Shell Assessment Tests & Hiring Process Preparation – 2024

What Is Shell?

Shell is in the top ten largest companies in the world with offices and retail locations on five continents and almost one hundred thousand employees. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Shell is formally known as Royal Dutch Shell and is British and Dutch-owned.

Shell is an oil company that is active in every stage of the industry from extraction to distribution to consumer and corporate use. With their large-scale involvement, Shell has a versatile staff and hires in these key areas:

• Corporate
• Finance
• Information Technology
• Operations & Maintenance

What Is Shell’s Hiring Process?

Shell’s hiring process is very hands-on. With a high volume of candidates, each stage of the interview process is more competitive than the last. Shell separates candidates into two groups: operations and maintenance are one group and professional, corporate, students, and graduates is another group.

The hiring process for applicants interested in professional, corporate, students and graduates can expect the following rounds of recruitment:

• Application
• Online Assessments
• On-Demand Video Interview
• Final Interview

Those seeking employment in operations and maintenance have a slightly different interview process with three rounds:

• Application
• Online Assessments
• Final Interview

Professionals, Corporate, Students & Graduates

Application

Shell’s application should also include a CV and a cover letter. Ensure that the CV is, at maximum, only two pages long. Review the responsibilities and qualities necessary for the role you are applying for and highlight those strengths in your application. Try to be concise and only include the necessary information that emphasizes your qualifications and accomplishments.

Shell’s Online Assessments

Shell shortlists the applicants whose resumes they are impressed with. The next course of action is online assessments. These will be sent via a link in an email and must be completed within five days of receiving them, however, Shell prefers that candidates finish them in three.

These assessments are used to impartially measure the bare intelligence and personality of candidates. Specifically, they help Shell narrow the candidate pool before moving on to the interviews.

For professionals, students, and graduates, there are two assessments. One is to appraise aptitude and the other behavior. These tests include:

• Cognitive Ability Assessment
  The cognitive ability assessment features three sections: abstract reasoning, verbal reasoning, and numerical reasoning. Each section is allotted four minutes for completion. The abstract reasoning section has ten questions and consists of shape sequences or matrices. The candidate must identify the next logical shape in the sequence from multiple different answer choices. There are twenty-four questions in the verbal reasoning portion. Candidates are provided with a brief passage and about four follow-up questions or statements. The candidate must determine the relationship between the statement and the passage, then mark it as “True”, “False”, or “Cannot Say”. The numerical reasoning section is math-based with sixteen questions. Formatted similar to the verbal reasoning section, the candidate will be presented with a graph or table and four follow-up questions. The candidate must use their basic knowledge of algebra, statistics, probability, and more to successfully resolve the problems. Ten plus questions in four minutes may seem impossible, which is why Shell doesn’t expect them to all be completed, but candidates should still work as quickly and accurately as they can.
• Work Style Assessment
  The work style assessment is more of a personality questionnaire than it is an assessment. It is untimed, but the test is typically finished in ten to twelve minutes. Shell uses this assessment to examine workplace behaviors, approaches to conflicts, and preferred environments. The results of the test will reveal factors such as how well someone works in a team and their preferences for completing a task.

On-Demand Video Interview

The On-Demand Video Interview, or ODVI, is an invite-only, self-recorded interview. If Shell finds the performance during the previous stage satisfactorily, they will send a link to the interview platform. Candidates have ten days to complete this stage of the hiring process, but Shell prefers to receive the interview video in five days.

The ODVI asks five total questions. These questions concern topics like interest in the company and the role as well as a walk-through of the resume. Shell would like candidates to emphasize their accomplishments and how they would be an asset to the company.

Final Interview

The structure of the final interview is entirely dependent on the location and the role. Common final interviews include completing a case study in front of two Shell employees, presenting a report on-site, or a one-on-one with a senior team member. Shell will send the candidate details on which interview they will be participating in within a week of the interview.

Operations & Maintenance Positions

Shell’s Application

Applications can be submitted in Shell’s job portal. Applicants typically hear back within two weeks of their initial application. The application should include basic information such as credentials and qualifications, but it is also important to showcase qualities that Shell favors like strong communication skills, safety-oriented, and dependable.

Online Assessments

Shell requires applicants to take multiple assessments to ensure the quality of the candidate. The assessments verify the ability to follow directions, adhere to safety regulations, and pick up information quickly among other things.

These tests will be sent via email and Shell asks that they are completed within three to five days. Shell’s online assessments include:

• Cognitive Assessment
  The cognitive assessment examines how the candidate exhibits certain attributes such as achievement, responsibility, safety orientation, and teamwork. The questions will describe an action, quality, or situation and the candidate must mark how they relate to it. For example, a question may state “I work better when the task is challenging” and the candidate must select if they agree or disagree with it. The results of the assessment will inform Shell of their workplace behaviors.
• Mechanical Aptitude Test
  The mechanical aptitude test verifies the candidate’s fundamental understanding of the mechanical principles and their application to operations or maintenance jobs. Each question will display one of the mechanical principles in action and ask the candidate to describe the motion from a list of multiple answer choices.
• PI Cognitive Assessment (50 Questions in 12 Minutes)
• Process Monitoring
  The process monitoring assessment appraises the ability to work with machinery, its outputs and inputs, and the production process. The test asks candidates to manage three systems; the temperature, flow rate, and input pressure. Questions will present a diagram of these different systems and ask the candidate to choose the correct course of action.
• Technical Checking
  The technical checking test analyzes how well someone can simultaneously maintain speed and accuracy when comparing two sets of data or figures. The test will provide these sets side by side and they will consist of number or shape sequences. Then, the candidate will choose from multiple answer choices which number or shape is incorrect in the set.
• Use of Industrial Information Test
  The use of industrial information test combines word problems, tables, charts and more to examine one’s understanding and application of necessary information to fulfill their day-to-day tasks. The assessment is timed and multiple-choice with one figure or passage consisting of two to five follow-up questions. The use of industrial information test is similar to the cognitive assessment, but it uses industrial context rather than a general one

Final Interview

The final interview is competency-based. The interviewer asks questions that shape who the candidate is and how they conduct themselves on the job in order to predict their success at Shell. Common questions may include:

• Describe a time you made a mistake and how you fixed it.
• When was a time you assumed a leadership position?
• Describe a time you disagreed with one of your coworkers and how you resolved it.

How to Prepare for Shell’s Online Assessments?

No matter which profession you are interested in, it is important to dedicate a generous amount of time toward preparing for Shell’s online assessment. This rigorous second stage was made for the sole purpose of reducing the candidate pool before commencing the interviews. About fifty percent or less of the applicants make it past this round.

Common methods for preparing consist of practice tests and sample questions. The practice tests provide a more authentic simulation of the test, but the sample questions offer candidates the chance to focus on their problem-solving approach. Whichever you feel needs more work is entirely up to you.

Some benefits of online practice tests include the ability to track your progress. When you receive empirical feedback on your attempts, you can easily map out how much more preparing you need to do, and you can predict how you will perform on the actual test. Best of luck!