Petro Canada Interview

[Gainsbarre]

I have an interview with Petro Canada for an office job with them next week.

Does anybody work for them in this capacity and/or have you had a recent interview with them?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[Senseiz]

Hi there,
When you refer to office job, as in PCC downtown? What position are you getting the interview for?

The main HR recruiter is Natalie Viklund. Very nice lady. I was being interview for an Engineering position so that is a little different. A few technical questions and overall it was pretty laid back. Nothing too hard.

[Neons4life]

my wife worked for them, and it was by far the worst job she had.

She was a full time employee there, but in the hiring contract it stated that they would not pay her overtime or compensate her for it either by means of time off...She worked there for almost a year with 10+ hours a day and never got anything for all the over time.

[PuffPuff]

Heh.....
I wonder if its MY job shes interviewing for.

[DUBBED]

Originally posted by Neons4life
my wife worked for them, and it was by far the worst job she had.

She was a full time employee there, but in the hiring contract it stated that they would not pay her overtime or compensate her for it either by means of time off...She worked there for almost a year with 10+ hours a day and never got anything for all the over time.


Well she signed the contract didn't she? Can't really bitch about something you agreed to.

[Neons4life]

No she did not sign a contract. That is what HR gives to their employees stating the conditions of their work, the rules the employees have to go by (code of conduct whatever it's called)

she was not a contract employee.

[Amysicle]

Originally posted by Neons4life
No she did not sign a contract. That is what HR gives to their employees stating the conditions of their work, the rules the employees have to go by (code of conduct whatever it's called)

she was not a contract employee.

How long ago was this? Also, was she working for an hourly wage or on a monthly salary?

I heard it's a little different now, they were even featured on Global News a week or two ago about workplace perks.

[Neons4life]

This was around 1.5 years ago now. She was on yearly salary, but obviously didn't read the fine print of her agreement till it was to late. You would be amazed at what the government says about overtime regarding the law about it. Basically she had to work it and not get paid...what a joke of a job. Once she found out she quit.

[DUBBED]

Originally posted by Neons4life
This was around 1.5 years ago now. She was on yearly salary, but obviously didn't read the fine print of her agreement till it was to late. You would be amazed at what the government says about overtime regarding the law about it. Basically she had to work it and not get paid...what a joke of a job. Once she found out she quit.


Let me get this straight, your wife doesn't take the time to read something she is in fact legally agreeing to, worked their for a year with no concerns, found out that she agreed to not get paid overtime, then quit?

Sorry that just doesn't make sense and I don't think you have any legitimate reason to say Petro sucks because your wife is to careless to read.

[CokerRat]

If you're on salary, you're on salary. Get over it,

[Neons4life]

Don't care if you're on salary or not, if you work overtime you should be compensated for it... I don't work for free you know.

And yeah thanks I am over it. I am responding to the OP not anyone else, this was a heads up for that individual to make sure that they do read the fine print of all documents. Also a heads up to the OP and anyone else that Petro Canada does not pay for overtime.

[Neons4life]

So how would you like it if your boss comes to you and says you have to stay at work for a few more hours this week, and come in on Saturday...Oh and by the way we arn't going to pay you for the time. This happened numerous times. So yeah she quit...Would you seriously stay working there. I DON'T THINK SO!!

[KLCC]

This is off the topic, but I find not being paid OT is a common practice in the IT industries. Most of the time, we are trying to get things deliver on-time, if we were side-tracked at some point in the development phase, due to some unforeseen reason. We’ll have to try our best to make up for the lost time in order to prevent penalty from the client. Therefore, it is within your own responsibility to cover for the lost time, which means you’ll have to work like there is no tomorrow or work on weekends without any compensation, or else find another job…..so life is not fair, but you'll get used to it

[broken_legs]

Shell gives a stupid amount of flex days, free dinner and cab ride home if you stay past 6pm

There is no compensation for overtime - You get rated on your performance and are handed a bonus at the end of the year accordingly. Stay late put in lots of hours, do a good job you get a big bonus... I've never had a salaried position that paid overtime - has anyone else?

[Neons4life]

Yeah we are getting a little off topic...oh well.

I am salary but I do get overtime in means of vacation time usually.

[USED1]

All of the positions I've held have been salary and I've never been paid overtime. My last position I was putting in upwards of 10 hours/week in overtime but not once did I complain about not being paid because I knew I would be compensated with my larger than usual bonus.

The people that are willing to put in the time now usually are rewarded later.

I'd like to know of a salary position that gets paid overtime.

[The Cosworth]

yeah I am on salary and get paid overtime if I am required to work late. If I work late by choice then we get straight time.

As for petro, they came to our school to recruit so I am not sure if it is the same atmosphere but it was pretty good. Pretty laid back

[bashir26]

so how did it go?

[Gainsbarre]

It went pretty well I think -- went through two interviews. The whole hiring process just seems very bureaucratic though -- it is taking a while for them to get back to me, and I've been playing phone tag with the hiring manager the past few days. I do feel fairly optimistic about the whole situation, however.

[realazy]

Sorry for bumping up an older thread. But I just want to ask Gainsbarre or any other people that would know how Petro-Can usually does their interviews.

I have an interview scheduled on Thursday for an internship position with them and was wondering what kind of interview style they use and what types of questions might be asked. And if there are any questions that are really technical or difficult to answer?

[bigbadboss101]

I have one next week.

[Gainsbarre]

Originally posted by realazy
Sorry for bumping up an older thread. But I just want to ask Gainsbarre or any other people that would know how Petro-Can usually does their interviews.

I have an interview scheduled on Thursday for an internship position with them and was wondering what kind of interview style they use and what types of questions might be asked. And if there are any questions that are really technical or difficult to answer?

Alright. The only two questions that I was asked in the first interview were:
1) Do you enjoy teamwork?
2) What do you know about Petro-Canada

For 1, well the answer there is obvious -- "yes I enjoy teamwork as people of diverse backgrounds bring about cognitive conflict that is beneficial for the development of new ideas. but I can also work independently when needed..." and so on

I nearly cracked up at how surprised the interviewer was when I answered 2). I of course mentioned how Petro-Canada is an interated oil & gas company with upstream operations in Alberta and off of Canada's east coast, refining capacity in Edmonton and Montreal and downstream operations (service stations) across the country. The old man was so shocked that I knew about all that -- "usually when people think of Petro-Canada they think of the place where they fill up their cars and maybe buy a few snacks" (huh??!?!). Apparently none of the earlier interviews caight onto the fact that Petro-Canada is more than just a downstream service station (and I had no O&G experience myself). So be familiar with all of Petro-Canada's operations -- UPSTREAM as well as downstream! (just a general overview should be fine).

Second interview, a bunch of behavioural questions -- things like "name a time you went above and beyond the call of duty", "name a time when you had to make a presentation", "name a time when you disagreed with a colleague and how that was resolved", "name a time when you improved a process", and so on. Third interview was more of the same. I wasn't asked any technical questions. And there were none of those "why are manhole covers round" or "how many piano tuners are there in Chicago" type questions.

Hope this helps...any other questions just let me know.

[TVG]

Originally posted by Neons4life
my wife worked for them, and it was by far the worst job she had.


It's a big company. Some jobs probably do suck. My mom worked there for 32 years and they treated her VERY well.

[sanwen]

Hi, Gainsbarre,
How long did it take for them to get back to you after the first interview?

[Gainsbarre]

Originally posted by sanwen
Hi, Gainsbarre,
How long did it take for them to get back to you after the first interview?

They took their sweet time overall -- about 8 weeks total. However, I had actually received an email from the interviewer about 20 minutes after the first meeting, asking me to come back for another interview.