You submit a CV for review, and are then invited to take online tests, a phone interview, and finally attend the Shell Recruitment Day in-person interview.
Shell Recruitment Day is a tough day. I enjoyed it and passed the assessment, but did find it challenging. I found the reviews on Glassdoor really helpful when I was preparing, so hopefully I can pass it on & sharing my experiences here will be useful for other people too.
In my case, we went down to London and were put up in a hotel overnight and given dinner together the night before with two current Shell graduates. That was a really nice opportunity to get to know each other a bit and I think helped everyone feel a bit more at ease the next day. (They also stress a lot that you are not competing with one another on the day.)
Remember the Shell criteria -- Capacity, Achievement, Relationships -- and keep in mind which one (or two) are being tested in each exercise.
E-Tray & Written Exercise:
You start with an E-Tray exercise, consisting of answering about a dozen emails in a short time frame. Make sure you pace yourself and give an answer for as many as you can, as this task is assessing your time management skills, organisational skills, and ability to draw information together and make decisions (Capacity). After that you get a short written email task, based on the information you just read in the emails. Again, you have to manage your time carefully here to make sure you write a good response that answers all parts of the question.
Group Exercise:
After the two computer-based assessments you go into a group activity where you each have a different piece of information, and you have to bring them all together as a group to help complete the task. Make sure you involve all members of the group and be aware of your body language etc in the group discussion (there were at least 6 assessors in mine, so at least one to watch each group member.) Don't be afraid to challenge each other's suggestions either and offer alternative view points -- though it is crucial that everyone is respectful and offers constructive comments, and not dismissive of other group members.
Self-Reflection Interview:
Here you go back for a one-on-one interview with an assessor to talk about what went well, what didn't go so well, and how you could have changed your approach and done things differently in the previous two exercises. (That was a MAJOR theme throughout the whole process, including in the phone interview -- being able to demonstrate that you can adapt and try a different approach or solution when you come up against a challenge.) I was advised to be completely honest and open about this, and be as self-critical and reflective as possible.
Case Study:
This part was the most difficult for me, as you are given a challenge and lot of different pieces of information -- realistically, far more information than you'll be able to absorb in the time you're given, so don't stress about having to take in 100% of it -- and then have to come up with a 5-minute presentation of your solution all within 25 minutes. Then there are about 35-40 minutes of questions on your chosen strategy. (In my case, it was a question about how Shell could increase its revenue in a fictional region by 40% in 5 years. It's the same fictional region used throughout the day, by the way -- in the E-Tray, group exercise, and case study -- so you'll have a bit of a head start on the background & context by the time you get to the case study.)
To do well on this I think you have to make a clear argument and present it with confidence, and be able to defend your assumptions and reasons for choosing that strategy when the interviewers question you. Equally, don't be totally inflexible -- if they give you a new piece of information and ask whether that would have changed your thinking if you'd have known about it earlier, it's ok to say yes, and not feel the need to defend your original presentation at all costs.
Competency Interview:
Similar to the earlier phone interview, and it appeared to be testing for similar qualities (Achievement & Relationships.) You also get to ask questions of the interviewers, so it's a good opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the company and show your interest in the business areas & projects, etc. They ask you some general fit questions too - why I applied to Shell, and about why I wanted to work in IT, as that's the stream I applied to, and also about what I thought my weaknesses or areas of development are.
