I would like to share my experience regarding recruitment with #1 oilfield service company in the world ; Schlumberger. Bare in mind, the interview was taken in Malaysia in 2012. However, I would like to assume that the interview I went through was one of the most comprehensive one compare to other country (based on discussions I had with my colleague). So, this guide might still be helpful for you regardless of your location.


*Make sure you have basic knowledge of the company and business before going for the interview. Be prepared!

Stage 1

For on campus recruitment, normally there will be a 3 minutes "public speaking" session. Basically, you will pull out one of the topics from selection, and you need to talk about the topic for 3 minutes. Topics normally general knowledge and nothing related to oilfield. My topic was religion. I think I was lucky and that was quite easy. However, some people got "Hepatitis", Disneyland, Paris and etc. So, it is really a random topic. The idea of this exercise is to see your confidence, eventhough you do not have the knowledge of a selected topic, just go for it. Try to talk and relate to other topic that it can be diverted to. So that it will appears that you have the confidence,

This exercise is normally done to eliminate a larger pool of candidates to a smaller group. If you are selected to attend the interview at the HQ, this exercise will be skipped and you will proceed to next exercise.

Group exercise : You will be divided into 5/6 people for one group and a candidate number will be pasted on your back. This would make the evaluator easier to judge you. Some of the exercise I have heard is to build a bridge made of papers that can sustain "as much as it can" golf balls. Or, a bridge that stable enough for a "toy car" to travel the farthest. Bear in mind that you will get extra point for the paper , straw that you did not use for the construction. Tips for this exercise is to get involve in discussion within your group. Speak up and try to contribute ideas as much as you can. Don't try to be a solo ranger.

You will present your project in front of the recruitment team that will try to bash your ideas. At the end of the presentation, they will ask who you will select as a leader. Who would you like to work with in future? Who are you going to fire?

Stage 2

One-to-one session with Recruitment Manager ( at HQ )
Basically they try to evaluate which segment will suit you the best. You can try to tell them your preference, but normally you will get something else :P

Stage 3

Interview with segment Operation Manager ( at HQ )
After the recruitment manager gave you a green light,  you will be sent to the Operation Manager of the specific segment where they think you suited the best. This stage can be a few rounds. They will send you to few segments until one segment agree to select you. (I went for IPM, DnM and finally Testing)

Stage 4

Field Exposure ( at yard/base )
Congratulations if you have come until this stage! You will go through one week of field exposure at the yard. You will not go to offshore, but you will work mostly on the tools. I was sent for exposure at Kemaman, Malaysia with another candidate for Testing.
Tips:
1. Try to adapt well with the crew as the manager will have a review with them as well regarding your performance at the end of your exposure week.
2. Be proactive! Ask a lot of questions.

Stage 5 

Interview with Segment Field Service Manager ( at yard/base )
At the end of your field exposure, you will have an interview session with the service manager, where he will send his feedback back to recruitment team.
Some of my friends had to do presentation at the end of their exposure. It's depends on the manager.

Stage 6

It is a very long process. Now you have to wait for the call from recruitment team. Now it depends on your medical screening results :P

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My Experience

If I can still remember, I received the good news a week after I was back from the exposure. I went to sign the acceptance letter and waited for 6 months to receive my Letter of Assignment. pheww. ( I kept calling them but they didn't inform me they were looking for international placement for me. of course I was worried they would forget about me. haha) Luckily I was working at other company at that time, and it kept me occupied. And I received my offer for different segment than the whole process I went through. Well, no surprise.

Since the beginning of the process, I kept mentioning to them that I would be interested for international assignment. From the HR, operation manager and service manager. If you know you want something, just go for it.

Good Luck!

• Yesterday, (thursday), I went to S*B 4th stage intvw. This is for well services segment.I didnt prepare much for the technical part due to lack information regarding the well services segment on the web site.
• So, malam before that, i gmaps about da place. Jalan Perak. Tgk maps cm senang je. Kt junction klcc tu amk kiri then kiri lg. smp la jalan perak. Tapi rupanya jalan tu one way je. adei. Dah la smp klcc tu dlm lunch hour. merasa la jam di situ. kaki pun lenguh dok tuka2 gear. sgt x mau drive manual if keje kt kl.
• Bila da terlajak selekoh tu, mula la sesat2. Actaully xde la sesat mana pun. Just follow the traffic. Bole plak smp ke pudu, sg wang. adei! Lg satu, area pudu tu ada jalan tun perak. mengapakah perlu ada nama yg lebih kurg disitu. lg la confuse ok.
• Our signboard also x bagus la. Patutnya kt junction2 kene la ada signboard. Mana la org nk tau kn.
• So plg senang skali masuk ikut jln raja chulan. then jalan pramlee. lepas tu jmpa la jalan perak.

Interview

• Smp kt S*B, sufinah da ada kt situ. I lepak2 kt mamk bawah tu dulu. Yela, intvw kol 4. kol 2 da smp. gile awal kn.
  
• Overall, not my best interview la. My interviewer ws chinese malaysian. sorg je. I da rasa x sedap hati bila izzi bgtau chinese malaysian. Erm, I was expecting for caucasian. Diorg more open la. X academic thingy sgt.
• Ni asik2 tnya cgpa, gpa. Kenapa rendah and all.
• Pastu boleh plak pertikaikan kenapa org hanta aq intern kt France. erk? adei~ yela, i ws just the right person at the right time masa tu. Rezki kot. Lucky jugak. But, my intvw back then was pretty good.
• Then, the interviewer noticed dat I bnyk involved with keusahawanan thingy. from maktab lg. dia suruh me bg 3 points to become a good businessman. erk?
  
• Overall, I x confident la. hopefully segment lain will call me and if it is a caucasian, its a plus. ahahahah~
• Tawakkal banyak2 la now. I really need a job.

Au Revoir!

• Hi all.
  
• Dah lama g interview ni tp nk masukkn kt blog juga. ehe.
• Ada 3 stages suma skali kt UTP. Final stage which is the 4rd stage kt KL with line manager kot x silap.
• This is my 1st experience with s*b since masa intern dulu x mtk pun.

• I believe in second chances now. They do really exist ppl. Like in my previous post, I was very down for not making to 2nd stage interview of Baker Hughes cuz I already submitted and called BH's HR. Its not that I gedik2 down but It cuz i already put efforts for it. some ppl might be very lucky. X apply mana2 pun. UTP apply kn all. then got the job. uhuhuh~
• Then, I received email from BH houston office. They send me set of questionnaires and I need to submit it back to them.
• Alhamdulillah, I passed that stage. They send me email to arrange for my phone interview session. and its EST time zone ppl. So, i try to arrange it as logic as possible (meaning, nk ke intvw 3 am malaysia time?). Finally, theres only 1 slot available. 5pm EST equal to 6.30 am malaysia. ok la kot.
  
• I was so not ready since that time very busy with FYDP. Plus, I only got 24 hours or less to prepare for the phone intvw. Xpe la. gamble je. I try to contact senior2. Ada jugak yg dpt intvw like me. So, I ask tips from them. They cakap, line was not clear. aaa. ni yg takut ni. line x clear.
• Hari interview, I woke up really early. 5 am. Buat2 la ape yg patut then try to read bout BH. Just to be prepared. Tepat 6.30 am malaysia time, i got a incoming call with weird combination of numbers.ofcourse!
• The line was not clear. I asik suruh the guy repeat the quest and his voice is sloww too. erm. not my luck mybe. what to expect. the states-tronoh.x clear la line.I ask him about the next stage. Its one-to-one intvw. So how bout the distance? they will fly me to the states all the way?? ahahaha~ u hope my dear! Its depends on the geographic area. Meaning, I in malaysia, so it would be in malaysia.
• Bnyk jugak solan situation. like: which one u will choose. 1)Heavily travel,lots money 2)nice workplace, heavy workoads 3) bad workplace+technical job+lots money. ha.. pilih2. i pilih no 1 masa intvw tu. uhuh!~ reasons goreng je!
  
• Lain soalan : what is the most appealing about field engineer? What is the least appeling about field engineer?
• Got one question very technical plak tu. Then line x clear. I heard only bout the 2nd option. So, i chose that one la. Explaination goreng jugak.
  
• Erm..I doubt bout the nex stage cuz I am pretty sure all the malaysia-brunei vacancies aready filled. Ya la, bdk2 UTP jugak. uhuhu. Anyway, it was a good experience and if given a chance, i dont want a phone interview anymore. Its limited my expressiveness...

Au Revoir!

• This story might be basi already, but I still want to write here for my future flashback.
• I received sms about Baker hughes's interview when I still in Thailand. I thought it might be a raya's prank but who will do that anyway on raya?
• I am very happy because baker hughes is one of my target company. I already called them, sent resume and talk to julia herself.
• So, all the so called shortlisted candidates come back from holiday early. UTP supposed to close until 29 sept but the interview is on 28 sept. Meaning I have to reach UTP on 27 sept. arr. habis raya.
• Bila smp utp, i heard that we going to have a test first. But not sure about what test. I ask google and many said it would be basic math and physics test. Still, I do not know what to prepare for the test.
• On the test day, a representative introduce herself as julia B. She said it would not be a technical test but rather a reasoning/ IQ test (I should have thot of this earlier. aiyo. mati me!)

Reasoning Test

• The test consisting of 50 mcq questions and the time would be recorded. Meaning the faster you submit the better. Ms Julia B keeps stressing that we are competing with each other and this make everybody more semangat.
• My position is infront of my genius fren, luke. Dia hanta awal ok. Stress bangat den.
• Then, bila da hanta I told luke that Im not confident bout the test.
• Baker hughes will shortlisted 50 ppl to 2nd stage. (aaaa. i heard rumours that everybody will attend the interview! this make me more nervous)
• The shortlisted list available on the afternoon and as expected I didnt pass the test. sobsob

The Interview

• The interview is one to one style.
• Baker hughes shortlisted 20 ppl for 3rd stage which they will go to Singapore for the interview fully sponsored except for passport.
• Congrats to my fren that going to Singapore. Gud luck guys!

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• I was very down indeed after the test. Maybe theres hikmah behind it.
• I become more +ve after I can accepted that I didnt pass the 1st stage.
• Im running a campaign 'An IQ test a day' starting from now onwards..ahaha~

Au Revoir!

• Last weekend, Petronas ability test was held in UTP.
• I thot it was just for Petronas scholar but then they also select others scholar to attend the test. (I heard Mr Idham sent all CVs to Petronas' HR)
• The test consist of 3 sections: 1) Essay Writing, 2) English test (comprehension) 3) Analytical test/Math Test
• For the first two, 'can go' lagi la but then the math questions really difficult for me plus not enough time . For the essay, I thot we were given 50 mins but then only 15 mins. woo! Punya la relaks wat essay then gelabah gila bila dia kata 3 mins left. Seriously, I bnyk tibai for math test. Just for the sake I want to attempt all questions cuz if not, the system will just log out when the time is finish.
• Whoever succeed in this stage will proceed with Petronas's structured Interview.
• Honestly, I'm x that eager to work with Petronas. I dont know why. I bet all people outside UTP are dying to join Petronas. Maybe cuz I heard a lot from senior that Petronas dont value much fresh graduate. They will just campak you anywhere. Its better to join them with experienced.
• On the yeay side of it, working in Petronas is actually much much more relax than any other oil & gas company (engineer position). hurm~
• I hope the same lucky star with me again this time around just like when I was applying for my internship. I really need those star again!