NOV reviews

Working in finance & accounting, I know that as a business, NOV has not been very profitable in the last few years and I'm pretty sure you can guess why that is. Salaries and bonuses are decent but not as good as when O&G was doing well. And lastly, it is a bit hard to advance up the career ladder at NOV, why that is I don't know...This causes a lot of good people to leave, but the great thing is once you have NOV on your resume, you get scooped up really fast by another employer and pay is usually excellent.

Because of the company’s massive size, it’s hit or miss when it comes to landing in a good department. I was hired a month before the O&G market dropped, so I worked in an environment of what seemed like constant change, company-wide as well as within my departments (layoffs, reorganizations, etc.). The company is made up of 3 different divisions that operate differently: Rig Systems, Wellbore Technologies, and Completion & Production Solutions (CAPS). I worked 2 different positions in CAPS and Rig Systems. Of the 2, I would say Rig was worse, probably the worst of the 3. The Rig division operates the most with a “bottom line” mentality, with little regard for its employees. It is also the division that provides the least amount of sick days (3 per year; CAPs provides 5 sick days per year). The second department in which I worked (in the Rig division) was run with a “do more with less” attitude. When I transferred to that department, there were always 4-5 members on my team. But when 2 team members left in the same month, that left only 2 of us to do all of the work. Upper management said we could manage fine with 2 people – wrong; my teammate and I grew tired, overworked & frustrated. On top of that, upper management was very stingy with overtime, despite our team being understaffed. We were promised a temp would be hired to help with research. That took 3 months to happen; 2 days before I resigned. In the 3 years that I worked at NOV, I learned many new skills, was “promoted” with additional job duties and a fancier job title, but never received a raise. This was a common practice, particularly in the Rig division. Another Rig employee was promoted to manager and given a lot of additional work with no pay raise; she resigned a few months later. I finally realized the only way I was ever going to receive a raise was through a new job at a new company, so I eventually found a new job. The Rig department in which I worked had 16 employees. In the 16 months that I worked there, 10 people left; I was number 10. Some were fired, some resigned and 1 transferred, but it all adds up to a very high turnover rate for a department that size. My department also handled resignations rudely. When you put in your 2 weeks’ notice, as I did, you are quickly escorted by your manager to HR to complete a quick exit review, after which you are escorted off the premises the same day – like a fired or laid off employee. The only difference is that they pay you for the 2 weeks’ notice. Of all the numerous rules and policies that were discussed in that department, this practice was never mentioned. The other divisions don’t handle resignations this way. Overall, I don’t regret working for NOV, and there are better-run departments within the company. I do advise that if possible, try to find a job in the CAPS or Wellbore divisions.