Napster Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was very direct and focused. Everyone was really welcoming and asked pertinent questions. There were about 4 rounds before I got an offer, and each one was unique. The entire process took only about two weeks because they needed to fill this role quickly. The only reason I didn't accept the job was that the scope of the work wasn't quite what I was looking for. Otherwise, the IT Team and IT Director seemed like they would have been great to work with.

The interview process involved an HR screen, a "technical" screen (which focused more on experience and SQL joins than actual technical skills), and an onsite interview. The company seemed concerned about candidates being out of state and their availability to start. The onsite was unstructured; some interviewers were out of office, and I met with three people. Two of them asked questions unrelated to the role or technologies. The interviewers were pleasant, but the process was inconvenient due to the lack of structure and the company's apparent preference for local candidates.

I was referred internally for the role. About 10 days after the referral, the recruiter reached out asking for my availability for a call. I replied promptly. Two days later, they asked if I had other times for the next week. I responded quickly again. Eight days later, I nudged the recruiter to see if I was still being considered. I was told the recruiter "didn't get my previous e-mail" and wanted to call me four days later at a specific time. I agreed and noted it on my calendar. When the call didn't happen, I followed up via email and was then told I had been called but got a busy tone. We eventually had the call, and I was set up for a phone screen the following week. The phone screen was pretty straightforward, focusing heavily on scrum/agile project management. I was told the recruiter would be in touch with next steps. I never heard back, which wasn't surprising. It felt like the recruiter was intentionally delaying or blocking my application, dropping the ball to an extreme. While you expect some issues with recruiters (busy, low pay, high turnover), this recruiting experience was very unprofessional.

I had an initial HR call where we talked about my interests and needs, and they seemed to be on board with everything. Then there was a technical phone screen which went fine. After that, they wanted me to come in for a 6-hour interview, which I thought was a lot, but I ended up going in for 2 hours that afternoon. It went well, and I was hoping for an offer, but they asked me to come back for another 3-hour interview session. I did that, and it also went very well. I was told I'd hear back in a few days. The next day, HR called to see if I was still interested and mentioned that my salary request might be a bit high. I said I'd be happy with the lower end of my range, but their tone didn't change. They said to expect an offer the next day. The next day passed, and so did the weekend. On Monday afternoon, I called them and left a voicemail. Shortly after, I got an email saying they decided not to move forward because of my salary request. I was surprised and upset because they had initially seemed agreeable, and after all the interviews with positive feedback, I was rejected without a chance to negotiate.