The one thing that's keeping me here is not being able to tell for sure if the job I might accept will put me in a better position. I've seen it happen. People accept a job thinking it was going to be great then once they start it's something completely different and the environment is nothing like it was advertised. Within a year they are just as unhappy as they were before changing companies. That's the last thing I need in my life.
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Anybody who thinks their every move is only climbing the ladder is fit for EM management. Cannibalism required .
My experience is that dropping down a step and even switching ladders is best for me. I'm satisfied with short ribs and poultry.
OP - I am an experienced hire with XOM for 5 years and planing to move to a different job soon.
Having worked for different companies, I have not experienced anything as toxic as XOM. Every employee’s every action here seems to be driven by ranking. So no trust and teamwork. Always trying to undercut each other.
Beyond that, things like incompetent managers, meeting/PowerPoint culture and stupid safety make this place unbearable.
I put up with it for the 5 year vesting period. Can’t wait to get out of here.
There’s plenty of that bait-and-switch going on inside of EM. Especially as staffing shortages get more serious. Your next EM job has that same risk, and might even be more likely to be a let down as more people resign. Follow your gut, and talk to people in your network to get a feel of the culture on the ground.
No, I want to break free!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Mc-NYPHaQ
Seriously, figure out what you like to do and find a job/company where you can do that.
I highly recommend Strengthsfinder - it changed my working life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6BhSqyz0CQ
It sounds cliche, but it works. I eventually left my former company and came to EM - still happy all these years later.
@OP If you’re going to leave, leave the industry altogether. If you go to another O&G company it will be the same (or worse) than EM, only with less pay.
Good luck.
I left exxon and know many people who left the company (at least 20 people).. never heard somebody regretting it... I also doubted a lot before leaving, now i laugh about even having considered to stay. The toxicity of that place was ridicolous!
Dude, I left. No regrets. With all of the abnoxious monitoring, cameras everywhere, keystroke counting, I think you will be happier anywhere. I am way more relaxed, making the same money (minus the phishing emails, no handrail, etc).
as some might say "Good Luck"!
Hard to be certain about something like that. You might change jobs and be really happy, you might not. If you're already pretty unhappy where you are, then there's maybe a better than 50/50 shot you'll be happier working elsewhere... but maybe not a lot better than that.
Weigh that uncertainty against how you think you'll feel after another year in your present job - you've probably got a clearer picture of what that will be.
Leave. But don’t cry when you find we’re not the only dysfunctional people on the block. There is nothing unique about us except for scale. We have managed to pi-s away our competitive advantages, but a lot of other places don’t have that edge, either. I am not wanting to be contrarian or to dissuade you, but in all seriousness, it is one big unhappy world out there. You aren’t escaping jack squat.
Go ahead. Leave.
…you should read the book Midnight Library.
As long as the pay is comparable then it can’t be. It’s up to the individual and obviously in your mind you haven’t seen enough to sway the scale in the other direction. I had to go from a mental stability perspective. My section had become over run with DH and sls that were ripping the engineering section apart for pds bullets and making decisions that I felt like were not in the company’s best interest. Toxic and vindictive engineering sls. No more calling Baton Rouge for me