I have heard that EM rarely hires not experienced workers. There might some truth to that and I'm sure that some here could site examples. But, just FYI, let me tell you of a counter example.
I was hired by EM after 20 years working for several oil companies (Getty Oil, Amoco, BP, Arco, Vaster, etc.) I was 49 years old when they hired me. I worked until 65 when took the retired package. I know 2 other engineers that were also experienced hires all retiring from EM in their mid 60's. Myself, as well as the other two engineers, were never that high up in EM; we were just workers (who knew how to get the job done at the field level). We were never supervisors or managers. We were never apart of any EM bonus program. Just a pay check every two weeks (the pay was really good).
I think different departments might have different approaches to experienced hires. My department (EMDC Drilling) seemed good about hiring those that could fill a long-term need. For EM, I ran SS trees in deep water from an installation vessel instead a rig; no one (I know) in EM had that type of experienced when I was hired. I did that for EM for the better part of 15 years. My experience with EM was very good indeed.
Perhaps I was fortunate.
- John G.