Shell Recruitment Day -- Any Advice?

It was pretty intense. I went through it for the HR stream last year. They flew me across the country, picked me up at the airport in a limo, put me up in a fancy hotel, provided a gourmet dinner... all the bells and whistles.

There were 8 of us there, and I was the only male. Five asian girls, one african girl, one blonde, and me. I didn't end up getting an offer in the end, which was disappointing, but it wasn't meant to be I guess (did I really have a chance against 5 asian girls? lol). They told us that only about 30% of the people get an offer of employment. According to CNN, Shell is the 8th toughest company to get hired with (just ahead of Google). http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/08/15/25-toughest-companies-for-job-interviewees/

Anyway, if I remember correctly, the components were:

- an intense interview by two evaluators... this wasn't too bad

- a case study where you have to read through a boatload of material, and then present the main issues with solutions (in 5 minutes or less) and answer a barrage of questions from two interviewers... this was probably the toughest thing. The main piece of advice I can offer is to make sure to get it all out in under 5 minutes. Not finishing my presentation in time was probably the biggest mistake I made throughout the whole day, and I think ended up being the kiss of death for me.

- a role-play, where you are paired up first with one other member and later two others (4 total) and you have to select the 2 most important charity projects to give money to out of a list of 4. This part really depends a lot on who you get matched up with, and whether or not you agree on the same items.

Anyway, good luck.