Exxon Mobile Information Technology representatives visited the University on Thursday afternoon to speak at a meeting for the Association of Information Technology Professionals. The representatives of the large oil company spoke to students about career opportunities in information technology systems in an effort to recruit potential employees and interns when they return to campus to conduct interviews in October. AITP is an organization that caters to the professional development of Information Systems and Decision Sciences majors. Chris Andrews, computer sciences senior and AITP president, said the organization often invites guest speakers from major corporations such as Chevron and Exxon to give the students an opportunity to network and set up interviews for jobs. Jaque Chambers, Exxon Mobile business information manager for a Houston location, was accompanied by three University graduates who made a business presentation and shared their work experiences. Chambers said the energy demand has affected the need to recruit more information technology employees. “If you think about the energy demand today, the demand is going to increase by at least 50 percent in 2007,” Chambers said. “A lot of people don’t think of Exxon as a technology company, but it is. We spend a lot of money on technology.” Steele Buckholtz, support analyst and 2006 University graduate, started the business presentation with a brief description of Exxon’s history and contributions to the global community. “Last year Exxon Mobile paid more than $1 billion in taxes,” Buckholtz said. “The company also donated over 800,000 hours of time to community projects.” Christen McCune, systems analyst and 2002 University graduate, explained the internal and external roles of information technology specialists and analysts and phases of career development. The companies five phases of career development are acquiring, applying, creating, sharing and leveraging knowledge. “There is no specific training that your will job entail,” McCune said. “You’re always learning and developing your professional skills to to serve the needs of the company.” David Cohen, Exxon operations supervisor, talked about the extensive training and opportunities available to new employees. “You will have nothing short of an extensive training, but you will also have opportunities to network with other information technology professionals and attend social and service events,” Cohen said. “You will also take field trips to oil refineries. After all, you will be responsible for the inner workings and logistics of the company’s refineries.” Buckholtz said the company is very flexible and understanding of employee needs. “Anything technical that you don’t know, they won’t say ‘Why don’t you this?'” Buckholtz said. “They will teach you what you need to know.” Chambers talked about Exxon’s research initiatives and business expansion. “There is about 4 trillion barrels of oil out there, and we have only used about 1 trillion,” Chambers said. “The issue is getting to the rest of it.” Chambers also said there has been some company research initiatives for finding alternative sources of energy. “We have done research with companies like Toyota to see what kind of cars are going to be on the market that use less fuel,” Chambers said. “We have invested about $225 million to see how these products can be put out safely.” Chambers said Exxon operates in almost 200 countries around the world, and the business is expanding every year. “As we see the business growing in more places, there will be more of a need to increase our IT staff and send them to the areas that business is expanding,” Chambers said.
—–Contact Garesia Randle at grandle@lsureveille.com