I know some people think Horizons are totally worthless, but you have to start your career somewhere. Nobody leaves school as an industry expert. And the whole point of the Horizons program is to develop people quickly since there is such a huge gap from the last time all the less experienced personnel got laid off. Hopefully history doesn't repeat itself.
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Indeed the engineer from a service company is very focused, this is exactly what chevron is lack of. Way too many generalists. Strongly disagree why the focused engineers can't get the big pics. For those generalist executives, it is time to roll up your sleeves and get focused and do your job!
The people in horizons I believe have the potential to become good employees. The problem is the company fills their heads with nonsense by telling them they are the "future executives" of the company. They prop these kids up as if they already have proven themselves and know all they need to know. This makes many Horizons kids closed minded to feedback from senior employees. You've gotten your education so you know the fundementals of how things should work under controlled conditions with all the right equipment. Now you need to learn how things actullay work in the oil field.
Guys, get over it. This downsizing is a long scope project expected to last 3 years (if oil price AND finances) stay as they are). So even if the company fire ALL the Hz people, the layoff will reach many of us no matter what. Now, stating that all Hz people are useless is a huge non-sense, many of them are very keen on learning and delivering in spite of having a learning curve just as we had it when we started. In addition, I disagree with the statement that hiring engineers directly from service companies will be a better choice. These engineers are usually very good in what they do, but they are also very focuse. Not trained to think out of the box nor problem solving. The real problem with engineers in CVX is that they all come for the same limited pool of universities whose internal clicks control hiring, and most of them are only interested in becoming managers. Very few have advance technical degrees and even fewer has vocation for a technical education and career in a specialized field. it is time to realize that firing Hz people is not going to save your neck; it does not work that way.
As with the other replies, I have no knowledge of what will happen in the future. However, the statements that all horizons are useless and will hit the road sound like people trying to make themselves feel better by trying to make others feel worse. Statements that horizons folks will be dumped en-masse are nonsense. As with anyone else, the decisions will mostly, if not exclusively, be based on cost versus value. I have been involved with selecting new college hires in the past. Despite the rude comments, not everyone at chevron is an idiot. People, including the ROM decision makers know perfectly well that new hires from college need to be judged not only on what they can do now, but their potential to contribute in the future. Old farts, like me, are judged on what they offer now because their futures are limited. Mid-career folks probably get judged on a bit of both. Bottom line is that people from every age and experience group will be let go and other people from those same groups will be retained. And don't lose sight of the fact that the reduction is somewhere around 15% of the current workforce. That means the vast majority of current employees will still be employed when this is done. Will you, or I for that matter, be among them? I don't know, and at this point, neither does anyone else.
The horizon engineers that I have worked with had very little insterests in learning because the next job that they will take will be something completely unrelated. It is a pure waste of time to train those who had no insterest to learn. The horizon program in chevron is a joke. We are better off hiring some young but experienced engineers directly from service company.
I have gained little from completing the Horizons program. Disillusioned with Chevron's mismanagement of young engineers' careers, I left the company soon after.
In hindsight, I wish that when leaving school I had the insight to go work for an oil&gas supplier/constructor, but the Chevron recruiting pitch sounded pretty good, and I went for it. So for all those out there hating Horizons, please be able able to distinguish between the program itself and people in it. Young college grads joining Chevron do not have the option of not joining Horizons.
But if your argument is that Chevron should change its recruiting policies and stop recruiting college graduates, that's a whole different topic...
So true. The Horizons people are being hand held like they are future brain surgeons.
People from the Horizons program cost a lot, but contribute little to the company at least the first 2 years. With the same pay scale, it can get more experienced professionals from the service companies, whom have been trained enough.