Shell Telephone Interview

The reason why I feel obliged to write about this on my blog was because I had a Shell telephone interview last Friday which was 2 days ago and trust me i couldnt imagine myself surviving that interview until i got a few tips from some people who had it a few years ago and shared it on their blog. So the purpose of me writing this is so that  whoever going to a similar one can get help from what I'm about to write. :):)





Before the interview
I applied in Jan with the help of my mum who actually took the time and went to search for available scholarships to apply for.Thanks mum!!!Love you. Well yeah so at the end of Jan I got this email from Shell stating that they will be calling me for an interview. I waited and waited for them to call me but no call...Finally after the first week of Feb I decided to call them up and ask. They told me that they were following the alphabetical order of names and my name was kinda at the back of the list.It was Chinese New Year holidays and a few days later I started work. 


The date was 9 Feb 2011.My first day of work after a week off for CNY. I was having lunch and waiting for the waiter to serve my drink when i decided to check my phone. I saw an unfamiliar number and decided to call back. I don't usually do this but i was bored and i thought having some company wouldnt hurt. After it was ringing for awhile, i had a bad feeling it was my dad calling from overseas and my credit would be at jeopardy!!! Oops i was wrong. just when i was about to hang up, a guy picked up and said something like this...Royal Dutch and Shell. How may i help you? I told him that i received a call earlier and he told me to call tomorrow morning at 8 because the office is closed. It was past 5pm at that time.


When i got back to my office i immediately checked my email and there it was................
Congratulations! You are selected to ... I was super happy i wanted to scream out loud but there were people around -customers too- so better save it for later. When i went home that night, i found out that Shell called my mum too and she already knew about it. Time to prepare. It was on 11 February which meant 2 days left.

That night i took a bath and drank nescafe so i wouldnt fall asleep cuz i needed to do some research. I mean I know there are many opportunities out there but when you get one, I am the type who really appreciates it and i wont let it blow that easily. I do my best:) So that was the night where i got all sorts of tips from people who wrote about it on their blog.Thank u so much for the useful tips . This is how it goes....





During the Interview

The interview is divided into 3 sections:

Section1- ACHIEVEMENT
Some questions they asked me:
1. Tell me about one achievement you are most proud of.
2. What were the challenges you faces in achieving it?
3. What are your strengths?
4.What are your weaknesses?
5. How do you overcome your weakness?
6.Are you the type of person who asks other people for feedbacks?
7. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to make a tough decision?
8. Have you ever been in a situation where you were out of your comfort zone?

Section 2- RELATIONSHIP
1. Have you ever had a situation where you had a misunderstanding with someone?
2. How did you solve it? What are your strategies?
3. During school, you have to speak to different people of different ranks.How do you speak to different types of people. What are your techniques?

Section 3- CAPACITY
During this section, they give you 4 business topics and you just have to choose 1. Make sure you choose something you have knowledge about because they can ask you anything. If everything seems hard, pick the most general topic so that you can say anything you want. Take note: the interviewer said there is no right and wrong answer, he just wants to see how you think and respond.
Topics given during my interview:
1. Education institutions and their role to prepare students for employment.
2. Sustainable energy needs for a growing population.
3. Social media is changing the way we interact.
4. The changing of ratio between male versus female students in universities.


I chose TOPIC 1 
Questions he asked:
1. What do you understand by this topic?
2. How is the role of education institutions important for global companies?
3. What is your opinion of education in Malaysia currently?
4. If you were the government, how would you change the education in Malaysia?
5. There are many ways to do so but tell me the first thing you would do and why?
6. Do you think the education technique in Malaysia will change in 10- 15 years to come?
7. Why do you think it will not change?


Thank you. Is there any questions you would like to ask me? i asked him whether shell sent their graduates for twinning programmes in Malaysia. He was not very sure about that since he is from the Human Resource Dept. He told me that he also received this scholarship 10 years ago and he shared some of his experience too. It was a nice talk and not as bad as i imagined.


Advice:

• Do research about the company and prepare well with possible questions. Write them down in case you forget.
•  You can have notes in front of you but be confident and don't sound like you're reading something.

*PS: During my interview he had to call me twice. First he was using his hp so he called again cuz the line wasnt clear. it was better but after talking bout ACHIEVEMENTS AND RELATIONSHIP, he decided to call my house phone. then i talked about CAPACITY. Total time: 55 minutes approximately.





"Prepare well and dont be scared. God will do the rest so smile=)"

Related links:

Shell Interview For Scholarship

Choosing A Scholarship

Shell Scholarship Award

JPA Interview