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Valero Energy
www.valero.com San Antonio, TX 5000+ Employees
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Valero Energy Interview Questions & Reviews

Getting the Interview  30 Interviews

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24%
19%

Interview Experience  28 Ratings

82%
14%
3%
30 interview experiences
Updated May 12, 2013
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Interview Outcome:   All No Offer Received Offer

Process Operator at Valero Energy

No Offer – Interviewed in Wilmington, CA Apr 2013 – Reviewed May 12, 2013 New

Interview Details – Sign up through the website and receive an email for testing. Went and took the test. A month later, got an interview. 3 people interview me.

Interview Question – Name a time when you work with a difficult person?   Answer Question

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Intern at Valero Energy

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Texas City, TX Mar 2012 – Reviewed Apr 30, 2013

Interview Details – 1 over the phone interview
-no technical questions

Interview Question – The interview questions were very simple, none of them were technical based, the hardest one was probably the usual "name a time when you had a teamate who was hard to work with"   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – It was a fixed offer for the internship

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Associate Plant Engineer at Valero Energy

No Offer – Interviewed in Fort Dodge, IA Mar 2012 – Reviewed Mar 31, 2013

Interview Details – I applied online at Valero's website for an associate plant engineering position and heard back within a week asking to schedule a pre-screening phone interview. We set up a phone interview for the following week during the afternoon. The phone interview went alright, just the basic behavioral questions that you would expect. Some examples are: Can you think of a time when you had to submit a project that you felt was not fully completed to the best of your abilities? Can you think of a time when you had to work with another from a different background? And how did you overcome challenges that this created? Etc. I was not asked any engineering questions, but was asked about my relevant experience. The interview was supposed to last about 20 minutes, but went on for about 50 minutes which was fine with me because I felt comfortable answering the questions. At the end of the interview, I was told I may be contacted in the next 2 weeks to set up an onsite interview if they felt I was a good candidate. I was contacted the following day and set up an onsite interview over spring break so that I could make the trip to the site (out of state).

The onsite interview lasted about 4 hours, I first had an introduction and short list of questions from the engineering manager. This lasted about 45 minutes and I was asked mostly behavioral questions and one or two engineering questions. I was than introduced to two additional members of the plant and they asked a number of behavioral questions. Than the plant engineering manager took me on a plant tour and asked me questions pertaining to the process, luckily I had had an internship in the same field so I was easily able to answer the questions. The plant tour lasted about 50 minutes. The plant tour was followed by another interview with two other plants members that I met on the tour. THis lasted about 20 minutes because I tried to keep my answers short and sweet. This portion was supposed to last an hour, but was cut short when they did not have any more questions. The plant engineering manager was conducting a phone interview at the time with another candidate, so the plant manager stuck around and spoke with me for a bit, eventually he left and I had to wait by myself for 30 minutes until the engineering manager came back. This last portion of the interview lasted about an hour and was focused primarily on engineering questions and my own questions. I was given a brief lecture on the company philosophy and operation. At the end of the interview, I was told that I would be contacted in the next month if I was found to be the best candidate. I was also asked to inform the hiring manager if I received any other job offers as soon as possible so that he could speed the process up and move on to the next steps in the process. He mentioned that the next steps would involve a phone interview with the director of engineering and the plant general manager who was not present on that day.

Interview Question – What is the minimum water temperature obtained from cooling tower, and what does a cooling tower look like.   View Answer

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Associate Safety Engineer at Valero Energy

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Texas City, TX May 2012 – Reviewed Mar 12, 2013

Interview Details – Phone interview was about 30 minutes long. The interviewers were simply looking for trainability and personality. My college education was good enough for a green light to show intelectual competance. My degree was irrelevant to my position. Phone interview lasted 30 minutes and they didn't ask any scenario questions only for me to tell them about myself. After phone interview an onsite interview was conducted. This interview went through introduction to a handful of people, a tour, and only took a few hours. Interviewers were very straight forward with any answers to questions I had.

Interview Question – None really. Only the interviewer was very blunt on expectations and didn't sugar coat anything. They wanted me to be sure I knew what was going to be required of me.   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – None. I liked offer put on table.

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Accounting at Valero Energy

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in San Antonio, TX – Reviewed Mar 4, 2013

Interview Details – College recruiting event and met the hiring manager. Show passion about getting the internship. Good GPA a must. Network with the accounting professors (They know a lot of people) What do you know about Valero?

Interview Question – What do you know about the oil industry?   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – No negotiation. Fixed pay

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Associate Mechanical Engineer at Valero Energy

No Offer – Reviewed Feb 24, 2013

Interview Details – Submitted my resume in a career fair, was interviewed by a group of engineers in the refinery.

Interview Question – They asked about 10 questions starting with the phrase: "Tell me about a time when...."   Answer Question

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IT Architect at Valero Energy

No Offer – Interviewed in San Antonio, TX Jan 2013 – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013

Interview Details – Used an head hunter so most of the communication was through them.

Interview Question – What makes you good enough for Valero   Answer Question

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Information Services Summer Intern at Valero Energy

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Oct 2011 – Reviewed Feb 14, 2013

Interview Details – I applied at job fair and had one round of interview on campus.
every thing in the interview was about my resume.

Interview Question – Explain in detail regarding one of the biggest challenges you faced   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – I didn't get a chance to negotiate. they provided with a very good relocation package

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IT Intern at Valero Energy

No Offer – Interviewed in College Station, TX Oct 2012 – Reviewed Nov 6, 2012

Interview Details – I spoke with a representative at the career fair and applied via our career center website. Then, I was invited to an on-campus interview.

The interview was very straight forward and low-stress. The interviewer definitely seemed to want to be sure that personality would be a good fit.

Interview Question – Mostly straightforward behavioral questions. Nothing too bad.   Answer Question

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Operations at Valero Energy

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Three Rivers, TX May 2011 – Reviewed May 9, 2012

Interview Details – First took a mechanical aptitude test to qualify for interview. After receiving letter then interview is set up. Interview is a panel interview consisting of a representative from HR and three others from engineering, operations, and area managers. Each asked questions and took notes. They like for you to answer as swift as possible and be able to think on your feet. Each question was a scenario based question. What would you do if there was confrontation between co-worker? Name a time when you went above and beyond to get a job done? Name a time when you've taken short cuts? ( tell them you don't take short cuts)

Interview Questions

Negotiation Details – Speak highly of safety and proper personal protectiob

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