Early Career Development

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We are NOV

8 Countries, 12 Facilities, No Script.

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About our Programs

NOV offers programs with Intern and Full-time opportunities. Explore below to learn more information about the experiences, requirements and qualifications.

NOV’s Internship Program

NOV's Internship Program offers current college students the opportunity to participate in a paid summer internship program in the Greater Houston area. NOV interns work alongside professionals to learn about their day-to-day job and assist them on a variety of projects and tasks, across various disciplines.

There are also development activities planned throughout the internship to help interns learn more about the energy industry, strengthen their skills and grow their network. Some of these activities include soft skills workshops, technical training, tour to the R&D facility and networking events.

Internship Criteria

  • Students must have declared a major/minor in the given discipline.
  • Students must have completed a minimum of 24 hours of general coursework, with a minimum of 6 hours of coursework in the applicable discipline.
  • Although there is no minimum GPA, we value candidates that have applied themselves in college and earned a higher GPA.

Internship Hiring Process

  • Interns can apply HERE.
  • Phone interview may be conducted.
  • Virtual or in-person panel interview will be conducted.
  • Expect questions about professionalism, initiative, accountability, versatility, and teamwork, as well as technical questions/scenarios specific to the role to which you’re applying.

Pathway Rotational Program

Pathway is a rotational program for new and recent college graduates. It is an opportunity to obtain meaningful work experiences through a structured 2- to 3-year rotational program. The program is designed to help participants develop strong functional/technical expertise and business knowledge through challenging, hands-on assignments and to expose them to various business groups across NOV. The program is concentrated in the Houston area but does have some regional participation as well.

How it Works

Participants will rotate through two to four rotations during the program, with rotations lasting anywhere from 6 months to 1 year. All rotations will be within the participants’ career track, which is based on their education and career interest. Each career track has its own training and experience-based learning objectives, and knowledge. Performance is evaluated following each rotation. Towards the end of the program, participants will work with their management support team to identify full-time positions that best suit individual skill sets as well as company needs.

NOV Pathway Program flow infographic

Current Career Tracks

The Pathway Program is designed to develop technical and functional expertise. For this reason, the program is structured by career track, and each participant will remain on a single career track for the entirety of the program, rotating through different areas within that function. Click the links below to learn more each career track and the Body of Knowledge for each.

Engineering

The Engineering career track encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines and roles, some of which include positions such as Design Engineer, Product Engineer, Software Engineer, Electrical Engineer or Mechanical Engineer, among others. On this career track participants will learn engineering fundamentals, basics in various engineering disciplines, lifecycle design and project management skills.

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Operations

The Operations career track has a focus on manufacturing and includes roles such as Industrial Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Operations Engineer or Supply Chain specialist, among others. On this Career Track participants will learn about engineering and process flow fundamentals, supply chain management, standard costing, quality, HSE and resource planning.

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Sales

The Sales career track is centered upon strategic technical sales. This requires a technical background or aptitude and strategic thinking skills. On this career track participants will learn about sales fundamentals, compliance, marketing strategies and business technologies. Participants will also learn about NOV products and facilities as well as how to build customer relationships.

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Accounting

The Accounting career track offers opportunities to experience a wide range of accounting disciplines, such as internal audit, general ledger accounting, cost and managerial accounting, and financial planning and analysis. This offers Accountants the chance to round out their skills and pursue a career that is most engaging to them. NOV also supports employees in the pursuit of their CPA, if that is part of your career plan.

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Human Resources

The HR career track offers participants to chance to experience a wide variety of HR roles across the organization, such as operational HR, organizational development, talent acquisition, benefits, HR technologies, compensation, or global mobility, to name a few. There will be opportunities to be involved with Dei efforts, employee and labor relations as well as learning and development.

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Who is the ideal candidate?

Although there is no formal candidate formula, we do value a candidate with:

  • 0-2 years of experience as this is an early-career program
  • Internship(s) and/or work experience during college
  • Diverse experience in community or student organizations
  • A broad range of interests, skill and capabilities
  • A higher GPA, although there is no minimum
  • A Bachelor’s Degree or higher
  • Eligible to work in the US

Competencies

We interview candidates with questions based on NOV Values and focused in the areas of professionalism, initiative, accountability, versatility and team-focus. Please also be prepared for technical questions that may pertain to your degree and/or the career track for which you are applying.

The Hiring Process

Typically, there is a new Pathway Class hired every six months, in January and June. The first step in the application process is to attend an information session to learn more about the Pathway program.

Join us for one of the following Pathway Information Sessions:

Wednesday, August 28th at 2:00 PM CST
Thursday, September 5th at 2:00 PM CST
Wednesday, September 18th at 9:30 AM CST
Tuesday, September 24th at 9:00 AM CST
Monday, October 14th at 1:30 PM CST

If you have any questions about the program or the process, you can email us at [email protected].




NOV Early Career Stories

We pride ourselves on a culture that enables employees to drive their own career paths within the company based on their passions and interests. It's why we seek to hire individuals with a strong work ethic who eagerly accept challenges and consistently deliver results. At NOV, we power your potential.

Christiana Barnes

Process Improvement Engineer | NOV Start Date: 2020

Christiana Barnes

Christiana's career begun as a Process Engineer in an Oil Refinery after graduating with a bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering. Leveraging her problem-solving skills, she performed simulations and root-cause analysis to optimize processes. Her curiosity about Oil and Gas, led her to pursue a masters in Natural Gas/Petroleum Engineering and a certificate in Supply Chain Management to better understand the logistics aspect also.

Unsure of the career path to follow, she joined NOV's Pathway Rotational Program in the Operations Track in 2020 which gave her the opportunity to work in multiple roles. She gained cross-functional skills and earned some professional certificates while working in the Remanufacturing, Supply Chain and Service groups.

She recently graduated from the program and accepted a role as a Process Improvement Engineer in the Repairs department of the Aftermarket team within Rig Technologies. In this role, she is working to streamline processes and increase operational efficiency not only at her current location but at all NOV's remanufacturing facilities around the world as part of a Global Continuous Improvement Initiative.


Mickey Eror

Global Applications Engineer | NOV Start Date: 2019

Mickey Eror

Prior to beginning his career at NOV, Mickey graduated from University of Houston with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked as a Maintenance Engineering Intern at VAM USA. Mickey joined NOV's Pathway Rotational Program in July 2019 as a Design Engineer. He worked with R&D Project Engineers to help design, fabricate, and test equipment. Once he gained experience, he became the Lead Engineer on projects to design, fabricate, and test new tools based on customer needs.

Next Mickey rotated into a product line role where he gained field experience firsthand. He gained a better understanding of Completion Tool's product portfolio and how the tools are utilized.

That position prepared him for the Applications Engineering position he accepted in 2021 after graduating from Pathway. There he developed technical skills. He ensured the tools and the rating matched the needs of the job. He ran customer requested simulations to predict operation issues and analyzed the rig data to identify issues.

After a year Mickey was promoted to a Global Applications Engineer role. Now he is solving similar challenges, but, on a global scale, supporting operations overseas in the Middle East, Europe, and more.

Rachel Dancer

Accounting - Staff Auditor | NOV Start Date: 2020

Rachel Dancer

Rachel has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Sam Houston State University and began her career at NOV in January 2020. As part of NOV's Pathway Rotational Program for Finance and Accounting, she gained valuable experience in multiple areas such as Internal Audit, General Ledger Accounting, Financial Planning & Analysis, Project Management, and System Integration. The different roles she held throughout the rotational program provided additional experience working with International Accounting & Finance groups in Europe and the Middle East. Her experience in these areas helped prepare her for her current position as a Staff Auditor on the Houston Internal Audit Team.