Shell Oil Company Interview Questions

15 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (92%)

The Interview Experience is a score from 1 star (very negative) to 5 stars (very positive) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the donut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire dataset.

3.8
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (97%)

The Interview Difficulty is a score ranging from very difficult (red) to very easy (green) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more insights, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire data set.

3.3
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult
% Interns - FT Offers (93%)

The % of Interns Getting a Full Time Offer chart is meant to provide a realistic estimate of the hiring practices of the company based on the reviews at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few reviews). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to the simple company average and away from the average of the entire data set.

62%
  • 0%
  • 10%
  • 20%
  • 30%
  • 40%
  • 50%
  • 60%
  • 70%
  • 80%
  • 90%
  • 100%

Interviews at Shell Oil Company

Filter by:
Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
Intern
Year 2023
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Oil & Gas
Location Houston
Experience
Very Positive
Difficulty
Average
Other
Year 2020
Job Title Other
Group/Division Oil & Gas
Location Houston
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2017
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Oil & Gas
Location Houston
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
1st Year Analyst
Year 2018
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Oil & Gas
Location The Hague
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
1st Year Analyst
Year 2018
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Trading
Location Beijing
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Intern
Year 2016
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Oil & Gas
Location Eindhoven
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2014
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Oil and Gas
Location new orleans
Experience
Very Positive
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2016
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Oil and Gas
Location Houston
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Easy
Year 2015
Job Title
Group/Division Other
Location Houston
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2016
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Oil and Gas
Location Houston
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average

Interview Questions & Answers - Shell Oil Company Examples

Intern Interview - Oil & Gas

Anonymous employee in Houston
Interviewed: February 2023
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
3-4 months
Application
Interview
Hirevue, then case study with HR and manager, make sure to emphasize CAR and know the political landscape
Interview Questions
some very specific questions on the case study, get ready for hypothetical

Scheduler Interview - Oil & Gas

Anonymous interview candidate in Houston
Interviewed: January 2020
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
Employee Referral
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Interview
Hiring process was fairly easy and straightforward. I recieved an offer letter within 2.5 weeks of initial contact with Recruiter. I interviewed with the Trader, Trading Manager, HR and another Scheduler.
Interview Questions
N/A

Analyst Interview - Oil & Gas

Anonymous employee in Houston
Interviewed: November 2017
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Presentation
Skills Test
Personality Test
Drug Test
Background Check
Interview
Was pretty standard. Application that led to a skills test online. Followed up with a phone call which eventually led to a case study interview with 2 employees.
Interview Questions
The hardest questions came about during the case study competition. The case itself was around 30 pages and they gave ou no prompts on the questions that were being asked. When the interview started - we had a behavioral section that lasted around 30 mins and then they gave me the case prompt. I was given around 20 mins to prepare a presntation on the asked question and then given 45 mins to present on the topic with a Q&A to follow. Behavioral questions were easy - Time you were challenged, time you led team, time you met diversity in the work place.

Shell Interview - Oil & Gas

Anonymous interview candidate in The Hague
Interviewed: May 2018
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Group Interview
Skills Test
IQ / Intelligence Test
Personality Test
Interview
Really pleasant, but a bit slow at first. When you pass the first stage, they invest more time on you.
Interview Questions
The interviews about the stakeholders and relationships. They ask some really specific questions, that unless you are really experienced in an international and diverse environment, you would get stuck really easy. Furthermore, the situational questions where fairly hard, since you need to come up with specific examples on the spot. Most of those examples would be hard to think of, if you experienced them in the past. I would also add, is that the interviewees are supposed to act cold due to the process, so that is not specific to you.

Trader Development Program Interview - Trading

Anonymous interview candidate in Beijing
Interviewed: May 2018
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
4-5 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
IQ / Intelligence Test
Personality Test
Interview
1) Online Test. very difficult with tight time constraint. Reading+Logic+Basic Math. No idea how I passed.
2) Personality Test.
3) Phone Interview with a Trader
4) Superday
Interview Questions
The questions are general. Goal is just to test your personality.
Introduce yourself
Why do you switch job?
How do you understand a trader position?
Stuffs like these. The interviewer is very friendly and supportive.

The hardest part is the Online Test section which resembles the SAT Reading+ Math+a logic section. but time is very limited. Something like 12 questions in 10 min? Couldnt finish the questions
For personality test, I dont think they filter people out from the result. My result was just okay.

shell Interview - Oil & Gas

Anonymous interview candidate in Eindhoven
Interviewed: March 2016
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
IQ / Intelligence Test
Interview
I had to do an online assessment. It consisted of three parts I believe. One is about the company culture. Other about numerical skills. Other is decision making
Interview Questions
Most difficicult part is that it is time based. Don't underestimate the assessment and read about the companies culture a lot before you do the test. Make sure that you are comfortable and don't get disturbed. Practice your mental math before you do the test. Questions they asked were:
(some story about an employee that doesnt do his/her job that well) - What would you do in this situation?
Or they might give you some tables and graphs and ask you to calculate some percentages. Not hard, but its time restricted.

Summer Intern on Site Interview - Oil and Gas

Anonymous employee in new orleans
Interviewed: December 2014
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
Interview was set up through our careers services center at University. The interview was suppose to be on skype but due to technical difficulties was conducted through the phone. The interviewer was super nice, guided me through questions and asked for elaboration or more detail when needed. They were quick with communications as well (an invited to second interview within 2 days and the offer was made same day after the interview was conducted).
Interview Questions
All the questions were typical behavioral questions that wanted you to use the STAR approach to answer them, a time you lead a team, a time you had to learn something new, a conflict or dilemma that you faced and how you dealt with it. I was also asked to go through my resume briefly and why I wanted to work in the oil and gas industry and why do I think I'm a good fit for this position.
The only question that really threw me off was in the end "If you had one super power what would it be and why?"

Trading & Supply Intern Interview - Oil and Gas

Anonymous employee in Houston
Interviewed: October 2016
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
2-3 months
Application
Phone Interview
IQ / Intelligence Test
Personality Test
Drug Test
Background Check
Interview
Applied on line, was asked to take various tests i.e. personality and IQ. Received an invitation to have a phone call all behavioral, that was it—got an offer. They have since added a case study component.
Interview Questions
The interview was all behavioral and was not too bad. The usual behaviorals so the hardest imo was pretty much only strengths and weaknesses.

Another thing you should be prepared to answer are thing you are interested in doing outside of work, since the interview is behavioral and not specifically role focused they want to see how you fit into the culture of a large company.

Lastly I'd say it was difficult to express interest in the sector in general. Since oil and gas is so diverse have a good answer prepared as to why you want to line you piked within to overarching sector.

Refinery Scheduler Interview - Other

Anonymous employee in Houston
Interviewed: March 2015
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Group Interview
Personality Test
Interview
Initial phone interview with 2 people, followed by personality test, then interview with 2 people in person.
Interview Questions
What would you do to convince someone to do something for you urgently? What do you do when you really can't convince them to do what you want?
Give times when you have had to make a decision without all the information? What did you end up doing?
What would you do when faced with challenges from a trader asking you to do something risky?
What do you know about a refinery? What products do they make?
How well would you work with operators? How would you gain their trust and work better with them?, What would you do to convince someone to do something for you urgently? What do you do when you really can't convince them to do what you want?
Give times when you have had to make a decision without all the information? What did you end up doing?
What would you do when faced with challenges from a trader asking you to do something risky?
What do you know about a refinery? What products do they make?
How well would you work with operators? How would you gain their trust and work better with them?

Shell Graduate Programme Interview - Oil and Gas

Anonymous employee in Houston
Interviewed: 2016
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Presentation
Skills Test
Drug Test
Background Check
Interview
Shell follows a fairly standardized recruiting process. I reached out to an alumni who redirected me to their website to apply online. After a series of mathematics tests, I was given a phone interview. Following this interview, I was invited to Houston for a "Superday" which consisted of an "e-tray" exercise (think answering emails), a group case study, an individual case study, and an interview on my resume.
Interview Questions
The E-Tray was complicated simply because it is such a rare exercise (at least from my experience). As far as individual interview questions, the employees stayed fairly behavioural and did their best to lead you to the right answer. When asked about my experience with people from diverse backgrounds/experience, I struggled slightly to explain how the situation prepared me for my time at Shell. As a global company, diversity, or at least the perception of diversity, is very important to them.
$200bn+
Est Annual Revenue
Industry

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