At Valero Energy, it’s not about your skills but rather who you know. You could literally have a non-technical degree and become a refinery scheduler and go on to be a trader (met someone like this and he straight up said he got the job through connections).
There is nepotism at every corner. Most of the interns got there through connections. Whether the CFO is your uncle, you have a family friend high up in HR, or your dad manages a refinery, most of the interns got there by knowing someone.
The amount of sexism that was present was overwhelming. I felt like I was in the 1900s and I might as well be a secretary. Many of the female interns would complain about their partners stealing their ideas and presenting them as their own (happened to me too), or being cut off while talking. My male partner for the group internship did not pull his weight at all and this also happened to several other female interns. I basically did the entire project. Could I complain about this? NO.
Management does not provide constructive criticism, but rather criticism that is subjective and not helpful in any sense. “You’re too technical/analytical,” “we don’t know how you’ll fit in”
Many of the jobs for newcomers are 24/7 so if you care about having work-life balance then this is not the place for you.
Everyone seemed on edge and fake here. They require you to attend an excessive amount of social events, and guess what? You don’t get paid for them. And by require, I mean there’s social pressure to attend and if you don’t, you probably will not get promoted or get a job (intern). I kid you not, they wanted us to attend an event on Father’s Day and then looked down on us when we did not show up. Um, hello? Some of us would rather spend Father’s Day with our fathers !!! Expect several events lasting upwards 8+ hours on your days off.
On top of this, you are expected to handle issues on your own. For example, one of the interns complained to her supervisor that their partner was playing computer games instead of helping with the project. Her partner happened to have an uncle who is very high up so guess who ended up getting reprimanded? (By reprimanded, I mean that they literally told her the reason she did not get the job at the end is because she could not handle the situation on her own and took the problem to her uppers) That’s right, the person actually doing their job.
Another intern had her project completely deleted by another intern and she took this to her supervisors, again guess whose fault it was? Bingo! The person whose project got deleted. 🤡
Another intern was sexually harassed by her partner but she did not feel comfortable going to anyone about this. You may ask why? Because the people who complained or went to management with their problems didn’t get the job and were looked down upon.
What baffled me is that many people in upper management openly talked about how there is no such thing as global warming. Uhm, okay there is scientific evidence that states the contrary but let’s just ignore all the scientists that actually went to school to study that and say otherwise.
Mask mandate was lifted shortly after the interns joined, mind you, this was when covid was still at its peak. I felt forced to not wear a mask because I would not “fit in.” Many of the interns ended up sick and had to take off.
Time and attendance. Even the HR people were quite something. If you forgot put in your time and attendance they’d cc your boss, your boss’s boss, and practically the whole HR team.
They say there’s not a ranking system but that’s not true. There’s not a formal ranking system but you’re still ranked.
If you don’t mind working with bullies or are a bully yourself then this is the place for you.
~I am posting this here because I’m 100% sure that my Glassdoor post will be taken down. I was already told my review was rejected so I tried again, let’s see what happens.