BP Accountant Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Apr 2011 (took 2 months)

I had worked for bp as a contractor off and on for over five years. After a number of years of being away, I decided to apply for a permanent position.

The process first started with a phone interview with questions about specific qualifications. Shortly after the phone interview they scheduled a four hour interview. At the last minute they changed my interview time and date.

When I arrived there were two other people interviewing at the same time. The process consisted of a group session talking about BP benefits (which are very good). I then had a session with the hiring manager and HR employee. They wanted to know about past accomplishments. The second part was with another manager with questions about how you would interact with co-workers. (As a side note, a person in HR let me borrow their pen in the first session and when I kept it for the second session they made a comment in front of the hiring manager about me not returning the pen. So return all pens after each session!)

The final part was an exam on a computer. The other person was still taking their exam so I had to wait for over a hour. This pushed the interview way past the scheduled end time. They didn’t ask if I could wait or even thank me for waiting. (This was very was the standard procedure for OT when I worked there too!).

The process consisted of three computer exams. The reading exam was very easy, the logic exam was ok but still not enough time to finish. They also had a financial exam – which I think was impossible to finish. Leave your self enough time to guess at the answers at the end. I was surprised I had trouble because I’m pretty strong in finance but it may have been due to the UK way of writing the exam (different use of commas then the States) or it could have been I sick the day of the interview. They put out snacks but due to time constraints it wasn’t really possible to have any.

In general the oral and written questions were relevant and if I was a hiring manager I would want to use a similar format.

At the end of the process, everyone was gone, except for one person in HR. (No one said goodbye). I asked when they would let me know and they said within two weeks. Two weeks later with no answer, I sent a follow-up e-mail. I didn’t hear anything until almost seven weeks later when they sent a standard rejection letter.

BP tends to interview as if all positions are managment/sales. What’s the saddest thing about this process is I know the work at bp and even though I’m probably not management material, they know I could probably do the job better than most people. Though I’m a introvert (aka shy/geek), I know I try to be helpful to other co-workers. It was very hard to find out that previous co-workers who used to make fun of me to the point of tears promoted to management while I was rejected from this job.

It really is bp loss when they weed out introverted people. When I saw how their top management handled the spill interview (the "I want my life back" and "little people" comments), it confirmed my belief they mistake popularity for communication skills.

So if you are introverted and end up feeling bad after interviewing with bp – don’t feel bad , it’s their weakness not your’s. There are companies who realize companies require a balance of introverts and extroverts. After I initially left bp I found a great job and I’m sure I’ll find another one.