Campus: I first spoke to the recruiters at our university career fair. They had a booth with recruiters who were looking for both undergrad and PhD students. I was asked to apply online, which I did.
Online application: It consisted of two tests - one where they assessed the candidate's decision making skills by posing a fictitious but Shell relevant scenario and questions. The other had more of those decision making questions, as well as a math test (again relevant to Shell - oil prices over years, market shares, etc.) You didn't have to know anything before the test, as all the necessary information would be provided. However, it was a timed test with 16 questions to solve in 18 minutes - and that is super intense. Advice: Use your best judgement, work through the problems accurately but quickly. As I understand, they won't penalize you if you cannot complete the entire test, but they will if you get too many answers wrong.
Phone interview: About a week after I had applied online and passed the tests, I got an email from HR to set up a phone interview. The phone interview was mostly behavioral - interviewer asked me a lot of 'Tell me about a time when...' questions and expected very specific examples to assist the answers. I had made sure I had 4-5 significant stories from my life well written down and articulated. The questions aren't hard, but it can get challenging if you haven't thought about your stories.
SRD: The day after my phone interview, I got a phone call to tell me that I had passed the interview and was invited for an SRD in a week. Since I had only a week's time, I spent most of it preparing/reviewing/getting approval for my technical presentation (for PhD candidates only, I believe.) Other than that, they take care of travel, accommodation, etc.
The day before the SRD, I went and met the business group that was interested in me. Got to speak to the manager of the group and his manager as if those were informal interviews (?). Then we were given a detailed orientation of what the next day of the actual SRD will look like. It sounded pretty intense. They also gave us some reading material relevant to the numerous exercises which would follow the next day. The reading material only took me 10 minutes to go over. Then was a dinner with two recent hires at Shell, and that was the most helpful conversation I have had in terms of mental preparation for the SRD.
1. The day of the SRD was really long and intense. We first started with the E-tray exercise - and I remembered to work through quickly but accurately through the 12 emails. My strategy was to make sure I have good answers, even though I couldn't complete the whole test. You should definitely think about what strategy you want to apply.
2. After that was a group exercise, where a situation (adding to last night's reading material) was presented and the 4 of us candidates were asked to come up with a plan to communicate our agenda to the stake holders. This was timed at 25 minutes, and there was one assessor observing each candidate. Advice: make sure you don't shout someone down, or be totally quiet.
3. This led to a Self Reflection interview - where I sat down with an assessor and he asked me to reflect on my performance in the E-tray and Group Exercise. And the assessor built on your answers, so there were no standard question or answer.
4. Case Study - Fictional scenarios were provided and I was asked to choose between three options that Shell can invest in. All options had pros and cons, and there was no one good or bad option. They were interested in knowing my reasoning behind what I chose, what I would do if I had more information, etc.
5. Presentation - This was my comfort zone, but really challenging since I had to complete a full PhD presentation within 20 minutes (way too short.) But they did time me. And very good, probing behavioral questions followed for 40 minutes. I used the same 5-6 stories from my life, but it led to different specific questions. Then for another 20 minutes, the business group that was interested in me got to ask me technical questions. Those were the only technical questions I was asked about my work. Pretty intense, but pretty satisfying.
Overall the main advice I have is - be genuine. I know you are sick of hearing 'be yourself' by now, but it is the key factor differentiating you from others. The assessors have usually been around for >20 years. Believe me, they will know if you are faking a story, or doing anything that you ordinarily don't do. And they are looking for reasons to hire you, not the other way around.
Be quick, think logically, be decisive. Don't panic - if one assessment goes non-excellent, it's okay because there really are other opportunities to prove yourself. Similarly, if one assessment goes brilliantly, don't get complacent. There are other exercises that they will assess you at.
