Shell Oil US Interview Questions & Reviews in Houston, TX Area
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Updated May 18, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
Ratings are reflective of location and job title.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 18 ratings 
“Average” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 18 ratings
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Shell Oil US has 1,062 connections on Glassdoor
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| 1–10 of 18 Shell Oil US Interviews | Sort by |
Post Grad Intern at Shell Oil US
Posted May 18, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2012 in Houston, TX (took a day)
Applied online via Shell's website. Was contacted by email within a week to set up a convenient time to have a phone interview. They send you a powerpoint presentation to help you prepare for your interview. Basic behavioral interview questions. I was notified by the end of the day that I had successfully passed the phone interview and that Shell was currently trying to find a good position for me within the company. Within the week, I received an official offer via email.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
Non-negotiable. They list your salary offer in the acceptance letter.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Project Engineer at Shell Oil US
Posted May 15, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2012 in Houston, TX (took a day)
I found out about Shell's CAR(T) - " Capability, Achievement, Relationships" process before the phone interview. The interviewer (hiring manager) was very courteous and discussion was cordial. After the usual "tell me about yourself" questions and discussion, I tried to answer the requirements of CAR without specifically mentioning them. I thought the interview went well and the hiring manager mentioned he will schedule a face-to-face interview in about 4 weeks.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Chemical Engineer at Shell Oil US
Posted May 8, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Houston, TX (took 4 months)
Campus Interview. Second round interview was on site in New Orleans. The onsite interview was broken into three parts and took about 6 hours.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
There is no negotiation. There are many other people who would be willing to take the job and you will be hard pressed to find a company who shows they want you more.
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation, a Skills Test, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Health Manager at Shell Oil US
Posted Mar 10, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 in Houston, TX (took 4+ weeks)
structured, first w HR then the actual group, then 1-2 telephone interviews also after the in person 4 hr interview.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
not willing to negotiate, not pleased with this process at all
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Drug Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
View Comments (1)
Inappropriate?
Risk Analyst at Shell Oil US
Posted Feb 14, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2010 in Houston, TX (took a day)
Had a quick test just to see if the candidate could scan a document quickly. then there were 2 1:1 with the manager of the area and his manager. Can't remember the question as it was a while back. Current manager is micromanager and critical of all mistakes.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
Negotiated $5000 more per year with previous experience
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Energy Business Analyst at Shell Oil US
Posted Jan 19, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2010 in Houston, TX (took 2 days)
Cordial & detailed. Shell Oil was in the midst of a major application upgrade for their Oil trading business. Shell Oil desperately needed seasoned energy analysts to join the project.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
No need to negotiate. Advice is of the usual components; be prepared and be thorough.
Other Details
I applied In-Person and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Engineer at Shell Oil US
Posted Nov 29, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 in Houston, TX (took 2+ weeks)
The phone interview lasted about 1 hour and 15 mins. The first 55 mins is basic behavior questions. Such like:
1. The most difficult thing
2. The most successful thing
Following 15 mins is choosing 1 topic from four topics which are about globel research group, CO2 emission. Cannot remember clearly.
In the last 5 mins, the interviewer will answer questions
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
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Inappropriate?
Chemist at Shell Oil US
Posted Jul 8, 2011 — 6 of 6 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2011 in Houston, TX (took 3 days)
Initial interview was over phone. Took about 1.5 hours. About half was behavioral questions, as in "what would you do over if you could", etc... Second half was more interesting. I was given 4 topics (that had nothing to do, necessarily, with my area of expertise) and I was to pontificate on it. Totally off the cuff type stuff. This part was peppered with questions. After this, I was told if I did well enough, I would get an invite to a Shell Recruitment Day (SRD). Two days later I got an email invitation to attend a SRD.
The part that screws everyone and I'm confident that no one has had an easy time with this, is when they tell you to download the Shell Recruitment Day Briefing Packet. This is where the issues lie. This is a global document (as per a Shell HR's reps comment) and so it doesn't really apply to everyone. I happen to have a Ph.D., so my interview process is 80% different that what is described in this document. So my suggestion to anyone looking to interview with Shell, contact your recruiter and get the info. from them, because more than likely, the briefing packet will not apply to you.
My trip consisted of 3 days. This day consisted of a 1 hour seminar from me and 3 interviews with different potential colleagues. I would have interviewed with 2 others, but because of HR's screw up, I couldn't.
Day ended around 2 PM and a car that was supposed to pick me up never showed up. So one of the chemists I might work with drove me to my hotel. Another fabulous HR debacle.
That evening I met with 2 other candidates that I would be with during the SRD. We met, went over some specifics about what the SRD would be like and had a practice discussion about one of the tests we would go through the next day. Dinner was picked up by Shell and a recent hire met us for dinner to talk to him and get a feeling about what it is like to work at Shell.
This was the challenging part. The day consisted of 3 parts, technical interview, case study and group discussion. The technical interview was probably the easiest because it was basically answering open ended questions on my research. Of note, if you are not a Ph.D. candidate, you will not have a technical interview, you will have something different which I was not privy to.
Second part for me was the case study. This is what we practiced the night before. We were given 1 hour to go over approximately 30 documents ranging from memos, to emails to newspaper clippings. All were fictitious, but based on reality. You play the part of a Shell Business Manager and need to put a 5 minute presentation together to present to Shell executives (played by two of the four assessors) and you need to explain to them why you have picked the scenario you have. This is followed up with questions. This part was about 2 hours long all together, including the prep time. Unless you make billion dollar decisions on a daily basis, this will probably be pretty foreign to you.
The third part was the group discussion. To me, this is not really as difficult but can appear to be a killer if it doesn't work out for your position. You play a govt. representative of a fictitious country that Shell wants to donate money to because they operate in that country. You represent the country, but need to abide by Shell directives. You prep for 30 mins looking at your options and then you have 30 minutes to discuss with the other candidates and you need to end up picking 2 out of a possible 12 (in our particular situation) scenarios that you want Shell to contribute to. In this situation, you only interact with your fellow candidates and the assessors observe you. It's a little weird, but if you get into it, you really don't notice the people watching you.
What Shell is looking for is called CAR(T). Capacity, Achievement, Relationship, and in my case, Technical skill. For nonscientist, I am not sure if you have a fourth criteria.
The whole point of this is to see if you can fit into the Shell culture. From what one Shell employee told me, the SRD is worth about 90% of the decision to hire or not.
Unfortunately, Glassdoor does not have an option for "Interviewed, but have not heard back yet", which is where I am now. I just interviewed yesterday and the day before, so I am waiting on the outcome. The offers can be made as quickly from the day after the SRD (as they assessors hand in results the same day as the SRD) up to a month or so afterwards.
So here I sit and wait. I do need to say that apart from the HR disaster, the company as a whole looks like it is a fantastic organization and I would really love an offer as I think It would be a great place to work.
Hope this helps someone.
Cheers!
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation, a Skills Test and a Personality Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
View Comments (1)
Inappropriate?
Engineer at Shell Oil US
Posted May 10, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2011 in Houston, TX (took 2 days)
The interview consisted first of a one on one interview after a job fair. A couple months later there was an interview that lasted 2 days. The first day was general information from HR. The second day consisted of a one on one skills and past experience interview, a case study followed by a short presentation with questions from a panel, and a teamwork exercise. Overall very challenging.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Presentation.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Financial Analyst at Shell Oil US
Posted Apr 29, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2010 in Houston, TX (took a day)
The firm was seeking new financial analyst to work in their Huston office. The interviewer was nice, but didn't ask many technical questions or seem to want to know any of the technical skills I had.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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