In a new recruitment and awareness effort, Shell brought their Pit Stop Challenge to the University of Houston in front of the Y building, and more than 100 students came to participate in the event. Students had the opportunity to change a tire on a Ferrari Formula One racecar, in teams of three, to compete for the lowest time.
“We had 40 teams of three people each participate, and they were not all students,” Shell Attraction and Recruitment Coordinator Julie Hur Pascoe said. “We didn’t have an official count, but through the day there were also always students just observing.”
Team Chuck E. Cheese, made up of industrial engineering seniors Charles Anyanwu and Michael Kalita and chemical engineering senior Andrew Chen, had the lowest time at 5.33 seconds and won a scale model remote controlled Ferraris for each competitor.
“I’ve changed flats before but not on a racecar, and it’s a little different,” Chen said. “With a racecar you have one lug nut as opposed to five. It was easier because we had an air-powered wrench. Charles took the tire off, Michael put it on, and I was operating the wrench.”
Chen said he enjoyed “just being around a Ferrari” and was also able to take advantage of access to the Shell recruiters that attended the event.
“It’s very useful to be able to talk to recruiters in a more relaxed setting or fun environment,” Chen said. “You can be yourself. It’s harder at a career fair when everyone is fighting to talk to someone.”
Because the Challenge is a pilot program, Shell and Hur Pascoe had a special investment in the event’s success.
“We’ve done this at large trade shows or at industry events like the Offshore Technology Conference where there is still a student audience, but this is the first time that Shell Campus Recruiting is bringing this to students,” Hur Pascoe said. “Our objective was to target students that were interested in interviewing and hiring. This served a much more strategic purpose for the engineering department because the department is so strong at UH, but we wanted to create a strong awareness of Shell for all UH students. This was a great way to get that message out.”
The Shell Campus Pit Stop Challenge is slated to stop at a number of universities in Colorado, Michigan and Texas. Hur Pascoe said that UH had the highest participation yet of any university Shell visited.