Novartis interview questions

I went through 3 rounds of interviews with Novartis, including an initial 30 mins conversation with the talent acquisition team. That part of the process was smooth and pleasant. The second and third rounds were technical interviews. Unfortunately, the second round raised some red flags. The interviewers didn’t seem to know who was supposed to be on the panel and even questioned each other’s presence during the call. This made me extremely uncomfortable and clearly highlighted a lack of internal coordination. Additionally, the panel was quite unfriendly, and their facial expressions of one of the interviewee gave the impression she wasn't open to a meaningful or engaging discussion. Some of the questions were standard, such as “Where did you fail and what did you do about it?” I answered using the STAR method and kept my responses focused, but the lack of rapport and cold tone from the interviewers made it a difficult experience. The final round with the hiring manager was the most disappointing. She joined 10 minutes late and opened by saying she only had 30 minutes to complete the interview. Her tone throughout was unfriendly, and she commented that while candidates may look good on paper, whether they’re a fit for “an esteemed company like Novartis ” is still a question. Her attitude came across as condescending and dismissive. Overall, the interview process left a negative impression. To top it all, the lack of response from HR team despite followups is appaulling! Even if I had received an offer, this experience made it clear that Novartis isn’t a company I would feel comfortable working for!

The first round is a recruiter call. The recruiter brought in a junior staff to shadow but no advance notice was given. The recruiter also reschedule the call in less than 24 hours which is not very professional. I was asked a competency-based question during a recruiter screening call; however, no notice was given, so I wasn't given a chance to prepare. Just felt like being set up to fail, not impressed.