Do you have a Shell assessment test coming up and do not know where to start?
In the text below, our team of experts will provide you with a full candidate assessment and preparation guide for Shell. You will find a description of each of Shell’s assessment stage, aptitude practice tests, HireVue practice games, video interviews, and assessment centre exercises. Start your aptitude tests and games practice to prepare for Shell assessment.
Not sure if you should practice to prepare for Shell assessment? According to research, 60-80% of candidates are rejected based on their aptitude tests results. It is proven that practice increases your chances of getting hired.
A recent study (Bradley et al, 2019) found that candidates who do not practise assessments, tend to fail at the first hurdle of psychometric assessments (54%-84%). This study looked at the Top 100 global employers.
In this article we will cover all the topics to prepare you for Shell’s candidates assessment test, games, video interview.
You will get answers to these burning questions:
How to prepare for Shell assessment tests and get the job?
Fill in your Shell application online. Match your application to Shell core competencies and use their language / key words from the job post in your resume.
Understand Hirevue game assessments. Learn what they measure, what you need to do, how much time they take. Practice with us today, games similar to those used by Shell.
Improve your efficiency and gain further understanding of the online assessments you will complete, including: Numerical, Verbal and Abstract Reasoning and a Personality Test.
Prepare for an online video interview by using your iPhone, Zoom or our video interview practice platform similar to Hirevue with predefined competency and industry questions. Record answers to typical questions, play back the recording; improve your voice sound, confidence, body language, time management, practice your answer several times.
Excel in the Shell Assessment Centre and get ahead of competitors, practice a variety of exercises including a Personal case study, e-tray test exercise and group case study. Hone your technique in a panel interview to showcase your knowledge and understanding of the role.
Looking into assessments with Shell, simply use your fingertips to click in the table below to practice assessments relevant to your assessment process!
If you decide to apply for Shell, you can practice online aptitude tests with us to improve your results and get scores above their threshold.
Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) is a British-Dutch multinational oil and gas company that is also very active in building their alternative energy arm. Each year Shell receives over thousands of job applications in the UK alone for just a few job openings.
To select the best candidates, Shell needs to screen thousands of applications; their recruitment process is divided into five stages of assessment.
Competition for their jobs is extremely fierce, and you need to make sure to perform your best at each and every stage of the recruitment process.
You will face some of these depending upon the job you have applied for. Let’s discuss these stages in detail.
Shell Online Application is the first stage of the Shell Assessment process. Just like any other company, Shell invites applications on it’s official careers page. All you have to do is, log-in to their official website and check for current vacancies. Once, you find the job title matching your profile, click on the ‘apply’ button.
The Shell application process consists of 4 sections. These form what you may call your CV:
Once your Shell application process is completed, and your application gets shortlisted, you should get notified about next steps within 2 weeks. Make sure your application is of great quality since Shell may not allow you to apply for the next 6 months if you are not shortlisted.
Remember: You only get to the other stages of recruitment if your application gets shortlisted from thousands of others. Have a resume that matches not only specific job description requirements but also uses the exact keywords from there.
Wondering how to build a resume that increases your chances to get shortlisted?
Get help with the hints and tips to build an attractive CV by GF or you can also watch the video below:
Important Shell application tips:
If your resume gets selected, you will be invited to the next stage of the recruitment process, i.e., the Shell Hirevue Game-based assessments
What are Shell Game Based Assessments?
Shell game-based assessments are provided by Hirevue. Read our full 2023 Hirevue guide. Hirevue game-based assessments are fun and engaging games designed in such a way that they measure your cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence and personality traits. Shell use a group of 4 Hirevue game-based assessments, covered below:
Just because its a game-based assessments does not make this any less important to perform your best and be your true honest self. Your performance in the game-assessment will depend on your skill and personality.
There’s no right or wrong way of completing game-based assessments, nor is there a right or wrong answer to any of the questions asked. The choices you make while playing a game depend on your personality and skills.
Let’s see what challenges these games put forth.
How to pass Shell Flashback game
Flashback game assessment has separate levels based on difficulty. Each level has a time limit of 60 seconds. You have to solve as many questions as you can.
You can find a more detailed explanation of the Shell Hirevue Flashback Game in our article about Hirevue games and Video Interviews.
How to pass Shell HireVue Digitspan game
Best way to pass Digitspan game is to practice Cognition-M game provided by our website for testing memory.
You can also improve your memory through completing jigsaw puzzles or playing games like I-spy and the name game with friends.
Here’s a video which can clear up what memory games are for you.
How to pass Shell HireVue Puzzlepicture game
Do not get frustrated if you find a particular puzzle harder than the last. You have to keep a level head throughout. Do not be afraid to go back to the start of your line of thinking, as this could help reset and solve the questions more rationally.
To gain more insights on Hirevue game assessments and learn tips and tricks on how to pass them, take a look at our article on HireVue games and Video interviews.
GF offers a test similar to GF’s Work Personality Questionnaire. Register for GF’s Work Personality Package today to gain first-hand insights into a personality-style test.
Remember: All HireVue games have a per-question time limit except for the PortraitXT, so you have to be quick. Solving the questions or puzzles before the time expires means more questions to try. This is a benefit on your part. It shows the employer speed and accuracy.
Once you complete and qualify the Game Assessments round of Shell, you may or may not be asked to sit for an online assessment round, depending on the job position you have applied to.
Shell Online Aptitude Tests are online psychometric tests that Shell uses to assess the cognitive and analytical abilities of the candidates.
Shell may or may not ask you to sit for online aptitude tests depending on the job you have applied for. The job positions that do require you to sit for an online aptitude test round will have two stages:
We’ll discuss more about what these tests are and what you can do to ace the Shell Online Aptitude tests.
What are the Shell Cognitive Abilities Tests
Shell Cognitive abilities tests consist of three tests:
A large challenge people often face in ability tests, is completing these in the limited time available, during the Shell assessments you will be required to complete 50 questions in only 12 minutes, as such for each of the styles of questions you will have approximately 4 minutes.
Shell Numerical Reasoning tests consist of questions related to quantitative data. For many of you applying the difficulty of questions may not seem too tough in fact, questions are of GCSE level difficulty, however, completing such questions and comprehending the information requires in-depth familiarity with ratios, percentages and data interpretation. Reducing anxiety in these areas is key to success in your Shell application.
Don’t know where to find Shell-style Numerical Reasoning Questions? Don’t worry! That’s what Graduates First is here for. Sign-up with us to practice Shell-style Numerical Reasoning questions to ace your Shell Cognitive Ability tests.
How to pass Shell Numerical Reasoning Test?
Gain key insight into what is a Numerical Reasoning test with the video below
How to practice for Shell Numerical Test?
Here’s an example of a typical Shell-style Numerical Reasoning Test question:
Worked it out? Check out the correct answer at the bottom of the page.
More numerical reasoning tests resources:
Watch the following video for more info on Shell numerical reasoning tests:
What is the Shell Verbal Reasoning Test?
Shell Verbal Reasoning test tasks candidates with interpreting statements in order to form a judgement on their precise meaning and their logical relationship. The test isn’t very difficult or advanced, but even fluent English speakers sometimes struggle in this test because of the time factor.
There are 3 types of questions that candidates will be asked, these are as follows.
2. Synonyms Questions: The second task asks candidates to find the closest synonym to a given word, for example
3. Logical Arguments: The final task presents statements that comprise of an argument, the candidate must determine what follows from this argument. For example:
What do you think are the correct answers?
Time Allowed to complete Shell Verbal Reasoning Test: 4 Minutes to answer
Shell Verbal Reasoning Test Pro Tip: Be sure to read the statements carefully, you only have a limited amount of time to complete the assessment, having your full attention and concentration will be vital to your success.
How to practice for Shell Verbal Reasoning Test?
Shell Verbal Reasoning Tests are not designed to be easy, try to analyse an argument that has been presented and understand what is being entailed by that, for the synonyms task you may want to find a word in a book and before looking in a thesaurus anticipate what words might appear.
You can also make use of the following 4 verbal reasoning preparation tips to help you succeed.
Gain key insights with our short YouTube video for improving your speed in online employer tests below:
If you want to practice more Shell-style Verbal Reasoning questions like this one and ace your Shell Verbal Reasoning Test, Register with Graduates First TODAY!
What is the Shell Abstract Reasoning Test?
Shells Cubiks Abstract reasoning test does not test any particular area, but rather presents candidates with 5 diagrams with changing shapes and spatial arrangements, and requires them to identify the right pattern and determine what would come next in the sequence. while Cubiks term their test “abstract” they may sometimes be called logical reasoning tests. (As is the case on the Graduates First platform)
Shell Abstract Reasoning Test are provided by Cubiks which consists of 10 Questions to be answered in 4 Minutes.
The main difficulty of this particular Cubiks Abstract reasoning test is that there is no limit to how abstract these patterns and trends can be; in terms of the: size, arrangement, movements and colours of two- and three-dimensional shapes.
Sound complex? In fact, it is actually not that difficult. What you need to do is to have a look at sample questions to get comfortable with what these questions are after, and the only way to achieve this is by practicing specific Shell-style abstract reasoning tests, such as the ones offered by Graduates First (see sample question below). Remember: you will never get the same questions as those in the practice tests, but you will gain experience in recognising test patterns and managing your stress and time pressure.
Shell-Style Abstract Reasoning Test Example
Cubiks Abstract Reasoning Test is very similar to the Logical Reasoning Test provided by GF like the example provided below:
In this example, you will have ONLY around 45 seconds to notice that:
Got the answer? Check it out at the bottom of the page.For more FREE QUESTIONS similar to Shell aptitude tests, register with Graduates First and take your FREE logical diagrammatic reasoning test now!
You will also get free expert reports with worked solutions and personalised feedback.
Once you complete the Shell cognitive abilities tests, you will be presented with a Shell personality questionnaire.
Shell Personality Test consists of statements related to your personality and you have to rate them according to their correctness in respect to your personality.
There’s no right or wrong answer in these tests, the main focus of these tests is to understand the candidate as a person, how he would behave with his colleagues and does he possess work ethics.
Shell Personality Test Key Tip: The Shell Personality Test is similar to the personality test offered by Graduates First.
For example, this is the style of statement you could be expected to face in your Shell Personality Test.
I get nervous before an important event or meeting
And the rating scale (1-5) to rate your level of agreement would be:
Now that you have a clear idea of what the Shell Personality Test is, you need to know how to succeed.
How to best approach Shell Personality Test
In time for the Shell Personality Test, there are certain things that you must understand about these questionnaires. These will help you approach the personality test with the right attitude.
Our video below explains the above in simple terms, with insights into how you should approach the Shell personality Questionnaire:
Once you complete the Shell Online Assessment Stage and qualify it, you will be asked to sit for the Shell Video Interview. What is the Shell video-based Interview like? Let’s find out.
What is the Shell Video Interview? (triple check what shell call their video interview)
Shell Video-based Interview is the kind of interview where you will be given interview questions in written form or as pre-recorded videos and you have to record yourself while answering these questions. The process is quite simple, all you need to know is how to present yourself in front of the camera and analyse if the answers you give and the way you answer sound convincing. This round will consist of competency-based and behavioural interview questions.
What are Competency-based questions?
Competency-based questions are the questions in which the interviewer wants to know your ability to do a job properly. They want to know if you possess the skills, experience and knowledge that are relevant for the job.
Shell Competency-based Interview question examples:
What are Behavioural Interview Questions?
Behavioral questions are asked to know how you would behave in a particular situation or work crisis.
Shell behavioural interview questions examples:
Watch the following YT video to gain more insights on Shell Video Interviews:
If you are expecting a video interview, make sure you find a quiet space where you will not be disturbed, and make sure that you are settled at least 10 minutes before the interview starts. Remind yourself why you would like to work for Shell, and what your key achievements are – both in personal and professional life. You need to convince the interviewer that you are the best candidate for the job and the company, and need to prove that you will stay equally determined and enthusiastic throughout your time with the company.
This interview will last about 20-25 minutes and will expose you to a few pre-recorded competency-based questions (CBI)
Tips to ace your Shell Video-based Interview
For a better understanding of the Shell Video Interview, watch the video by Graduates first
Also want to know what questions could come up in your interview? Graduates First has developed a proprietary tool that helps to identify the questions that are likely to come up in your interview: the Question Identifier Tool (QIT).
What is Shell Recruitment Day?
Shell Recruitment Day focuses on assessing the candidate on the basis of his behaviour in a typical work environment. Shell believes in one and clear rule of recruiting which is CAR, i.e., Capacity, Achievement and Relationship. All the three qualities will be assessed during the SRD.
The Shell Recruitment Day will begin with a short meeting where you and your fellow candidates will be briefed about what the next two days of the assessment centre hold for you and you will be provided all the materials that you will need in the coming days in the same meeting.
If your Shell Recruitment Day is in person it will be is a 2-day programme which typically consists of 4 stages, if your recruitment day is online you will have 48 hours to prepare for the assessment which will only take place over 1 day. These stages are:
The Shell Personal Case Study will be a situation where you will be expected to play a role and make decisions keeping in mind the responsibilities and position of that person. For example, you will be given a situation, like, “imagine you’re the CEO of a company, how would you handle this situation” the information will be given to you and you have to act and make decisions accordingly.
Your Shell Personal Case Study can take up to 60 minutes, which will be split into:
For examples of case study questions that you may experience, look at case study exercises prepared by experienced occupational psychologists at Graduates First. The best way to prepare for this type of assessment is to practice your skills on sample case studies; once you learn how to critically analyse a piece of information and present your findings, you will be able to cope with any topic!
Next, you will have a panel interview with your area manager or any other senior manager. You will be asked questions based on your personality, education, behaviours and competencies.
Tips to excel in the Shell Face to Face Interview:
The first stage of Shell Recruitment Day is the Shell E-Tray test. This test is kind of an email system where you will be given a number of mails from customers, senior managers, fellow employees, etc., asking you to choose the solution you may have to tackle the situation.
Shell E-Tray Test can be a little stressful because you will have to prioritize the important mails over the junk ones. To ace the Shell E-Tray Test, you need some practice.
Now where to practice e-tray exercises? Don’t worry, we are here for you. You can practice the E-Tray exercises provided by Graduates First. Look at the example email given below and try to look for a solution to the challenge proposed.
How to top your Shell E-Tray test?
The key points to keep in mind in order to ace your Shell e-tray assessments are:
The Shell Group Case Study consists of 6 candidates in total and each candidate will be given different information about the subject in question. The candidates need to exchange information and cooperate in order to solve the problem. This stage focuses on assessing your leadership skills and team spirit.
How to ace Shell Group Case Study?
If this goes well, Voila! You’re done with your Shell Recruitment Process. And with a lot of practice and confidence, you can be 100% sure that you will pass.
You’ll be glad to know that Shell offers a number of graduate programmes and internships. Through these Shell Graduate Programmes, you will get to kickstart your career with Shell. What are these Graduate Programmes and how do they benefit you? Let’s find out.
Shell Graduate programmes are suitable for students in many functions, from technical to commercial. Shell Graduate Programmes give you unparalleled training and enhance your career. The program focuses on training and developing the leaders of this age.
When you choose the Shell Graduate Programme to start with your career, you become a part of a two to five year training and development programme. In the beginning the Onboarding Programme will systematically expose you to all areas of the organisation. The Shell Graduate Programmes involve on-the-job learning and formal training opportunities and are a great way to earn while you learn.
Tip: If you are a student or a graduate looking for a career in Shell, do communicate with Shell Campus Ambassadors. They will provide you knowledge and insights on how to proceed and also about the different opportunities that await.
Communicating and interacting with Shell Campus Ambassadors before applying for the job will add another star on your profile, since Shell interviewers look for the efforts a candidate has made in order to get the job.
How to apply to Shell Graduate Programmes?
To apply to Shell Graduate Programmes, visit the Shell careers website and look for the current openings. The Assessment process of the Shell Graduate Programmes consists of 3 stages :
The above stages of recruitment would be no different from the ones that are explained earlier in the article.
Once successful in application you will be taken to Shell Connect, at Shell Connect you will connect and build contact with all of Shell offices meeting a wide range of staff including senior leaders and new recruits. You will gain first hand experience of the culture of working with Shell and the potential opportunities for your career in the future.
It takes around 30-90 days to get the hiring process completed at Shell.
Getting hired at Shell is not difficult at all if you know your purpose of applying to that company for that particular job position and prepare enough to make sure that you get the job.
You can apply as soon as you get another opportunity.