As I’m starting interviewing with other companies and also most likely leaving o&g, and soon enough I’ll be putting Exxon in the rear view mirror it phased me - will I miss anything here? What is it that you think you would miss or that you already miss if you left?
21 replies (most recent on top)
Left in July and haven't miss anything or anyone.
Most people forget about you too. It's so fast.
Made me realize most of those relationships were transactional.
Bravo and well said @2aap+1718v6EV... this is a symptom of the entitled generation that hasn’t lived through these downturns before. Personally, if they hate EM so much, they should self identify and quit. Save the jobs for the rest of us that actually enjoy our work and are committed to getting it done. This is a whole lot of noise here by the few disgruntled. The internet troll world we now live in.
@2aap+1718v6EV Good luck giving your all. For every 1 of you, there are at least 2 of us.
Hint: we play the PA game well too. Just enjoying the reality of this forum. I’m enjoying my WFH time.
@2aap+1718v6EV, you are new at ExxonMobil so maybe we should forgive your innocense. Business is business and its business is making money. This is true for everyone, including employees. The most successful employees are those motivated by their own money and status (management). I don't owe them anything more than a day's work each day. Everything else is a self-esteem issue IMHO.
I’ve worked for the Drilling Contractor side for over 20 years and a few different companies through takeovers and after coming to ExxonMobil, I have never enjoyed, appreciated or worked for a better Company nor have I ever been treated so well and valued so well as I have with ExxonMobil. I recently discovered this website blog and read all the blogs and comments in here and most of the comments reminds me of spoiled rotten kids that never had never been fed with anything less than a silver spoon in their mouths. I’ve listened to long time employees b–ch about the sh–ty first class seats on the flight we took that was only 5 hours long thinking to myself wtf, I love this, and could only think about how miserable it use to be to fly 14-17 hours to work crammed in the cheapest class economy seat in the middle seat on top of it and going straight to work for 12 plus hours after arriving. That’s just one example of being spoiled and having the feeling of entitlement of nothing less than the best. ExxonMobil is a business and a business is in business for one thing.....making money not giving it away or in business for pleasure. Businesses like ExxonMobil in my opinion give too much to their employees for little to none in return for most of the employees that are here crying or bad mouthing the company or it’s upper management. I can’t say that ExxonMobil will keep me employed or make me a causality of this down cycle we are going through but I can say until then, I will pray that does not happen to me while I continue to give my all and more striving to make a difference working my hardest for what has been the best company I have ever had the opportunity to be a part of. I’m sure several people don’t agree with me but I haven’t forgotten where I came up from and I haven’t forgotten that, that silver spoon needs to be cleaned sometimes but that’s what plastic spoons are made for to get you by when times are tough. ExxonMobil can freeze my 401k, my pension, cut my pay, fly me coach, cut back on my expenses but in the end when things come back and if I’m still around with ExxonMobil then it will be all worth the sacrifice for a company that has given me the opportunity to love my job, my career, my passion again and do what I love without dreading having to show up for work.
My paycheck, bantor, and the gym!
Big freaking lie! ExxonMobil employees are as Intelligent as in the outside. In fact, I remembered since my school day that we were not hiring the best but the ones that looked more like the typical EM drone.
All true international travel in business class (and associated points/rewards)
The average level of intelligence of co-workers was high. People we thought were slow, were perceived that way due to relativity. At outside companies you will meet a much wider range of intelligence.
That's it, never look back. For me the grass has been much greener outside XOM
What do I miss about Exxon?
Their employee manual. Very simple.
- Your supervisor is always right
- If you think your supervisor is wrong, refer to Rule #1
Simple
I have lots of friends that voluntarily left ExxonMobil back in the 2006-2009 time period. All chasing a better salary or signing bonus, promotions, 9/80’s or the Mountains of Denver. Out of the twenty or so I keep in touch with, only 4 or 5 are still are employed with an O&G company. Most were laid off in 2015, or earlier this year and have been sending me resumes to try and return. Those that are still employed are surviving. One at Hess, one at Oxy and one at Chevron and two at Total. The people at Hess and Total hate the toxic culture, but survive for the employment. The person at Chevron is doing pretty well, and says the culture there isn’t any better or worse than ExxonMobil- it’s a big US company with politics and managers. The one at Oxy is thrilled and doing awesome, he says the culture is great... but obviously very concerned about their terrible financial situation after the merger.
So... be careful when y’all compare the Tiger to the others, I have had many former employees try to find a way back in.... unsuccessfully.
My paycheck
Nothing. and no one.
Brown nosers for me! Always praising how great the speakers were.. on townhalls, forums and even online platform! Spending days to think of the questions to ask for the forums, just to look intelligent, hoping to be identified. Some how such behaviours are celebrated here.. and well.. you see the consequences of such resources leading us into this state now.. the pandemic is merely a catalyst to expedite our decline..
Sit back, play it safe.. and enjoy the ride.. down..
@glg+1718v6EV And free meals on those travels! Hope we get start travelling soon too
I’ve been out there 21 years. I have made some damn good friends out there. Friends I’ll have the rest of my life. I spent more time with them than my own family. I missed my kids growing up. Lost my wife because she said I was married to Exxon, and she was tired of sitting at home alone. I don’t blame her. Even now, at 53 I’m at their beck and call. At the end of the day, the guys we work with are not our enemy. Sure you have a few bad apples. But you never throw those you have grown to love under the bus. The ones that do eventually fail. I have seen it time and time again. Don’t turn on your friends now, we are all riding the ship down!!
Nothing
Having worked elsewhere before joining XOM, my biggest discovery was that XOM is a good recruiter and finds talented and ethical people.
- The safety meetings
- Being told to hold the handrail
- The threat of getting a ticket in the parking lot
- Constant threat of termination for a single mistake with the corporate card
- the lack of externally competitive skills that they value and the “skills” of people that got promoted (hint: be a byu grad)
- TL;DR nothing really
Well until the pandemic hit us.. for me it’s the free holidays disguised as team building or workshop! Plus hotel and airlines rewards from all the business trips. Amazing.. Hope to get back to enjoy those benefits! Need to maintain my membership!
I'll miss United Way day of volunteering. That's about it.
And some earnest (meaning frank, not yearning) people.
One of my few mentors in EM told me, early on - 'Keep your Head up!'.
Most of my experience there is to 'keep your head down'.
As far as being happy: it is self-defined and should evolve all the time.
Not often found in any boss-oriented environment.
Thinking about starting an engineer/scientist commune somewhere.
Here's an old lament.
In the sixteenth century, what is happy, baby?
In a penitentiary, what is happy, baby?
Keep a good perspective on everything you do.
Best wishes.
Some people are actually very nice. But at the end of the day, you're competing with them so it's a double-edged sword. I've interviewed with other companies as well and they're equally very promising, nice people. And now, it's just happiness I seek.