After working 3 years as a contractor at Elk Hills, I asked the main HR person in Bakersfield about a senior reservoir engineering job. I was told I had two strikes against me, the first was that OXY does not hire PhD's because they are not practical. The second strike was that I was Canadian. I asked an Engineering manager if I could present an SPE paper with OXY data, he said no because it does not make oil for OXY.

I was required to show technical work performed on previous job listed on my resume. The interview process focused both on personal and technical skills. There were quite a few technical folks in the room who took time quizzing me on different issues.