HARMAN Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process for the Lead Accountant role was a letdown. The initial screening felt pretty professional and the hybrid work setup seemed good on paper. However, the interview with the department was really stiff. We talked a lot about my experience and how I could handle the full-time job duties and month-end close, and I confirmed I could do it all. But, things got awkward when I mentioned needing some flexibility for childcare. It honestly felt like they were judging my commitment because I'm a mom, not based on my professional skills. I didn't feel like their talk about diversity and inclusion was real after that experience. It seemed like personal biases about mothers were impacting their decision instead of just my qualifications.

The interview experience was not great. The hiring manager was about 20 minutes late and didn't apologize or say anything. This made things feel unprofessional from the start. I talked about a time I faced a challenge in a new place and how I took the lead with teammates to get past it. Instead of looking at it well, the hiring manager said 'that kind of issue doesn't happen here' and basically said their company was better. It felt condescending and like they weren't open to real experiences. Also, when I talked about my weaknesses, my answer was judged too harshly and simply, with assumptions made about my personality instead of focusing on growth. It felt more like a test of labels than skills. All in all, the interview felt one-sided, about the interviewer's ego, and lacked basic professionalism. The company should really work on interviewer punctuality, listening, and the overall candidate experience, because interviews should be a two-way street.

So first I had an interview with Harman internal for core python and AWS. Then the second round was with the client MBRDI, where I had coding questions in python and SQL. After that, I had a third round, purely AWS. I thought I did well, but then HR told me the position was put on hold by MBRDI and they hired someone internally. The next week, HR contacted me again for a different Backend position with the same client. Unfortunately, the same thing happened - the position was on hold. HR then said she'd look for other teams. It feels like they're just wasting candidates' time and hope. They should just give a clear yes or no. I wouldn't recommend interviewing if MBRDI is your end client.

The interview process had two rounds. The first round was purely theoretical, covering basic Android development concepts. The second round involved two interviewers who asked about Android basics, OOP, and a basic data structures and algorithms question involving strings. I answered most questions, but the hour-long session felt intense due to the rapid-fire questioning, which was tough for a fresher. A low point was when I couldn't answer a simple question, and the interviewers reacted sarcastically, which really shook my confidence and made the rest of the interview difficult. After that, I was mostly focused on finishing the interview. This was the only negative aspect; overall, it was a good learning experience.