Job Interview Flashcards
What do you think a Drilling Engineer does at Equinor?
A drilling engineer will be involved in the planning and organization of the whole drilling process offshore as well as onshore. This will include overlooking the whole operation during the drilling process, be in contact with the operators as well as all the other people involved in the process such as mud engineers, or geologists, for example, listen to their feedback and therefore be able to adapt plans. A drilling engineer should be able to see potential problems that can arise during the process and be able to raise these issues during the planning stage and make sure that they will not happen.
Why have you applied for this job?
Well, Drilling engineering was the course during my master studies that fascinated me the most, it is just super fascinating to me to drill in such great depths while maneuvering everything from above the surface. I also think it is especially exciting to see sometimes in which environments the work is executed and I would really like to be part of that. So that’s so far for the reason why I want to be a drilling engineer but the reason for the company Equinor is that I really can identify myself with the values that the company embodies and the problem-solving approach, such as taking them on as challenges and as a team and since we are in an energy transition period I believe it is necessary to go with the time and find solutions for the future. I think that Equinor is the right energy company during the exciting time of the energy transition to be a part of.
Why do you think you would be a good fit?
I would be a good fit since I have gotten most of my work experience during my internships in the field, which was partly inside underground mines or in open-pit mines and I really enjoyed the ruff environment and to be on-site and transfer the knowledge from there to the office and I believe liking the remote environments is necessary to enjoy the work as a drilling engineer, which I do. Furthermore, my education is specifically valuable for the job and I have worked on different projects related to the energy industry during those studies both alone and in teams, where I had leading positions, and these projects went pretty well. Finally, I have traveled a lot, met many people from many different backgrounds and cultures and it was always easy for me to quickly integrate and adapt and also make good friends, which I believe are necessary attributes in an international company such as Equinor.
What are my career plans?
I want to develop professionally to become an expert in the field of drilling engineering and at the same time would love to work with other international people together on efficient and innovative solutions for extraction and use of resources in the future to actually play my part in the energy transition in a company such as Equinor that is committed to such a challenge. On a personal level, I would like to work in the future also in different countries on different assignments to continue broadening my horizon meeting diverse people from different cultures and experiencing their views and ideas on how to tackle the energy transition and the world to develop as a person
What are your hobbies?
My biggest hobby I would say is traveling. I have already backpacked in several countries on different continents and I really like exploring new cultures and meeting many people from super diverse and different backgrounds. Despite that on a day-to-day level, I enjoy working out, I go to the gym several times a week and also like to go jogging and also play football since I am a child.
What was your biggest achievement?
My biggest achievement recently was probably that i graduated from Heriot-Watt University with a Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering with distinction. Basically, I was looking forward to work in person with many other students but since the pandemic reached its peak at the beginning of this year, I did the majority of this masters just via online learning, the exam system changed compared to the last years, so it also was not possible to orientate yourself on the previous years and adapt your study process and it was way harder to connect with other students and benefit from this daily interaction. And I was still able to finish with a distinction, which taught me a lot in adapting to quick changes, keep the focus on the goals and build new habits that helped to pursue this goal. And I feel that what I learned is going to give me a big advantage in my career now.
What are your salary expectations?
Well, I believe that Equinor has probably a range for fresh graduates where they would put them in, but if you ask me with Norway also being a country with high living costs, I would expect something in the 60 000 Euro range, so I assume around 600,000 NOK.
Do you prefer working by yourself or in a team?
I love teamwork, I believe that several minds thinking together are more effective in solving issues and also encourage each other’s mindset and thinking by contributing to thoughts or adding to them. Furthermore, I believe that in Teamwork it is also possible to distribute sometimes work in a way so that each individual can focus more on their strengths or to challenge a weakness by being able to get advice and help from other team members that might be more experience in a field or role and therefore can help you improve that area where which you would usually not consider your strength and therefore contribute to a strong final product or solution instead of working on your own.
What are Equinor’s values? Which one best describes you?
Open, courageous, collaborative, and caring
I would say open, at the end of the day, I am a very curious person that is up for a lot of things to experience and get new impressions and very open to meeting new people and teams from different countries or cultures.
As a second I would say collaborative, I love working with others and I would say that an adjective to decribe me the most is tolerant, which is a huge part of being efficient with a diverse group of people since everyone has different opinions but to bring the best out of them they should not feel judged in any way and being able to speak freely, which is only the case if they have the confidence because of being tolerated
What is your weakest point?
Probably Honesty in a direct way. Well, I grew up in a family that is very straight to the point and I realized when I was growing up that this is sometimes not really appreciated since not everyone is used to that and some seem to see it even in a confrontational way which was never my intention. So when I got older I started working on it just so that people don’t feel uncomfortable since I realized that the honesty was still appreciated. And to give you an example during my last project with Heriot-Watt University we had a team member who did not participate in group meetings and also did not deliver his work and If I would have been 16 I would have probably told him that he needs to participate and contribute so that we can have a good outcome for this project. But with all the experiences that I made over the last years, I now approached the issue by contacting him in person, I met up with him and asked if something is challenging him or bothering him or if he feels uncomfortable in the group so that I could understand his side of the problem and he appreciated the personal approach and actually had a person in the family who died. So we then redistributed a little the workload in the group so that he could still contribute to the project but at the same time be less involved in the day-to-day talks about the project and he later even told me that he appreciated me for reaching out to him.
What are 3 words a friend might use to describe you?
Tolerant, Ambitious, and Adventurous
Name a time where you had a conflict in a professional setting and what steps you took to resolve it?
I was taking part in an important meeting at work with some colleagues and also some supervisors and during the meeting, one of my coworkers repeatedly interrupted me while I was talking, which I found inappropriate
TASK
I, therefore, wanted to challenge the person, who kept interrupting me in a professional way with the aim to make him aware that I did not appreciate his behavior but without disrupting the atmosphere of the meeting
ACTION
I, therefore, explained in a confident and professional manner to not ruin the atmosphere of the meeting, that it is more helpful from a perspective of communication if each person could lay out their opinion during the meeting without getting interrupted.
RESULT
As soon as I said what I wanted to say, my colleague apologized for interrupting me and the remainder of the meeting went smoothly and without any issues. I would always work on any form of conflict in a direct, professional, and calm manner to resolve it quickly and amicably,
In a problem-solving situation, what would I do? What tasks? What results? Can you tell me about a difficult work situation and how you overcame it?
The key to problem-solving is communication which I consider one of my strengths that developed more during the last years while working together with many people from diverse backgrounds
Situation:
I had to deliver a group project with a randomly selected group of 6 international students located in different parts of the world and different knowledge and commitment to the project
Task:
Understand, that knowledge and priorities are not equal, but task needs to be delivered in a timely and qualitative manner.
Action:
Therefore, a collaborative plan was agreed on with regular meetings and milestones to meet the deadline. For each meeting deliverables were preplanned and talked about to ensure that everybody understands the assigned task.
1 on 1 conversation to figure out issues faced during work, that can lead to lack of quality and offering assistance in problem-solving
Result: Each member felt included in the project and was able to deliver their work with a decent standard by communicating faced problems and did not fear making mistakes, which led to over-delivering on the project
What role do you play in a team?
To be honest, I do not believe in a typical division of roles in a team, in leaders and followers. In my opinion, feedback should flow freely in all directions in a successful company. Each team member should not hesitate to share their opinion, and to take on a leadership role, when that’s the best thing for the team. I try to approach my roles in the same way. In some cases, I may lead the entire team, and in other instances, I may follow the direction of someone else, who has better experience with this or that situation, or who simply proposed a better idea.
What means innovation to you?
Innovation to me means to adapt quickly in a sustainable way to issues or problems that occur where there might not be a satisfiable solution yet. Therefore not to be afraid of taking on ambitious goals and having the confidence on taking on these goals while minimizing the risks during the process. Also, innovation to me means to be enthusiastic about trying out new things and questioning current approaches in a critical way to find further improvement and to be creative during the problem-solving process.
