Houston - cliquishness in hiring? is my friend nuts?

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by professorsenator

Based on family experience, this is very true. And it should be noted that in the industry there is a keen awareness of the cues for the "right" person, who is usually white, conservative, often Texas good-ole-boy (without being an uncouth hick). And as in other industries, much unspoken emphasis is placed upon social cues: i.e. where you live (West/Memorial), the car you drive (Suburban, upscale import), where you go to university (UT or A&M), etc.

I think that banking and financial services tends to be "good ole boy-ish" as well, if I am not mistaken.

I like being who I want to be and not conforming - residence: maybe up in The Woodlands, car: late model GM mid-size, university: several, all of them very high on the lists by US News and World Report, but none of them in TX.

With oil and some financial stuff ruled out, which industries, then, would be least apt to care about these fluff "externalities?"

[Wysiwyg]

ex-Enron is another form of brotherhood over here

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I think that banking and financial services tends to be "good ole boy-ish" as well, if I am not mistaken.

I like being who I want to be and not conforming - residence: maybe up in The Woodlands, car: late model GM mid-size, university: several, all of them very high on the lists by US News and World Report, but none of them in TX.

With oil and some financial stuff ruled out, which industries, then, would be least apt to care about these fluff "externalities?"

I'm having a problem with this thread. I've been working in oil & gas since I graduated from college and have never had any connections pull strings for me. The reason these jobs are difficult to come by is that they are all for geologists and engineers. If you aren't a geologist or an engineer, you need to have something that sets you apart from the crowd. An MBA doesn't really cut it. Someone who worked on rigs or on a service crew AND has an MBA will get a job, otherwise, you're useless to an oil company. As far as the "conformist good-ole-boy" stereotype, it certainly exists but isn't necessarily the norm. You WILL encounter those people, but it doesn't define your "hireability" by any stretch of the imagination. Small E&P's will be very incestual and hire friends and friends children, but the big companies are just like any other large organization in the sense that they hire people on the merit of their past performance in work and academics.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

but the big companies are just like any other large organization in the sense that they hire people on the merit of their past performance in work and academics.

Agreed, but even they can have some of those issues. I worked for BellSouth. If you sent in a resume from far away, good luck. If you were closer by, you stood a better chance. When I got in there, it was definitely more Southern.

[laniec]

I think there is a clique-ishness in every industry. When someone is hiring, he'd prefer to bring in someone whose reputation is known to him rather than take a chance with a stranger. I think more relevant in this point of time is the housing market and economy. If a company can hire someone local or short distance, it's going to save them a load of money over relocating someone.

That said, Houston is full of transplants and there is a definite distinction between native Texans and transplants.

[karuna95]

The organization where I work receives over 3,000 resumes/CVs a month. To handle that kind of volume, a computer "reads" the applications, and ranks them by % matched on keywords. So if your experiences don't match the job description, or has a low match percentage, likelihood is that human eyes may never see your resume.

This is why personal connections are so helpful... I'm not sure if that would be considered clique-ish, or just practicality... So if you don't have connections, best thing to do is try to tailor your resume by highlighting relevant experiences that match the job posting. That said, I have heard that all else being equal, they prefer to hire based on referrals from employees. The rationale is that our employees are the best, and birds of a feather flock together (or something like that!)