Interview Experience
Experience narrative
I wouldn’t give any company one star across every category—but wow, they messed up at nearly every step, in multiple ways.
Their interview coordinator was based in the UK and somehow assumed they were recruiting someone from India. As a result, they scheduled my interview for 4:00 a.m. New York time. When I explained that this was far too early in EST, they said they would reschedule—yet the new date ended up being a full week later.
For the technical round, the recruiter introduced two people as the “hiring managers,” but both were in the same role I was applying for. That was confusing. Still, when you’re job hunting, you don’t exactly have much leverage—and they clearly know that.
One of the two interviewers (based in India) was openly disrespectful and tried to bully me during the interview. He asked a question, and as I began answering, he cut me off and said he had to stop me because I was “going in the wrong direction.” With that attitude, I couldn’t continue the conversation, so I ended the meeting early. I will tell a bit more about them in the interviewers' section.
How can a global company like GlaxoSmithKline be this unprofessional in its recruiting process?
Company ratings (this submission)
Interviewers
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Judhel AlvaricoRecruiterHe was actually the interview coordinator. I answered a few screening questions from Alex Eager (Senior Recruiter – Tech, AI/ML & Global Functions). Then Judheal entered the picture to handle scheduling. He initially sent me several available dates, but every option was at 4:00 a.m. EST. He didn’t seem to realize that I had applied from—and would be working in—the United States. He also sent me multiple emails and then recalled them. When I asked what was going on, he said he had mistakenly included the wrong programming-language requirements for my technical round and had to change them repeatedly. Really? That says a lot about their preparedness as a interview coordinator.
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Subrat ParichhaSenior Principal Data EngineerHe was honestly the worst person to deal with. I’m glad he revealed his true colors during the interview. Or maybe he was insecure and felt he needed to derail the interview just to protect his own position down the line. He came into the meeting a bit late and seemed to overcompensate by acting overly authoritative. It felt less like a professional interview and more like a child throwing a tantrum. I told the other interviewer, Balaguru, that they didn’t seem serious—neither of them even turned on their cameras during the Zoom interview, yet one of them was acting as if he alone had the right to judge everything. Interviews shouldn’t go this way. Balaguru and I agreed it was best to end the interview, while Subrat kept yelling that I was giving “all the wrong answers.” How does GSK allow someone to behave like that in a professional workplace?
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Balaguru Sankaran PonnusamySenior Principal Data EngineerDuring the 45-minute interview, I spent time discussing my skills, and Balaguru explained what they were looking for during the first 35 minutes. Then Subrat joined and derailed the conversation. Balaguru tried to be professional, but he should have turned on his camera during the interview.