Shell Oil US Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Feb 1, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 53 ratings 
“Average” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 53 ratings
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| 1–10 of 53 Shell Oil US Interviews | Sort by |
Engineering Intern at Shell Oil US
Posted Feb 1, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2011 (took a day)
The interview consisted of an interviewer who wrote my responses down to send to someone who would review the responses and decide whether I got the job. The questions were typical behavioral questions with a heavy focus on teamwork, and the last question was a very broad case question in which you were asked to solve some large-scale (worldwide) problem.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
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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?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Third Shift Cashier at Shell Oil US
Posted Nov 17, 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 May 2011 in Port Charlotte, FL (took 2 days)
they ask me about myself and history . then proceeded to ask about my criminal background. then the next i met with another person ,a hire up and they asked me the same questions.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Reservoir Engineer at Shell Oil US
Posted Nov 13, 2011
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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 Nov 2011 in Houston, MN (took a day)
i had Phone interview with Shell. it was more technical and took about 30 minute. she asked me abut my academic background and my research
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Engineer at Shell Oil US
Posted Sep 24, 2011
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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 Sep 2011 in State College, PA (took a day)
The interview was very structural. The interviewer act as a tape recorder. He read the question out from papers and wrote down your responds without maintaining eye contact. I found if very difficult to build my answers as if I was talking to a wall.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Geology at Shell Oil US
Posted Sep 18, 2011
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2010 (took a day)
standard script questions, didn't do very well
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at Shell Oil US
Posted Sep 10, 2011
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1.0
Very Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2009 in The Hague (Netherlands) (took 3 weeks)
I applied online and received a quick response for a phone interview. All worked very well, and the people are very friendly. Then I got to the face to face and the presentation. Again – all nice and friendly, no curve ball questions. I had the feeling they were looking for signs from me that would confirm what they were looking for (in opposite to trying to shoot me down, with the assumption the strongest will be the best candidate). Under all the friendly smiles and handshakes they are looking for very specific things. Now I know that background and experience are not enough – they look for personality types, behavioral patterns. This results in teams working very well later. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work out – you may be really great, but just not the Shell-person. Eg. Accenture (no disrespect to my colleagues) are often perceived as on drugs (hectic, fast paced) – if this is not your style, well, you are not ‘an Accenture person’ – the same applies here.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Extensive travelling - too much for me to take, had to say no.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Presentation.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Chemist at Shell Oil US
Posted Jul 8, 2011 — 3 of 3 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
Inappropriate?
Landman at Shell Oil US
Posted Jun 22, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2010 in Pittsburgh, PA (took 1 week)
The interview was 3 hours and was some job specific and then HR type questions. Good interview altogether.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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