Exxon Mobil Research Engineer Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details The process was through campus interview. The interview was pleasant - very little technical questions and mainly about PhD dissertation

Interview Details First applied through campus career fair. They would like to hire students with high GPA and at the same time with social activities and leadership skills. On the career fair day, there was a small conversation between me and one of the hiring group. He invited me to a 1:1 interview next day. The interview was behavioral type. The interviewer makes you feel very comfortable. 3-4 days later I got an email saying that my CV was recommended to the main system. 2 weeks later, I got the phone interview and invited to an on-site interview. The whole interview process was very well organized and pleasant!!! On site interview consisted of many 1:1 interviews and an hour long presentation (for a PhD candidate).

Negotiation Details – I did not negotiate

Interview Details Applied through campus career center and ExxonMobil website, talked to the recruiters during info session and career fair. They were all very nice and kind. Got notified two weeks before the interview (first round, on campus). I am looking for full-time opportunities, so I know the on campus interview will probably all be behavioral. Took some time to prepare for typical questions. And went over the resume for every detail.

Got notified for second round interview (site visit) after a week of the campus one, the date hasn't been set yet, will probably be early Nov. Will update status later.

Interview Details I am a phd student and I got this interview by applying to the university career center. Was offered an on-campus interview. The interviewer was a chemical engineering phd who now is in charge of a lab at XOM's research center in New Jersey. The interview came straight to the point from the start: random resume questions(10-15min), behavioral questions (15-20min), and a Q&A period(5-10min).

The interview questions are reasonable. No odd balls. But this was my first job interview and my lack of experience made me a little ill-prepared(I prepared a lot on the "tell me about yourself" and "why XOM" kind of thing but downplayed the behavioral questions. Turns out the former were never touched upon). Also I'm an international student so my English is not seasoned enough to handle emergency situations smoothly. I could have responded much better.

One thing I don't like about the way they organized the interview is that you are not interviewed for a specific position. They just wanted to take a look on the candidates and then go back and see whether some of their departments want people with experiences like yours. I guess it's more efficient for a big company like XOM to do it this way. However, I find it annoying because I don't know what skill sets I need to highlight if I don't know what functions I am expected to contribute( guess I could have asked, but they seems to not care at this point). It's also hard to build a bond between you and the interviewer because the interviewer may work on a complete different research area and have little idea/interest about the significance of your skills( and vice versa).

I haven't heard back from them yet and I'd be surprised if I got passed to the second round. The interviewer did mention that the next interview round will be conducted by people from specific departments that matches my background.

Interview Details Very friendly process. Every interviewer made me feel very comfortable. Appeared more like a discussion than an interview.

Negotiation Details – Didnt negotiate!