Serious question. Not looking to bash anyone. But what exactly do folks in these roles do? Give me the "A day in the life of ..."
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STC Senior Technical Consultant position were created in 2007 in upstream to recognize technical individuals who were industry and corporate experts in their field. The position was a CL 30 and thus an executive position but not part of the title. Initially those positions were filled with people who fit the description-names that were recognized world wide for their expertise. Didn't take long for XOM managers to use those positions to reward their buddies, park failed managers and help meet I&D targets. Today's group is a sorry mess compared to the first ones announced in 2007.
@ezd you just described Annandale perfectly, site is full of this type. last high cost location in New Jersey. (For now)
In my experience, EM Advisor were good at bridging best practices among our offshore drilling teams. They also provided backup support when went really wrong.
I was on a rig during a mooring over a drill center (Erha, Nigeria) when a mooring line busted and dropped in 2500 feet of water. It missed sea bed Infrastructure but we still had to recover the line (not the easiest thing to do in deepwater over a drill center], then figure out what happened, and develop/execute recovery operations. The Advisor was a help in providing technical support and offering input on our recovery plans. The Advisor reached out to other worldwide deepwater drill teams to double check that we were using best practices with respect to recovery mooring line operations. But, to have anything credibility with our drill team the Advisor had to have a deep level of understanding of our operation and mooring in general. This Advisor had that understanding. The Advisor was Houston based and communicated directly with management and me on the rig. This kept the Houston calls a minimum allowing us the get on with recovery operations. In the end it all went will and I retired from EM a decade later (:
The BSA's I worked with were never technical or knowledgeable of the Business they were supposed to "support".
STC/STL is appropriate shelf for a sputtered-out CL30.
titles mean very much to those types.
it is an old position which used to even have 'Executive' in the title.
henchmen mostly. polishing.
Pre merger...the advisor term was reserved for CL 29+ "Technical Advisors"...today anyone uses that term, so STC was created and that is a CL 30.
@rku you nailed it. LMAO
What do Advisors do ? Well........I'm an Advisor recently ranked NSI. Going forward I'm doing just enough to stay on the payroll. Perform according to your ranking.
@voe+1ccob2k4
You make an insanely good analysis regards to EMIT parking spots (and some other support business lines). Not core people, but cored out for some reason.
I'm currently in one of these positions for a broad 'Projects' umbrella team.
In some circles - over the past 5 years - I'm known as 'Mr. Closed-Eye Review'.
Advisor is a catchall title. In the olden EM it was reserved for senior people whose opinion management trusted and they were relatively high CL. Nowadays it is used indiscriminately and could be very early career folks in a development role, or mid to late career people. In the second category, the could be useless people that do no real work, connected enough to have cozy positions but not at the level needed for management (sometimes are well known management failures). Or could be people that are actually doing work, usually as the title said, in an area that requires wide expertise and are there to connect the dots. These are usually persons that in their career were solid middle to upper third performers, but again not in the group assigned early in to move up. Although they get to the nitty gritty of an analyst, they are experienced enough and accomplished enough to be called “analyst”. Unfortunately though for them, they are at a dead end for their career.
In EMIT these fall into maybe three categories - 1) HIPO folks to get visibility, 2) ex supervisors and managers who are not on mgmt track anymore but are CL26 and above, i.e. too expensive/ experienced/ high CL to be a normal analyst, 3) analysts who are more than CL 25
For 1), the HIPO who are placed there for visibility, they mostly do coordination work on initiatives or high visible projects that requires a lot of interaction with +2/+3 managers and folks from business functions who want more dedicated emit face time than ITCHAT. I.e. high maintenance, unreasonable and demanding F&L people who think their backward business is God. Their day would be half-filled or 3/4 filled with meetings where they’d take notes, sit in different discussions, have some follow-ups items that they then delegate out to low-potential resources to work on. They work with the track leads/ architects who act as the bridge and assign work out to analysts. They don’t do technical work or hands on work. They like to think of themselves as consultants and churn out PowerPoints. Their job is mainly relationship management and they move on their roles v quickly, maybe after 2 years.
For 2), the ex supervisors and managers who’s fallen out of the rat race but can’t be called analyst cos they’re paid $200k min and will lose out in ranking and get NSI as analyst. also it’s a title demotion to suddenly call them analyst - not impossible but rare. They do analyst type of work, like fixing data, editing process documents, but mainly process related and coordination. They are typically more technical and hands-on than 1), but less technical than the developers. They likely have dated tech skills because the last time they did real tech work as analyst was 10-20 years ago. They sit in a lot of meetings and discussions on process issues where their opinions are sought. They are usually well known by everyone, having been around for a long time and were even the people who hired the current batch of sups and managers. They do communication work and spend a lot time in meetings.
“Advisor” used to be the role that a CL 27-28 manager retire to, if they are not technical enough to be architect or STP but need to make way for younger folks. A usual fav was in process or risk management where the world doesn’t end if you make a mistake… high status, low accountability
Then there is 3), the analyst who does the same analyst work as a CL22, 20-something year old in Brazil and Budapest, and somehow got promoted to CL26 due to overly generous mgmt and the hiring/ promotion bo-m in good years 2006-2007, 2011-2012. They are definitely more experienced and can be technical. These are the firsts to be rid of in the current MLRP environment and cuts… I know a couple in their 50s who got NSI last year, and this trend is set to continue because well, they’ve earned CL26 salary for doing analyst work for 1-2 decades. Unfortunate… but they’ve also benefited financially for many years, and if we think of the current cuts as fixing mistakes made in the past maybe it’s easier to swallow.
In comparison, well, most of the 20-something year olds today can only look forward to being NSI if they are still doing analyst level work when they are 35-year olds and are still not tech leads or architects
Arrive early and be at their desk for everyone to see as others arrive. During this time, check 401k balance, pension accrual, and side investments. Go for a coffee break as soon as 95% of co-workers arrive. Attend first meeting of the day where no actual preparation is needed from them… but wait for the opportunity to single in a one small detail where no less than 8 buzzwords can be used to discuss it. Speak in the meeting for ~15 min when the topic could be worked out on the side in about 30 seconds. Make it known that you have a back end obligation and leave that meeting prematurely. 25 min bathroom break followed by lunch. Afternoon consists of email catch up where you respond by reiterating what’s already been noted, or by again singling in on the slightest of details while ensuring 10-15 additional emails at incorporates in cc in order to “keep xyz in the loop”. Check stock market and play on the internet until people start to leave and ensure they all know that you will be leaving “shortly” as well. Go home, and repeat.