Anyone know what it takes to have your potential increased higher than the default 29 if you are middle age? Is your potential only going down once you hit 35 years old or can it still be moved up into your early 40 ‘s before being locked down?
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@2hhr+1cJ6LQnQ Good for that person his supervisor is not solely self focused and looking only upward. And your manager was flexible. I presume you know the probability math of jo--t probability. Don’t let the system change you (it will be hard). The good fortune the employee you mentioned is not average or typical.
Relatively new supervisor here. Just wanted to add my 1 data point: I have a mid-career engineer on my team who joined a few years ago as an experienced hire with 10 yrs experience. He is amazing, I truly love having him on my team- he's sharp, works hard, communicates well, and plays nice with others. Last week I advocated with my DH that his potential be bumped up to 31 this year and it was approved without issue.
I think the number of post tells you that this is part of the problem with the culture at XOM. The other piece of the puzzle is that the arrogance of our management and we don't make mistakes is the real tendency for some of these obvious mistakes to continue rising. This alone is one of the major reason for the bad business results of the past decade or more.
Number of people attending to this post is amazing.
Blunter answer -
you are generally tapped within 3 years in the company as HiPo, then on probation through assignments for 4 or 5 years including 1Line, Expat, Projects and other checkboxes. At that point, you might pass to 28 by age 35 and get into the real political slaughterhouse.
At any point thereafter (with ~10 years HiPo), 90% stay same CL for next 15 years.
Used to be they would happily remain there, doing really nothing.
Worthless outside of EM both technically and managerially.
There will be some PiPing or legal layoffs of 29-33 CLs in coming years, if not already started. Commodity company - different skills required.
So don't get your silly hopes up.
Narcissism only goes so far.
There are true “hipo” people and those who are told they’re “hipo” and never make it to executive but have that carrot dangled in front of them their whole career up to a point. If you’re a 34, chances are you’re in the latter category.
2000s hire and same as 80s/90s….a shot-from-the-hip number assigned to you on your first year, and it only goes down. Never up. I have compared notes. No one I know has ever had their potential adjusted up, even if their ranking is ridiculously high. (Or if they have had their potential adjusted up, no one has ever told them.)
I hear we now assign potential on year 5. I feel like I want a career refund on that one. Happy for the people who can benefit from it, I guess.
Seriously though…. What did they use to assign my potential at year 1? Keep in mind, potential is not assigned by your direct supervisor….and maybe not even second-order supervisor. So I can only assume that my potential was assigned on my appearance, since I am quite certain I never spoke with or presented to anyone with this power within my first year. I just imagine some old group of managers flipping through headshots saying ‘Hmmm, he looks like a 30. I saw her in the elevator and she said ‘hi.’ 32. Nice smile. 34. Weird hairstyle. 28.’ Would love for someone to tell me this is wrong….but suspect it is right on the money. Maybe some performance feedback FROM YOUR FIRST YEAR OUT OF COLLEGE comes through, but it has to be minimal.
This makes me mad just to thinking about it. They should delete all our potentials and be made to reassign them from scratch.
And what type of over-inflated management structure requires managers to be identified in year 1, because otherwise they cannot fly through the ranks quickly enough in a 30 year career? That is insanity!
In the late 80’s/early 90’s, a provisional potential was set when you first joined the company and it was adjusted during your 2nd year.
As far as I am aware, that was it - it could never go higher than that first estimate, and it could only go lower if you really messed up.
Take it from someone who has seen lots of Hi-Po’s go through the system, “really messing up” does not mean doing badly at your job. I don’t think they expect any Hi-Po’s to be competent at their job until they get to a high level management position (by which time it’s too late). Until then, the Hi-Po’s are just bouncing around the different departments, gaining “experience” of how the company functions. I’ve seen plenty of Hi-Po’s mess up badly on the technical side, or be absolutely terrible 1st or 2nd line managers, but it hasn’t stopped them from being highly ranked and continuing on their rocket ride to the stars.
No. “Really messing up” means standing up to you boss; telling them “No”; correcting their misunderstanding of something; showing them that you’re the expert; or having more than an ounce of scientific integrity or humanity. That’s when you’re marked as a troublemaker, a maverick, an oddball and your potential drops.
Back in the 90s we were told our potential in our first real ranking session after about a year of service. I can say that I retired at 1 CL level above my early communicated level because they raised the technical levels in 2007. Didn't matter how much I contributed it never changed. Of the others with hi-pos tags 1 made VP and the other two flamed out and left the company. My observation is having high potential doesn't guarantee but without early ID it is very difficult to advance. XOM has a committe (COED) whose main purpose is to steward these hi-pos careers-making sure they get the right assignments and advance quickly. Hard to compete with that. I know of one person who was tagged for fls or first line management but who ended up VP very quickly because they were in charge of a major discovery. One out of 1600.
I find the “potential” at EM to be a wickedly funny issue, something that perfectly encapsulates the secrecy and deep hypocrisy that characterize the company. For more than two decades, I’ve attended all meetings, discussions with supervisors, etc. and I’ve NEVER heard the words “potential” or “high-potential employees” ever mentioned officially (which makes it obvious that I’ve never been a hi-po).
Only last year, when my supervisor was singing praises to the changes in the ranking system did I finally hear the word “potential” mentioned (as in “potential will be completely separated from the new performance assessment system”, if you’re naive enough to believe it).
The funniest thing was that of course nobody in the group asked what “potential” is; everybody knows, but it can never be mentioned openly, unless the management wants to brag about something.
Your potential is determined before age 30 and cast in stone certainly by 35. Your best strategy after that is to make a strong personal connection with an influential hipo already on the way up. You may squeeze another level out of it (or maybe not)
OP, your coming to this forum with these 'posts' leans toward external trolling.
But giving you the benefit of the doubt, you are likely a CL24 right now.
You will not rise higher, muh fren.
Any further questions along this line,
please consult your preacher, priest or rabbi.
dogs make good friends.
And yet all they talk about is meritocracy...this company is only for mediocre and hard work is not very appreciated....it is all about optics (i heard this a lot)... that's why it is hard to change the company culture because they have played "the same culture" for many years in order to get ahead in career....
There is no fairness in obtaining a high potential.
You need a sponsor.
I have seen a few high potential that were complete blatant errors. Absolute id--ts climbed through tanks doing damage in every position. If your sponsor I’d powerful enough, all damage done is covered up.
I have also seen bottom quintile employee achieve the impossible with superhuman effort then not gain a single point in ranking.
Some people get to CL45 in less than 5 years. I will reveal the strategy in another thread.
How to find a sponsor?
I only even dream about being a 29!!!!
It takes a supervisor who is willing to be fair and stand up for you. A rare thing to find for sure but they do exist. The problem is there is a limited number of people who can be assigned as HiPos so if you don’t have a sponsor it is an uphill battle. Sponsors want their tribe to succeed as then the sponsor has more people from their tribe in positions of power.