Okay, the date of my interview was actually May 01. But, I worked for SLB for 6 years and saw a lot of the recruiting process from the inside.
First on SLB, the hiring procedure is different from country to country, mostly depending on the ratio of applicants to openings. Where the ratio is high, they have an overly elaborate set of hurdles to jump through and test for leadership skills, team work, personality, etc.
Where the ratio is much closer to 1 (Europe and North America when their demand for people is high) their process is much simpler: One campus interview followed by one on site interview which occurs over two days. The on campus interview is straight forward. They target individuals who are hands-on, outgoing engineers that are adventurous and adaptable. The second interview is more of a personality test in disguise. Most of it is just watching presentations to give you an idea of what the segments of the company are all about. Watch out for anything on the schedule that requires you to stand infront of a room and say something. This is part 1 of the interview in disguise. They will often ask you to make a 5 minute presentation on why you want to work for SLB. They then put several managers in the back of the room and they turn up the stress and ask you questions to see how good you will be talking to clients in your future. They often ask about your hands-on ability, adaptability, and willingness to work 24hrs a day 365days a week. (I meant to say that) I once divided my monthly salary, which was good, by the hours I put in that month and discovered my hourly wage was less than that of an Assistant manager at Mc Donalds.
Part 2 of the secret interview is the dinner they will take you to. There is almost certainly an open bar. After a couple hours of drinking, you notice the managers mingling through the group and talking to people. They look for those that mingle, especially with people from different backgrounds, drink socially, and enjoy themselves, but stay civil. Drink and truly enjoy yourself, but DO NOT drink in excess. (alcohol related drownings was in the top 5 leading causes of death in SLB one year back in 2000 or 2001??)
Part 1 and Part 2 are after a specific MBTI personality type: ESTJ. Engineers are typically introverted (ISTJ); they are looking for extroverted engineers (ESTJ). Something like 80% of engineers in SLB are reported to be of this personality type. Those that aren't can often be confused for this type by casual observation. They need engineers, but to survive on your own in strange countries, you MUST be able to make casual friends with diverse people in an instant, that, and good communications with clients and rig crews are the reasons they look for extroverted engineers.
So in summary, they look for:
Evidence of hands on mechanical aptitude.
Extroverts, or introverts who can take on an extroverted persona when needed.
They also mistakenly put too much emphasis on grades and the "Quality" of your engineering school.
(they often would be better served hiring from engineering programs with an emphasis on application, but instead focus on the programs that focus more on the theory.)
