Less than 3 years ago I took a position at XOM straight out of college. The recruiter at the time said I had the potential for career growth and that the baseline pay was the best in the industry - with possible merit increases along the way. Was also told how great the benefits were. Now here I am trying to find other employment because the system here just isn’t working for me. I don’t want to be like some of my coworkers and get burned out or worse - end up hating the company. I want to leave in good standing and I hope I find something quickly.
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And your point is?
Anyone with decent IT skills can make 25-50% more for an actual IT company.
3 years and complaining??? You will not survive in XOM, too many other people that will care about their jobs and the company and will work circles around you. Move on.
Depends if you are a college graduate in the right subject or not. Salary can be eye popping for a anthropology major or a high school graduate, while for a Machine Learning graduate it would be meh.
How many majors did you work for? In recent times, the salary is no longer eye popping in comparison to other companies. Ofc, not everyone is not going to have the same experience, but I can guarantee you that there are vastly more negative versus positive.
The company does not, nor ever will, love you. Those making hiring firing decisions don’t care, or even know, what some recruiter told you. In the end it means nothing to them. If the company is not a good fit then move on, both for your own sake and the sake of others who have too work with you.
As long as there is a human element involved, the system will be flawed. Part of your success in life will be to learn how to function, and thrive, in a messed up world. Most of us figure this out but some don’t. Sorry.
BTW, not everyone has had your experience. ExxonMobil was by far best oil major I ever worked for; they provided an eye popping salary, world-class mega-projects, extensive international engineering/operational experience and every other month off! Aside from a few a-holes, it was a blast from the day I hired until the day I retired.
I am not sure OP is talking about a headhunter recruiter or a campus recruiter. Campus recruiters are generally exxonmobil employees that are basically volunteering to go back to their alma mater. As a campus recruiter, I felt it was a great opportunity but thankfully in 2020, there was no campus recruiting because I would have refused to participate because I no longer believe it is a good opportunity. S—s for the hard working talented students but can’t guide them in that direction now.....
A lot of recruiters have definitely not had positive experiences with ExxonMobil. Money talks and that’s all it is about. And no they are not there for you they are trying to match anyone Exxon will take to make the money.
A lot of recruiters have definitely not had positive experiences with ExxonMobil. Money talks and that’s all it is about. And no they are not there for you they are trying to match anyone Exxon will take to make the money.
Recruiters are paid 10-30% of your base salary, once you complete 4-6 months. That's what motivates them. they are not your friends and they are not "honest", they need to fill the slots they are allocated to make their money so they can buy their kids the GIjoe with the kung fu grip.
There is also the potential that your recruiter has had a different experience than you. I have been here 5 years and haven’t experienced the toxic culture yet (except for when I come on here and read what people have to say). My job has its ups and downs and is very difficult at times, but I assume any job I take will cause stress from time to time. I haven’t attempted to apply for other positions at other companies, so I don’t have personal evidence to say whether or not my pay is more or less than it would be at other companies, but I do know I make as much as many of my friends that are engineers for other companies (I’m not in engineering btw). I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time here and the people I’ve worked for/with.
If were to tell this to someone during recruiting, it wouldn’t be a lie, but it also may not be the same experience they have with a career at XOM. I find that a lot of the recruiters have had positive experiences with the company, which is why they are on the recruitment team.
“OK Boomer.” The phrase of the intellectually weak who can’t form an argument. Equivalent to “you’re racist.”
Most companies IMO value the illusion of competency whether than the actual thing. They reward and look favorably on employees who don't stay in the same job or company more than a few years over the person who has been in the job for awhile and in all likelihood actualy doing the work.
The corporate term is "punching your ticket" where someone just stays long enough to get some exposure but nothing else. It seems to work our for a lot of people whose resumes I have seen, constant moving around, but I have met few who were actualy able to bring anything to the job.
I am glad I have retired, as I have grown tired of new people asking me how I did things, instead of applying themselves.
Hello,
I sympathise with your post, having started in the industry 7 years ago for CVX (where I still am).
Majors are no longer the lifetime careers they used to be advertised for. Since joining I’ve been through 3 major reorgs and my home BU was sold off.
These reorgs come and go and are part of the business. The first one is most difficult to navigate mentally, but you get more prepared and able to deal with them every time one that passes.
I would encourage you to not lose focus on what a company ultimately looks for: quality employees at minimum cost.
Being a recent grad, you do not have a (unjustified) bloated salary which is why you will come out ahead, and should focus on delivering your work and not so much on the politics.
In short - don’t lose faith yet. The oil business can still be a great place if you enjoy your work and company culture. The ups and down are part of the course and is why you get paid above average salaries.
It doesn’t sound like you enjoy the culture or want to deal with the ups/downs (though as I said - it gets easier). Life could get better if you expand your social circle at work and try find some more inspirational people.
It’s my own experience, sorry if it sounds preachy!
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You are right but I’m not sure researching the company would be as telling of the toxic environment. I used to wonder as a new hire why so many people seemed so unhappy but the clear answer is the environment. A lot of employees have been treated unfairly and the horrible ranking system to send some people backwards no matter how good they are or how much effort they put in is clearly a huge detriment to workers and the company. If someone works hard and goes above and beyond doing a great job and review comes around and they are hit with some ridiculous petty excuse about why you need to lower their ranking. The real reason is they are another year older and no matter what they did all year it was going to happen but you still tear them down about this stupid little thing so it all “seems” legit. It’s a ridiculous psychological game that cannot promote a positive work environment. And the ranking we did not think could possibly get worse did in fact get much worse with this ridiculous new system.
11 years and got the boot. I will say I'm glad I took the opportunity over my career at EM to get involved in a bunch of different types of projects. It's made my resume diversified and is enabling me to switch industries probably a lot easier than some others who may be much deeper in O&G specific skill sets that aren't as readily transferrable (although all skill scan be spun to transfer in some shape or form). To OP, get out as soon as you can. Time is on your side, you aren't vested in much. It's a sinking ship, and while it sinks, the blood bath is going to get worse and worse. I feel for those who remain.
Profs in school lush it bc they don’t any better. They don’t have enough real world experience.
They don’t prepare you for the real world. Never take people words for things that serious. Companies and recruiters lie.
Think of it as a blessing in disguise. You only have three years here. Imagine how those that have been here for 10-15 years then get booted into the job market feel like.
That’s fair. I joined XOM Chemical as an experienced hire so never really subscribed to the job for life thing. Over the years, I have been the host for quite a few job candidates and I would always remind them that if they accepted a job at XOM and they discovered they didn’t like it, it was NOT an irreversible mistake; they could always look to move on to a different company.
Make sure to let your friends know in college. No need for others to make the same mistake. They need to go elsewhere. While we are not hiring many in the US, there is no need for others to,come unless there eyes are wide open. Don’t listen to the recruiters.
No one could have predicted the COVID pandemic, which was largely responsible for the immediate layoffs, but longer term you would have been miserable anyway having to deal with the toxic environment. Jump ship while you still can.
This is why you do research on the companies you are looking at taking work for.
lol... just go or pull the thumb out of your mouth and get to work.
Right now I'm playing you the smallest violin in the world. You're three years out of school and already complaining?