Why Shell and Why Core? I had developed quite an interest in core by the end of the third year. By then, I had worked on a Process Safety related project under Prof. Sandip Roy, a winter internship in Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions as a Process Engineer, a 3rd year summer research intern under Prof. Guruswamy Kumaraswamy and the SLP-IDP in collaboration with Aarti Industries. By then I was quite certain that I wanted to pursue my future in the core field. For the placements, I had thought of applying to all core companies like Shell, DRL, Piramal, etc. Shell luckily opened for Bachelor students that year. About Shell, I knew that Shell was a big Oil and Gas giant, I heard quite a lot about its excellent work culture, and it was one of the few core companies that had good compensation. I was also in a dilemma whether I wanted to pursue further studies or go for a job. I had in the back of my mind decided I would reconsider further studies if I got into Shell XD.

The Selection Process Shell’s overall selection process is a lot different from other core companies. Firstly, the Pre-placement Talk was a good way to understand what Shell does and the company's overall performance. Attending it was certainly beneficial and I would highly recommend it if you like goodies and Pizzas XD. The overall process had in total 4 steps: • Online Game-based assessment and Resume shortlist • On-demand Video Interview • Interview Round – 1 (Case study based) • Interview Round – 2 (Competency-based) The first 2 steps were conducted before 1st December. Overall, the process is quite smooth and actually enjoyable. The entire selection process is non-technical. Let me describe each step in a bit more detail. 1. Online Game based assessment and resume shortlist: So, after you fill out the JAF and another form on the Shell website that they send, you will receive a game-based assessment link by mail. The online game-based assessment is based on simple puzzles and time-bound games that test your memory, logical thinking, etc. These games were fairly simple and quite fun to solve too. Even some practice of puzzle solving during your preparation is enough to score well in these games. After this assessment as well as shortlisting based on resumes, a shortlist for the next round is released. The resume shortlist is very heavily dependent on how much your resume aligns with the role that Shell is looking for as well as their core values. This was a major deciding factor since a lot of people who scored full in the game-based assessments were still not shortlisted for the next round. 2. On-demand Video Interview: This round was conducted on an online platform called Hirevue. In this round, the interview is basically with prompts that are displayed on the screen. The questions are simple and basic HR questions that test your team skills, leadership, etc. from your past experiences. It displays a question for 30 seconds, gives you a minute to prepare the answer, and then gives you 3 minutes to speak before jumping to the next question. You can maybe practice for basic HR questions (based on your resume) as you might for other companies and maybe record yourself speaking before giving this online assessment. Both this and the previous assessment are flexible to be given any time that you want to before the deadline that they specify. However, once you begin, then both need to be completed in the given time. 3. Interview Round – 1 (Case study based): After the previous round, comes the final shortlist for the interview. The first round of interviews is based on a case study. The interview was on 1st Dec only, but the shortlisted students were provided a document containing a strategy-based case study 1-2 days before the interview. They instruct you to just read through the 25-page document before coming for the interview which is enough. You just need to go through the document once instead of spending time going into too much detail. On the day of the interview, they ask you a question related to the case study after which you get 20-30 minutes to prepare a 5-minute answer, which is timed. After your answer, a 45-minute – 1 hour Q&A is conducted based on your answer as well as the case study (You are allowed to carry hard copies of the case study document during the interview). You are mainly judged on the basis of this round. This entire case study has nothing technical and is entirely strategy-based. 4. Interview Round – 2 (Competency-based): After round 1 only those who qualify are called for round 2. This round is similar HR round to that of the on-demand video interview round. Simple HR questions are asked where you have to tell a story from whatever you have done in your insti life or from even before that. The only difference is that in this interview they would ask counterquestions and have a discussion on every question that they ask. It is important that your answers align with Shell’s core values as well because they look for that in your answers. Personally for this round, I had already kept in mind and recollected one story related to almost every project or PoR that I had and narrated that story to align with the question asked. (The questions were simple, eg: When have you interacted with someone from another race/income level and what did you learn, Describe a time when you made a mistake and learned from it, etc.) Overall, the process is quite fun and challenging, although your technical skills are taken into account only during resume shortlisting. Since the entire process is non-technical, no revision of core ChemE is required for Shell. However, I would suggest skimming through some basics for preparing for other core companies.

Conclusion Finally, I would say that for Shell, no previous solid preparation is required. However, preparing for the case study seriously during those last 2 days is essential, and having a presence of mind and keeping your experiences mentioned in your resume fresh works well. The most important thing that I would suggest is to go for an interview completely stress-free. I was very positive and relaxed before going to the interview because I had in my mind ki Placement nai hua toh kuchh na kuchh toh kar hii lunga mai. Either further studies or get a job externally. I know that placement is a very stressful process but, in my opinion, it is too overhyped. It is literally the beginning of your professional life. There is such a long way to go and believe me 10 years down the line you would be laughing at the stress you took for placements. So relax and All the very best!