I applied online at Valero's website for an associate plant engineering position and heard back within a week asking to schedule a pre-screening phone interview. We set up a phone interview for the following week during the afternoon. The phone interview went alright, just the basic behavioral questions that you would expect. Some examples are: Can you think of a time when you had to submit a project that you felt was not fully completed to the best of your abilities? Can you think of a time when you had to work with another from a different background? And how did you overcome challenges that this created? Etc. I was not asked any engineering questions, but was asked about my relevant experience. The interview was supposed to last about 20 minutes, but went on for about 50 minutes which was fine with me because I felt comfortable answering the questions. At the end of the interview, I was told I may be contacted in the next 2 weeks to set up an onsite interview if they felt I was a good candidate. I was contacted the following day and set up an onsite interview over spring break so that I could make the trip to the site (out of state). The onsite interview lasted about 4 hours, I first had an introduction and short list of questions from the engineering manager. This lasted about 45 minutes and I was asked mostly behavioral questions and one or two engineering questions. I was than introduced to two additional members of the plant and they asked a number of behavioral questions. Than the plant engineering manager took me on a plant tour and asked me questions pertaining to the process, luckily I had had an internship in the same field so I was easily able to answer the questions. The plant tour lasted about 50 minutes. The plant tour was followed by another interview with two other plants members that I met on the tour. THis lasted about 20 minutes because I tried to keep my answers short and sweet. This portion was supposed to last an hour, but was cut short when they did not have any more questions. The plant engineering manager was conducting a phone interview at the time with another candidate, so the plant manager stuck around and spoke with me for a bit, eventually he left and I had to wait by myself for 30 minutes until the engineering manager came back. This last portion of the interview lasted about an hour and was focused primarily on engineering questions and my own questions. I was given a brief lecture on the company philosophy and operation. At the end of the interview, I was told that I would be contacted in the next month if I was found to be the best candidate. I was also asked to inform the hiring manager if I received any other job offers as soon as possible so that he could speed the process up and move on to the next steps in the process. He mentioned that the next steps would involve a phone interview with the director of engineering and the plant general manager who was not present on that day.

The Engineering Manager from the site calls you. They ask you a series of questions, which weren't behavioral questions. Usually they are. The questions were like what do you know about our site? Could tell me about your work experience and what you did there? Why do you feel this position is good fit for you? The interview was easy going, nothing technical related.