I'm a PhD candidate in Physics and applied to Shell through my (top 5) university. I was invited to take two online math assessments. They were fairly easy, basic math word problems. As someone in the hard sciences, it was really a breeze. The only challenge was the imposed time limit, but I finished with maybe 30 seconds remaining.
A few days later I was invited to an on campus interview with Shell. This interview was not technical at all. Shell wanted to know how you interacted with teams, how you would approach a difficult social situation, etc. I had been preparing for interviews the last few weeks, so these questions were very easy. Make sure you have a stories (that fit the CAR/STAR format) that show your leadership qualities, diversity qualities, teamwork qualities, etc. The interviewer was very pleasant, but essentially wrote down my answers as I spoke, never really looking up. It appears she had to submit my entire story verbatim to an online portal afterwards. This seemed kind of impersonal, but I guess that's what Shell was wanting here. After the interview I was told the next part is "off the record" and wouldn't be submitted to Shell. The interviewer basically asked me what my 5 year goals were, what my timeframe is for graduating, etc. I still took this part very seriously and answered honestly and appropriately. I was told that in a few weeks I would hear back about moving on to the Shell Recruitment Day.
My interview took place in September. Finally in December I received an email from Shell telling me that I had passed the initial interview round and that depending on availability I may move on to the Shell Recruitment Day in Houston. Hooray! I few days later I received an offer from another company that I had been interviewing with. I kindly emailed Shell to let them know I had received another offer, but remain VERY interested in Shell and would love to know the time-frame for the Shell Recruitment Day. No response. A few days later I emailed Shell again, notifying them that my offer from the other company would be expiring soon, but that I am VERY interested in Shell and that I think my skills fit very nicely with the company. No response.
Over the next couple of weeks I received 3 emails from Shell, all of them saying the exact same thing: that I had passed the initial interview and, depending on availability, may move on to the SRD round. Finally in February, 6 months after my initial, on-campus interview, I receive an email from Shell that stated: "we are sorry to inform you that, at present, we do not have positions available for your preferred area of work, location or start date. Regretfully, we will not be taking your application further." Thankfully by this point I had already accepted another fantastic offer that I am very excited about.
I have to say, I'm extremely disappointed in the Shell recruitment process. I actually received a scholarship from Shell during my undergraduate studies and stayed in contact with the company throughout graduate school. The interview process was very unsatisfying, and at no point could I demonstrate any clear technical skills. I think Shell missed out on a fantastic candidate, but I guess they don't really care so much.