Mark Witzke, supervisor of ChevronTexaco’s college recruiting, says, “We have a history of training and developing engineers to move into responsible management positions.”

Energy giant ChevronTexaco Corp (San Ramon, CA) wants new engineering grads to enter its management development pipeline this year. “We’re selling careers and opportunities here at ChevronTexaco,” says Mark Witzke, supervisor of the company’s college recruiting effort. “A majority of the people who end up as managers, general managers and executives came in through our college recruiting programs.”

ChevronTexaco is the second largest U.S. integrated energy company and the fifth largest in the world. It’s involved in the full range of energy production, from oil and gas exploration to production and transportation, refining and retail marketing, as well as chemicals manufacturing and sales and power production.

Most of the new grad engineers at ChevronTexaco have ChE, petroleum or ME degrees; a few are EEs or CEs. The company also hires IT professionals, primarily in computer science, earth science, geology and geophysics. MBAs, toxicologists, packaging engineers and other majors are also needed.

Top management at ChevronTexaco is filled with technical people who came in as college recruits. “I sometimes say that we don’t really hire engineers to do engineering work,” says Witzke with a smile. “It’s hard to run our business unless you understand hydrocarbon chemistry. We have a long, successful history of training and developing engineers and other new grads to move into responsible management positions.”

ChevronTexaco wants its workforce to reflect the company’s customer base. That base, of course, includes the entire driving public – “anyone over sixteen,” Witzke says. Because the company needs to fill jobs in technical areas in which minorities and women are underrepresented, the company has strategies to increase its hiring in those areas.

ChevronTexaco Corp www.chevrontexaco.com Headquarters: San Ramon, CA Employees: 50,000 worldwide Revenues: $99 billion Business: Integrated oil and gas

ChevronTexaco’s Minority Outreach Program fosters long-term relationships with key campuses. The effort first targets colleges and universities that teach disciplines critical to ChevronTexaco, like petroleum engineering. Then the company looks to HBCUs and other minority-serving schools with relevant programs, like Howard University (Washington, DC), Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL), Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (Greensboro, NC). “We are there many times during the year,” says Witzke.

Also on the list are Southern University (Baton Rouge, LA), Grambling State University (Grambling, LA), the University of Texas at El Paso and Austin, and Texas A&M University (College Station, TX).

The company also has strong alliances with campus chapters of minority organizations. ChevronTexaco is a major national corporate sponsor for NSBE and SHPE; ChevronTexaco employees serve on both associations’ corporate oversight boards. The company participates in the groups’ national conferences and career fairs. It’s also involved with AISES and the Black MBA and Hispanic MBA organizations.

Recruiters at the events are usually engineers who have been at the company three to five years. They speak from experience. “They can say, ‘Here’s how it worked out for me!’” Witzke says.

New grads want assurance that they will have opportunities to keep their skills current. ChevronTexaco has many professional improvement programs within the company, as well as a generous tuition reimbursement policy.

The Horizons Program focuses on the upstream part of energy: exploration and production. ChevronTexaco University offers education and training in the downstream part, after the oil is pumped from the ground. “We try to give them the skills they’ll need during the first three to five years of their careers, and will serve them well no matter where they go later,” he says.

In the training programs, engineers work in teams on real projects and present their work to upper management review boards. If the project is funded, the engineers are expected to devote part of their time to it even after they return to their regular jobs.

Working on training projects with employees from other areas of the company helps build a support network. “You may be a refinery engineer in El Paso, but we’re going to expand your world,” he says.

“Supervisors know that they have a responsibility to let their people be available for this training,” Witzke notes. “Everyone has a stake in maintaining the management development pipeline.”

ChevronTexaco has operations in more than 180 countries. That could mean long- or short-term international opportunities. Employees can request international assignments in their individual development plans. “The sky’s the limit as to what you can ask for in your plan,” says Witzke.

ChevronTexaco reps attend a job fair to recruit new grad engineers who have ChE, petroleum or ME degrees and a few with EEs or CEs.

Hundreds of interns spend three months working at ChevronTexaco each summer. Some are accepted right after sophomore year. Over the course of the summer, projects and assignments gradually become more challenging. Interns are evaluated after six weeks and again at the end of the summer. About half the interns are in engineering. ChevronTexaco also funds several scholarships, some designated specifically for students who have been interns at the company.

Internships are an important way to keep the management pipeline filled, even when other hiring is down. “Internships are a huge part of our effort,” Witzke says.

The company works hard to find interns from underrepresented minority groups. Last year, fifty-four interns came to the company through Inroads, the minority internship program.

About 70 percent of interns receive job offers before their senior year. More than 90 percent of those ready to graduate are offered jobs. “Our perfect candidate is one who served two internships with us,” Witzke says.

Flextime is available in all parts of the company when it’s appropriate to the job. Many employees work a compressed workweek, 80 hours in nine days with the tenth day off.

Local chapters of company-wide affinity groups offer social activities and ways to connect with others. Active groups focus on the concerns of black, Hispanic, Asian American, Filipino American, lesbian and gay, Native American, disabled and women employees. The groups can also be a source of mentors within the company.

The new XYZ Network is an affinity group for recently-hired employees. XYZ organized some events for this summer’s interns. “The network is important to us because we hire so many people,” Witzke explains. “People new to the company, no matter what their age, need to feel welcomed.”

Like finding, pumping and refining oil, developing new grads is a process that pays off in the finished product. “We try to invest in people, their skills and their development,” Witzke says.

D/C