream job in offshore wind 

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The LinkedIn Cold Call: How one young professional used social media to get her dream job in offshore wind 
Turbine Climb June 2022

Holly Rubloff is an expert at “the LinkedIn cold call.” 

It’s a strategy she used to score a spot in Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas’ Graduate Programme, which has allowed the New York native to travel the world learning about and helping advance renewable energy efforts. This fall, upon completing the program, she was offered her dream job and moved to Copenhagen to work in corporate strategy for the wind energy company — another success story for Vestas’ talent development program that has taught over 380 graduates since 2006.

In the case of Rubloff and many others, Vestas’ program provided the right tools, experiences, and education at the right time to capitalize on a talented young professional’s passion for sustainability.

After completing a master’s degree in management, Rubloff started her job search with one thought in her mind –– “Maybe I’ll work in renewable energy?” With her long-held interest in foreign affairs, business and the environment, it felt like the right fit. But without a concrete path into the industry, Rubloff brought her career search to LinkedIn, a platform she says is one of several viable online pathways for recruiting more young people into the burgeoning industry.

She first began using LinkedIn to contact employees at Vestas to learn about its workplace culture and Graduate Programme with the hope they would pass along her resume to HR. Ultimately, Rubloff’s LinkedIn cold call proved to be an effective way to get her foot in the door.

Holly Rubloff

“The first one I wrote, I spent hours typing the perfect message. You only have 300 characters [on LinkedIn],” she said. “I wanted to make sure I was concise and got the point across in a way that led to a response from the individual.”

Rubloff was successful. She found that most people were willing to offer feedback or career advice when asked about their experiences, especially in the world of renewables where so many have dedicated themselves to clean energy transition and preservation of our climate.

Vestas has also long viewed social media as a tool for reaching talented, prospective employees, especially younger generations now entering the workforce. LinkedIn and other platforms, including Instagram, offer a way to showcase the importance of renewable energy, put visuals to the impressive scale and impact of an industry like offshore wind, and share internal success stories such as Rubloff’s.

The company plans to continue using these platforms, as well as the Graduate Programme, as part of its broader talent strategy. The program puts a strong focus on both personal and professional development and gives participants the opportunity to work in two different locations during their tenure. As they move through the program, projects increase in complexity and provide real-life experience and training designed to help them take on future responsibilities and leadership roles.

Graduate Programme Cohort May 2023

In the two years Rubloff spent in the program, she traveled to and worked in cities around the globe, took on new projects and responsibilities, made friends with the diverse group of 18 program graduates, and even got to climb to the top of a turbine. In her free time, she now serves as a career development consultant for young professionals.

She also supports friends and peers with their online career searches and even created a LinkedIn cold call message template she shares with others. 

“I advocate for LinkedIn so much whenever I am speaking to peers and other young professionals,” Rubloff said. “It is such a powerful tool, especially when the job market is competitive. It really helps you gain an idea of the company, the roles, and the people who work there and help get that foot in the door.” 

Read more about the Vestas Graduate Programme here.  

Want to know how Oceantic Network is supporting the next generation of renewable energy professionals?  

Click here to learn about our New Wave program, a dynamic series of initiatives designed to empower and shape the future of the U.S. offshore wind and ocean renewables workforce. Next Wave includes in-person career development and networking opportunities, an internship program and scholarship, content at 2024 IPF, and new this year, a virtual job fair.  

“How Big Things Get Done” In Offshore Wind: A 2024 IPF Keynote

Businesses across the board launch large projects all the time. These projects, and the industries themselves, require new technologies, infrastructure, research, a robust supply chain, and solid financing to achieve economic success. But to realize these things requires time, collaboration, investment, and above all else — planning.

And the offshore wind industry is no different.

The U.S. is ramping up its investments and programs to achieve 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, plus 15 GW of floating wind by 2035. However, outside pressures, including inflation, interest rates, and global competition, are actively impacting projects.

These types of disruptions aren’t uncommon in the world of mega-projects. Such endeavors often take longer than expected, go over budget, and include unforeseen problems. It’s an alarming trend in which most muti-billion-dollar projects across all industries stumble, face obstacles, and/or change course.

With our climate future on the line, it’s more important than ever that the offshore wind industry remains focused on efficient project delivery to avoid such delays.

So, how do we course-correct projects to create a brighter future for our industry? Best-selling author and former journalist Dan Gardner has some ideas and will share insights and takeaways from his new book, How Big Things Get Done, at Oceantic Network’s 2024 International Partnering Forum (IPF Week), taking place April 22-25 in New Orleans.

How Big Things Get Done provides a vision to help companies, governments, and industries of all kinds manage successful mega projects. It identifies key factors and warning signs of decision-making errors that impact a project’s critical path. Ultimately, Garner stresses that turning a vision into a plan with successful deliverables happens when you think slowly and act fast.

Offshore wind projects are not immune to the pitfalls that Gardner will address. Offshore wind energy production and distribution are complex systems that require intense planning and strong execution. And with pressures to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and deliver more power, the industry cannot afford budget overruns and project delays.

As more offshore wind projects are added to the pipeline in the U.S., we need to spend more time in the planning phases, as well as the tools and resources required to execute mega-projects that deliver as promised. Gardner’s insights can be a big help. His exploration of why so many mega projects fail can provide important and useful insights relevant to offshore wind development projects.

Don’t miss Gardner’s keynote presentation during the Opening Plenary session on April 24, and learn how to use his ideology, techniques, and best practices for your offshore wind projects as well as many other key learnings from other industry leaders and experts at 2024 IPF.

Calling all engineers and scientists!

You spoke, we listened, and this year we’ve added a Scientific & Technical Workshop Track to the 2024 International Partnering Forum (IPF Week), taking place April 22-25 in New Orleans.

These workshops offer a deep dive into technical challenges and scientific topics in the global offshore wind industry. Speakers include scientists, researchers, and engineers from key companies and government agencies who are focused on transforming and creating offshore wind technologies to meet evolving industry needs.

The Scientific & Technical Workshop Track was developed in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a national laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. Workshop speakers will offer the latest technical and scientific information on subjects such as glauconite, hurricane resiliency, and state-of-the-art turbine design. Amid this period of substantial change for the industry, it’s critical these outstanding and emerging challenges are addressed at a technical level.

“It’s important that IPF address not only the challenges that exist at the C-Suite level and out in the field, but also those facing scientists and engineers, without whom we would be unable to make clean energy a reality,” said Liz Burdock, President & CEO of Oceantic Network. “I am thankful to NREL, in particular Walter Musial and Amy Robertson, for guiding the direction of this track and offering the impressive expertise of their team and network to our IPF audience.”

For over ten years, IPF has been the place to learn, connect, and collaborate on current bottlenecks, potential solutions, and new technologies in offshore wind. With the inclusion of the Technical & Scientific Track, experts at all levels and specialties can engage in IPF Week’s global information exchange.

“Adding this new track increases the technical depth of IPF and engages an even wider pool of offshore wind engineers, scientists, and others who need and want a deep dive into the industry’s latest research and findings,” said Walt Musial, Chief Engineer of Offshore Wind Energy at NREL. “It’s critical to engage all levels of the offshore wind industry in information-sharing to ensure the successful growth of global offshore wind. I am pleased that NREL and Oceantic Network could partner on this exciting new addition to this year’s IPF Week and look forward to seeing these panels in action.”

Preview the Scientific & Technical Workshop Track below. Detailed information on workshop topics, speakers, and scheduling will be available in early 2024.

  • What’s the big deal about glauconite?
  • Inter-array effects and mitigation of downstream cluster wakes in the Atlantic
  • Designing offshore wind turbines to survive major hurricanes
  • Weather and energy forecasting in the age of Exascale computing
  • Advanced wind turbine controls: shaping the next generation of offshore wind
  • State-of-the-art offshore wind design
  • Offshore wind predictive maintenance using digital twins and AI

IPF Week, presented by the Oceantic Network (formerly the Business Network for Offshore Wind), is the premier offshore wind conference in the Americas and is expected to draw over 4,000 attendees to New Orleans for a week of presentations, discussions, networking, and celebrations of the global offshore wind and ocean renewables industries.

The Scientific & Technical Workshop Track is one of several tracks that will be part of IPF Week’s Educational and Technical Workshops, which will be held throughout Wednesday and Thursday, April 24-25. Other tracks include Ports & Vessels, Finance & Insurance, Operations & Maintenance, and more.

Information about other IPF sessions and schedules is available on the 2024 IPF website.

Oceantic Network (formerly the Business Network for Offshore Wind) releases its U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report in April, July, October, and January. Each builds off our U.S. Offshore Wind Annual Market Report and provides key analysis of both federal and state government activities impacting the U.S. offshore wind industry. Quarterly Reports ensure companies are informed on offshore wind industry developments affecting their business.  

The period from July to September of 2023 (Q3) is notable for substantial development of the U.S. supply chain, particularly when it comes to shipbuilding and secondary steel work, as the nation’s first two commercial-scale projects went from steel in the water to blades in the sky. As Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind sit on the precipice of delivering their first power to the grid, the pipeline of projects approved for construction has tripled in size with more projects just weeks away from achieving final approval themselves. 

The report details important developments that affected the U.S. offshore wind industry in the third quarter of 2023, including: 

  • The pipeline of projects permitted for construction tripled in the third quarter of 2023, up to 2.7 GW, with more approvals expected to come in the fourth quarter.  
  • Three projects, totaling 3.2 GW, have officially announced contract terminations. Each project will attempt to secure a new contract in upcoming state procurement rounds.    
  • East Coast states increased their coordination, highlighted by new procurement rounds in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  
  • Vessel-building and secondary steel manufacturing delivered strong performances among offshore wind supply chain subsectors.  
  • New York is expected to award new power agreements in the fourth quarter, and with that could come new investments in turbine blade and nacelle facilities. 

Oceantic Network’s report, Building a National Network of Offshore Wind Ports: A $36B Plan for Domestic Clean Energy Infrastructure highlights the urgent need for both public and private investment in the port infrastructure projects needed to meet the U.S.’s offshore wind power generation goals. Authored by Brian Sabina, CEO of Clean Energy Terminals and Oceantic Network’s Ports Working Group, the report lays out a $36 billion plan for developing domestic port infrastructure to help the U.S. reach its offshore wind deployment goals of 30 GW by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050. It offers practical cost and timing requirements for needed projects to ensure ports are ready to meet current and future demand. The report also outlines nine approaches state and federal policymakers could take to encourage private investment, either by subsidizing portions of the infrastructure costs or by de-risking projects to drive confidence and cost-efficiency.   

While development of the U.S. offshore wind industry has accelerated rapidly in the past two years, the industry’s long-term ability to scale and meet demand faces key bottlenecks and hurdles. That includes the U.S. port infrastructure system, which is currently unable to support projected offshore wind component manufacturing and project deployment. Already, more than $2.5 billion has been invested in U.S. ports, but unleashing the full potential of the industry requires a new understanding of long-term port requirements needs and development timelines to enable sustainable offshore wind growth that will create thousands of manufacturing, logistics, and operations jobs. 

The Report’s key findings include:  

  • Port infrastructure is one of the most significant bottlenecks impeding the advancement of the United States offshore wind industry.  
  • The U.S. needs approximately 110 port development sites across the East Coast, West Coast, and the Gulf of Mexico to support the full buildout of the industry (35 are already in development.)  
  • Without additional government funding and policy supports that incentivize private investment into U.S. offshore wind port infrastructure, port capacity will continue to be a major offshore wind deployment constraint across the country.  
  • The total cost to address the nation’s offshore wind port infrastructure gap is estimated to be $36 billion over the next decade when realistically accounting for construction cost inflation.   

Download and read Building a National Network of Offshore Wind Ports now. 

Oceantic Network’s report, Building a Collaborative Data Strategy for the U.S. Offshore Wind Industry highlights the need for and benefits of developing a strategic, industry-wide approach to collecting and using data in the offshore wind sector. Authored by Oceantic Network’s Data & Digitalization Working Group (DDWG), the report outlines the positive impact a collaborative approach would have on offshore wind development in the U.S., making the case for widespread data sharing to increase efficiency industry-wide.

The U.S. industry has ramped up construction, recently celebrating steel in the water on the first two commercial-scale projects, and now sits at a crucial tipping point. It has become increasingly important for industry stakeholders to consider offshore wind as a collective, critical energy infrastructure system that requires collaboration on data collection strategies that allow the industry to work together to improve maintenance procedures, turbine efficiency, and cost projections. 

The Report’s key findings include:

  • The high value of data to developers means that some current data collection work is done privately, making data less accessible to industry stakeholders.  
  • The industry needs to approach a strategy for environmental data collection, storage, and sharing on a larger, more comprehensive scale to support industry-wide learning, overcome obstacles, and make the permitting process more efficient.
  • Standardization in data collection is key to ensuring that all stakeholders are able to make full use of lessons learned.

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