AjanleKoko: Somebody needs to show this thread to Total HR

Abi oh - they should pay the OP for all this free marketing/promotion they are getting. Abi no be the work of HR be dat?

naijababe:

That's how it is, in fact the big kahunas often said it's their competitive advantage. Folks in EM do not complain until they get the real gist of what happens in other IOCs, I was in that boat some months ago!

You dis woman you don hammer oh. . .which boat exactly? Left EM some months ago to hammer bigger pay elsewhere or considering EM some months ago?

2good:

I worked with a couple of NNPC staff (NAPIMS), seconded to the drilling department of the company I worked in Nigeria and I must say they dont know anything in comparison with the number of years experience they claim. I think its a career killer to go there if you have a better option. People that work there retire and cannot work elsewhere cos they are not competitive in knowledge at retirement.

I understand your point, but bros. . . I was recently informed that one 'oga' like that retired with 2.5m per month pension from NNPC. . . .how many souls even see that kind of money while working? I don't mind not working with that kain pension. . . .I can then become a Pastor full time.

Just to answer a few questions here abt Nigerian IOCs.

1) It is my personal opinion that connections can get you in maybe 5% of the time. I do not want to say it's impossible which is why I'm going for 5%. Some of the brightest guys you all knew in school (those guys u call Efiko, who were dirt poor then) work for these companies now. When I joined joined about 7 years ago, I had the best engr grads from Ife, Uniport, Uniben in my set. So it is a fallacy in my opinion when we talk about knowing somebody to get in. These companies have the strictest internal checks even for recruitment.

2) A lot of people actually do not know what goes on in IOCs in Nigeria regarding pay and benefits. I'll give a rule of thumb though: if you know anybody that tells you his monthly basic salary is 1 million, know that it is about 55% of his total pay. He still has a lot of benefits some of them bothering on the absurd. For example, you get rent allowance which is more than 2.5 million for entry level where I work, safety allowance (0.5 monthly salary), furniture allowance, generative purchase allowance, generator fueling allowance, car allowance, car fueling allowance, security allowance, children education allowance, 13th month, success sharing, home ownership, end of negotiation pay, car refurbishment, field allowance, shift allowance. They even pay you if your child, spouse or parent dies. All these though are due to the unions. No management loves you that much to want to give all that. If you then factor in your typical yearly increase, you are not doing badly at all. Personally, my basic salary is five times what it was when I joined 6/7 years ago.

3) on NYSC, the company has a policy to absorb whoever NYSC sends to them until the quota is filled up. The advice is, get yourself posted there and report early. I'm not ruling out influence in this also.

4) on stock options, we typically don't do this. It was broached at one point but the opinion amongst employees is that they do not want to transact business with management in that way I.e. give me my money and I'll go do what I want with it.

I also do not agree with the sentiment that spending years abroad in the industry gives you certain competitive advantages when you come home. It is a global industry and the technology is the same so I fail to see the competitive edge. In the instances I've seen, you are benchmarked against employees of similar years of experience and hired on that grade. We do not hire managers from abroad, we promote from within or bring an expatriate to do the job. Note that anybody of Nigerian heritage is not an expatriate by the company definitions even if you have a foreign passport. You come as a Nigerian, simples. Good thing is people don't mind because nairaland payroll is fantastic anyways.

This is all I can think of right now.

P.S. I'm posting with someone else's ID.

AjanleKoko: Somebody needs to show this thread to Total HR

I think they already know. Take a look at the bolded part.

flexyonline: Just to answer a few questions here abt Nigerian IOCs.

1) It is my personal opinion that connections can get you in maybe 5% of the time. I do not want to say it's impossible which is why I'm going for 5%. Some of the brightest guys you all knew in school (those guys u call Efiko, who were dirt poor then) work for these companies now. When I joined joined about 7 years ago, I had the best engr grads from Ife, Uniport, Uniben in my set. So it is a fallacy in my opinion when we talk about knowing somebody to get in. These companies have the strictest internal checks even for recruitment.

2) A lot of people actually do not know what goes on in IOCs in Nigeria regarding pay and benefits. I'll give a rule of thumb though: if you know anybody that tells you his monthly basic salary is 1 million, know that it is about 55% of his total pay. He still has a lot of benefits some of them bothering on the absurd. For example, you get rent allowance which is more than 2.5 million for entry level where I work, safety allowance (0.5 monthly salary), furniture allowance, generative purchase allowance, generator fueling allowance, car allowance, car fueling allowance, security allowance, children education allowance, 13th month, success sharing, home ownership, end of negotiation pay, car refurbishment, field allowance, shift allowance. They even pay you if your child, spouse or parent dies. All these though are due to the unions. No management loves you that much to want to give all that. If you then factor in your typical yearly increase, you are not doing badly at all. Personally, my basic salary is five times what it was when I joined 6/7 years ago.

3) on NYSC, the company has a policy to absorb whoever NYSC sends to them until the quota is filled up. The advice is, get yourself posted there and report early. I'm not ruling out influence in this also.

4) on stock options, we typically don't do this. It was broached at one point but the opinion amongst employees is that they do not want to transact business with management in that way I.e. give me my money and I'll go do what I want with it.

I also do not agree with the sentiment that spending years abroad in the industry gives you certain competitive advantages when you come home. It is a global industry and the technology is the same so I fail to see the competitive edge. In the instances I've seen, you are benchmarked against employees of similar years of experience and hired on that grade. We do not hire managers from abroad, we promote from within or bring an expatriate to do the job. Note that anybody of Nigerian heritage is not an expatriate by the company definitions even if you have a foreign passport. You come as a Nigerian, simples. Good thing is people don't mind because nairaland payroll is fantastic anyways.

This is all I can think of right now.

P.S. I'm posting with someone else's ID.

I think I know who this mystery poster is. . . .my good friend whose name ends with an e.

flexyonline: Just to answer a few questions here abt Nigerian IOCs.

1) It is my personal opinion that connections can get you in maybe 5% of the time. I do not want to say it's impossible which is why I'm going for 5%. Some of the brightest guys you all knew in school (those guys u call Efiko, who were dirt poor then) work for these companies now. When I joined joined about 7 years ago, I had the best engr grads from Ife, Uniport, Uniben in my set. So it is a fallacy in my opinion when we talk about knowing somebody to get in. These companies have the strictest internal checks even for recruitment.

2) A lot of people actually do not know what goes on in IOCs in Nigeria regarding pay and benefits. I'll give a rule of thumb though: if you know anybody that tells you his monthly basic salary is 1 million, know that it is about 55% of his total pay. He still has a lot of benefits some of them bothering on the absurd. For example, you get rent allowance which is more than 2.5 million for entry level where I work, safety allowance (0.5 monthly salary), furniture allowance, generative purchase allowance, generator fueling allowance, car allowance, car fueling allowance, security allowance, children education allowance, 13th month, success sharing, home ownership, end of negotiation pay, car refurbishment, field allowance, shift allowance. They even pay you if your child, spouse or parent dies. All these though are due to the unions. No management loves you that much to want to give all that. If you then factor in your typical yearly increase, you are not doing badly at all. Personally, my basic salary is five times what it was when I joined 6/7 years ago.

3) on NYSC, the company has a policy to absorb whoever NYSC sends to them until the quota is filled up. The advice is, get yourself posted there and report early. I'm not ruling out influence in this also.

4) on stock options, we typically don't do this. It was broached at one point but the opinion amongst employees is that they do not want to transact business with management in that way I.e. give me my money and I'll go do what I want with it.

I also do not agree with the sentiment that spending years abroad in the industry gives you certain competitive advantages when you come home. It is a global industry and the technology is the same so I fail to see the competitive edge. In the instances I've seen, you are benchmarked against employees of similar years of experience and hired on that grade. We do not hire managers from abroad, we promote from within or bring an expatriate to do the job. Note that anybody of Nigerian heritage is not an expatriate by the company definitions even if you have a foreign passport. You come as a Nigerian, simples. Good thing is people don't mind because nairaland payroll is fantastic anyways.

This is all I can think of right now.

P.S. I'm posting with someone else's ID.

Thank you, especially for point number 1. I wonder where people get their theory of man know man employment in multinational oil companies. People like dwelling on exceptions rather than on rules. I wonder for them.

Well, oil companies have so much weight that people can give up so much just to be there. The oil industry is the main place to be in naija. My guy, a regular petroleum engineer who was managing just a few years ago, should be a very big boy now at Total. Very few people his age in naija can match him now. All these happened in less than 4 years.

Only God knows man's next destination.

T22

na big boys full this thread oh kai.
I want to be like you all when i grow up.

is this in NMA SBU

flexyonline: Just to answer a few questions here abt Nigerian IOCs.

1) It is my personal opinion that connections can get you in maybe 5% of the time. I do not want to say it's impossible which is why I'm going for 5%. Some of the brightest guys you all knew in school (those guys u call Efiko, who were dirt poor then) work for these companies now. When I joined joined about 7 years ago, I had the best engr grads from Ife, Uniport, Uniben in my set. So it is a fallacy in my opinion when we talk about knowing somebody to get in. These companies have the strictest internal checks even for recruitment.

2) A lot of people actually do not know what goes on in IOCs in Nigeria regarding pay and benefits. I'll give a rule of thumb though: if you know anybody that tells you his monthly basic salary is 1 million, know that it is about 55% of his total pay. He still has a lot of benefits some of them bothering on the absurd. For example, you get rent allowance which is more than 2.5 million for entry level where I work, safety allowance (0.5 monthly salary), furniture allowance, generative purchase allowance, generator fueling allowance, car allowance, car fueling allowance, security allowance, children education allowance, 13th month, success sharing, home ownership, end of negotiation pay, car refurbishment, field allowance, shift allowance. They even pay you if your child, spouse or parent dies. All these though are due to the unions. No management loves you that much to want to give all that. If you then factor in your typical yearly increase, you are not doing badly at all. Personally, my basic salary is five times what it was when I joined 6/7 years ago.

3) on NYSC, the company has a policy to absorb whoever NYSC sends to them until the quota is filled up. The advice is, get yourself posted there and report early. I'm not ruling out influence in this also.

4) on stock options, we typically don't do this. It was broached at one point but the opinion amongst employees is that they do not want to transact business with management in that way I.e. give me my money and I'll go do what I want with it.

I also do not agree with the sentiment that spending years abroad in the industry gives you certain competitive advantages when you come home. It is a global industry and the technology is the same so I fail to see the competitive edge. In the instances I've seen, you are benchmarked against employees of similar years of experience and hired on that grade. We do not hire managers from abroad, we promote from within or bring an expatriate to do the job. Note that anybody of Nigerian heritage is not an expatriate by the company definitions even if you have a foreign passport. You come as a Nigerian, simples. Good thing is people don't mind because nairaland payroll is fantastic anyways.

This is all I can think of right now.

P.S. I'm posting with someone else's ID.

Yes, it's NMA SBU

debosky:

Abi oh - they should pay the OP for all this free marketing/promotion they are getting. Abi no be the work of HR be dat?



You dis woman you don hammer oh. . .which boat exactly? Left EM some months ago to hammer bigger pay elsewhere or considering EM some months ago?



I understand your point, but bros. . . I was recently informed that one 'oga' like that retired with 2.5m per month pension from NNPC. . . .how many souls even see that kind of money while working? I don't mind not working with that kain pension. . . .I can then become a Pastor full time.

EM, na only mouth dem get jare, looking forward to my transfer to las gidi in a coupla yrs. If you don't mind da granite city, another crazy payer is Maersk oil, interviewed with them some months back but i eventually didnt't go with 'em cos naija runs no dey.

naijababe:

EM, na only mouth dem get jare, looking forward to my transfer to las gidi in a coupla yrs. If you don't mind da granite city, another crazy payer is Maersk oil, interviewed with them some months back but i eventually didnt't go with 'em cos naija runs no dey.

A

2good:

Actually resuming with Maersk Oil in September to be based in Copenhagen. But dem no dey 9ja

Good company, Maersk, my resolve to return to Nigeria within the next 3yrs was the only reason why I didn't go to work for them.

flexyonline: Just to answer a few questions here abt Nigerian IOCs.

1) It is my personal opinion that connections can get you in maybe 5% of the time. I do not want to say it's impossible which is why I'm going for 5%. Some of the brightest guys you all knew in school (those guys u call Efiko, who were dirt poor then) work for these companies now. When I joined joined about 7 years ago, I had the best engr grads from Ife, Uniport, Uniben in my set. So it is a fallacy in my opinion when we talk about knowing somebody to get in. These companies have the strictest internal checks even for recruitment.

2) A lot of people actually do not know what goes on in IOCs in Nigeria regarding pay and benefits. I'll give a rule of thumb though: if you know anybody that tells you his monthly basic salary is 1 million, know that it is about 55% of his total pay. He still has a lot of benefits some of them bothering on the absurd. For example, you get rent allowance which is more than 2.5 million for entry level where I work, safety allowance (0.5 monthly salary), furniture allowance, generative purchase allowance, generator fueling allowance, car allowance, car fueling allowance, security allowance, children education allowance, 13th month, success sharing, home ownership, end of negotiation pay, car refurbishment, field allowance, shift allowance. They even pay you if your child, spouse or parent dies. All these though are due to the unions. No management loves you that much to want to give all that. If you then factor in your typical yearly increase, you are not doing badly at all. Personally, my basic salary is five times what it was when I joined 6/7 years ago.

3) on NYSC, the company has a policy to absorb whoever NYSC sends to them until the quota is filled up. The advice is, get yourself posted there and report early. I'm not ruling out influence in this also.

4) on stock options, we typically don't do this. It was broached at one point but the opinion amongst employees is that they do not want to transact business with management in that way I.e. give me my money and I'll go do what I want with it.

I also do not agree with the sentiment that spending years abroad in the industry gives you certain competitive advantages when you come home. It is a global industry and the technology is the same so I fail to see the competitive edge. In the instances I've seen, you are benchmarked against employees of similar years of experience and hired on that grade. We do not hire managers from abroad, we promote from within or bring an expatriate to do the job. Note that anybody of Nigerian heritage is not an expatriate by the company definitions even if you have a foreign passport. You come as a Nigerian, simples. Good thing is people don't mind because nairaland payroll is fantastic anyways.

This is all I can think of right now.

P.S. I'm posting with someone else's ID.

flexyonline: Just to answer a few questions here abt Nigerian IOCs.

1) It is my personal opinion that connections can get you in maybe 5% of the time. I do not want to say it's impossible which is why I'm going for 5%. Some of the brightest guys you all knew in school (those guys u call Efiko, who were dirt poor then) work for these companies now. When I joined joined about 7 years ago, I had the best engr grads from Ife, Uniport, Uniben in my set. So it is a fallacy in my opinion when we talk about knowing somebody to get in. These companies have the strictest internal checks even for recruitment.

2) A lot of people actually do not know what goes on in IOCs in Nigeria regarding pay and benefits. I'll give a rule of thumb though: if you know anybody that tells you his monthly basic salary is 1 million, know that it is about 55% of his total pay. He still has a lot of benefits some of them bothering on the absurd. For example, you get rent allowance which is more than 2.5 million for entry level where I work, safety allowance (0.5 monthly salary), furniture allowance, generative purchase allowance, generator fueling allowance, car allowance, car fueling allowance, security allowance, children education allowance, 13th month, success sharing, home ownership, end of negotiation pay, car refurbishment, field allowance, shift allowance. They even pay you if your child, spouse or parent dies. All these though are due to the unions. No management loves you that much to want to give all that. If you then factor in your typical yearly increase, you are not doing badly at all. Personally, my basic salary is five times what it was when I joined 6/7 years ago.

3) on NYSC, the company has a policy to absorb whoever NYSC sends to them until the quota is filled up. The advice is, get yourself posted there and report early. I'm not ruling out influence in this also.

4) on stock options, we typically don't do this. It was broached at one point but the opinion amongst employees is that they do not want to transact business with management in that way I.e. give me my money and I'll go do what I want with it.

I also do not agree with the sentiment that spending years abroad in the industry gives you certain competitive advantages when you come home. It is a global industry and the technology is the same so I fail to see the competitive edge. In the instances I've seen, you are benchmarked against employees of similar years of experience and hired on that grade. We do not hire managers from abroad, we promote from within or bring an expatriate to do the job. Note that anybody of Nigerian heritage is not an expatriate by the company definitions even if you have a foreign passport. You come as a Nigerian, simples. Good thing is people don't mind because nairaland payroll is fantastic anyways.

This is all I can think of right now.

P.S. I'm posting with someone else's ID.

Your point No 1 is damn correct. This I have always said on this section(check that evergreen Investment- banking-derailed-to-Oil& Gas thread).

95% of recruitment in IOCs are merit-based. Mobil is the only one I can't guarantee 100%. The best student in my set is in Shell, the best student in the set after mine(both my friends) is also in Shell. The best student in my set in secondary school(who went on to finish 2nd best in his class in Ife) is also in Shell US. Loma on NL here was one of the best students in his set(4 years ahead of me) was also of Chevron.

The first two guys especially are from the poorest of homes you can think of.but very brilliant. And they scaled through Shell recruitment process. Another one, a brilliant Yoruba guy from a northern university(and staying with me in Lagos here) is also on Shell waiting list, having passed SRD, only waiting for space. He doesn't know anybody, in fact I was the one that brought him to Lagos(for NYSC in my former coy) and inducted him into 'corporate Lagos', polishing his raw brilliance. He is now with Oando pending the time Shell has a space for him.


I have always tried to demystify this common notion that you need to know someone before you get job.

By my experience and observation over years, your chance of getting job by MERIT in an IOC is 95%, private Nigerian company 70% (there is still merit in even Nigerian coys despite the exaggerated pessimistic mentality among Nigerians). Public sector is the one I can say is less than 50%.

flexyonline: Yes, it's NMA SBU

so u don dey chop all these money for d past 7 yrs .

Bad boys earning mad money dey use code for here sha. . . .no matter, I don figure am out.

No wahala. . .I go continue manufacturing my Tura products - oil go finish one day, but bleaching is forever.

debosky: Bad boys earning mad money dey use code for here sha. . . .no matter, I don figure am out.

No wahala. . .I go continue manufacturing my Tura products - oil go finish one day, but bleaching is forever.

OMG, that was funny, the kind of crazy jokes you read from DK. Lol

debosky: Bad boys earning mad money dey use code for here sha. . . .no matter, I don figure am out.

No wahala. . .I go continue manufacturing my Tura products - oil go finish one day, but bleaching is forever.

bros Tura no go feed the family oh.

debosky: Bad boys earning mad money dey use code for here sha. . . .no matter, I don figure am out.

No wahala. . .I go continue manufacturing my Tura products - oil go finish one day, but bleaching is forever.

tura ko tira ni

.

.

2good:

As someone with zero experience, I would advice you go for Petroleum Engineering to get a general overview of the oil and gas business before you specialize. Petroleum Engineering gives you better knowledge of Production, Drilling and Reservoir Engineering. You can apply for job in any of those three categories with you Petroleum Engineering degree but with Reservoir Engineering, you are already restricting yourself because you will not do much in Drilling and Production when you study Reservoir Engineering making it difficult for you to compete for non Reservoir Engineering jobs. Specializing at the early stage of your career is dangerous because it limits your options. Petroleum Engineering as a degree is already restrictive, so going further into Reservoir Engineering will further limit your options after graduation.
All the best with your final decision.

alright
thank you!

naijababe:

Well said, might be tough getting a place in good school without a 2:1 though, in fact Imperial will only accept a first these days. Consider an advanced degree in process if your background is chemical or eletrical/instruments if elect.elect.

Uni of Manchester is a very good school and will accept a 2.2

point noted! thanks

beingblack:

I should add that I am based in UK and my own is following the CIA London May 2011 event, so it has been a loonnnngggggg while in coming to this stage.

BB

Is your cost for traveling to PH for this interview going to be reimbursed by the company or did you line it up for a time you would be in Nigeria?

Regarding your question, in addition to what T22 provided previously, you need to have an understanding of the main commercial schemes in operation in the Nigerian oil industry - primarily Joint Ventures and Production Sharing Contracts.

- working with JV partners on cash flow and production issues
- modelling of PSC/PSA to consider impacts of oil prices and other factors.
- creation and evaluation of business plans for CAPEX projects
- economic modelling e.g. NPV, IRR, Return on average capital employed (ROACE) - I'm not sure which of these economic measures Total uses, but if you understand them and their advantages/limitations, you'll be well placed.
- commercial evaluation of opportunities - what would you look out for? How would you assess them in terms of the company's current portfolio.

which one be all these grammar debo

debosky:


- working with JV partners on cash flow and production issues
- modelling of PSC/PSA to consider impacts of oil prices and other factors.
- creation and evaluation of business plans for CAPEX projects
- economic modelling e.g. NPV, IRR, Return on average capital employed (ROACE) - I'm not sure which of these economic measures Total uses, but if you understand them and their advantages/limitations, you'll be well placed.
- commercial evaluation of opportunities - what would you look out for? How would you assess them in terms of the company's current portfolio.

Hi All... Thanks to all the contributors. I'm in a bit of a dilemma with regards to the NYSC palava.

I'm currently a 3rd year chemical engineering student (MEng) honours at a UK university. i interned with BP last summer, currently doing my research project with them, in line for another internship this summer and hoping to get a graduate role with them. I just wanted to get opinions on whether I should go back home and complete my NYSC on graduation or actively seek employment in the UK. I really wanna work in Nigeria sometime in the future and I'm unsure of the effects NYSC could have on this.

.

olap001: Hi All... Thanks to all the contributors. I'm in a bit of a dilemma with regards to the NYSC palava.

I'm currently a 3rd year chemical engineering student (MEng) honours at a UK university. i interned with BP last summer, currently doing my research project with them, in line for another internship this summer and hoping to get a graduate role with them. I just wanted to get opinions on whether I should go back home and complete my NYSC on graduation or actively seek employment in the UK. I really wanna work in Nigeria sometime in the future and I'm unsure of the effects NYSC could have on this.

Come for the NYSC after you have had good experience in the UK. What was your age at BSc graduation? Give a range if you don't want to be specific, but the range should not be too wide.

T22

^^^
MEng is a straight 4 years course hence the emphasis on the 3year info

candylips: which one be all these grammar debo

Me sef I no understand ooh! Na wetin one of my commercial analyst friends talk say him dey do be dat oh. Maybe the useless boy dey brag sef.

beingblack:

@ debosky, thanks for your informative reply, now I'm reeealllly worried!!! btw, do you also know if the Professional test is a paper-based multiple choice or whether the Professional test forms part of the questions asked in the Panel interview??
Re: your question - the company has made the travel arrangements so will fly me down. Nb. I think it was probably the same for Maryini [PAGE 8] as she too came down from London. God bless

I don't think you should be worried - what I posted isn't necessarily what you'll be asked it is simply a brief description of what Commercial Analysts do (at least with an IOC I'm familiar with).

Do you have a job description for the role? That would be the best starting point - if you can provide that, then maybe I can better advise you. I really don't know what the difference is between a 'professional test' and the panel interview. Were you provided any information on what they would involve?

Typically the professional interview is the technical one, while the panel would involve testing how you work with people, your significant achievements, etc. You should be able to confirm which is which from Total before the interview.

tanimola22:

Come for the NYSC after you have had good experience in the UK. What was your age at BSc graduation? Give a range if you don't want to be specific, but the range should not be too wide.

T22

Like jaybee said, I'm still in uni and will be graduating next year. I'll still be under 25 when I graduate. I really don't want to waste another year on the NYSC programme cos I've wasted 3 years of my life already lol.

olap001: Hi All... Thanks to all the contributors. I'm in a bit of a dilemma with regards to the NYSC palava.

I'm currently a 3rd year chemical engineering student (MEng) honours at a UK university. i interned with BP last summer, currently doing my research project with them, in line for another internship this summer and hoping to get a graduate role with them. I just wanted to get opinions on whether I should go back home and complete my NYSC on graduation or actively seek employment in the UK. I really wanna work in Nigeria sometime in the future and I'm unsure of the effects NYSC could have on this.

Keep pursuing your graduate role with BP (or any other firm) - if you get offered the role, you can defer your start date by a year (ask the HR advisor once you're given an offer). If you're allowed to defer your start date, get your backside to Nigeria and get the NYSC over and done with.

debosky:

Keep pursuing your graduate role with BP (or any other firm) - if you get offered the role, you can defer your start date by a year (ask the HR advisor once you're given an offer). If you're allowed to defer your start date, get your backside to Nigeria and get the NYSC over and done with.

Thanks Debosky. My other concern with NYSC is where it sits with regards to my professional development. I clearly don't wanna be stuck teaching some kids Mathematics just because I want to serve my country nor a coffee boy in NNPC (I've heard stories lol). Are there opportunities to actually apply and develop my engineering knowledge during service.

I do apologize if I sound ignorant in any of the posts.