I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Epsilon (Bengaluru) in May 2021
Interview
Good Panel, Bad HR. The interview process was very nice. They made the candidate feel comfortable, and the entire team was present during the interview. the questions were based on Projects mentioned in the interview, and case study. The panel was exceedingly nice, but the HR threw a wrench in the offer coming through. During the last interview the panel said looking forward to speaking with you again - this was a clear indication of a positive interview.
Next day I receive a call from an HR with whom I was interacting for the 1st time, to share my salary expectation. I was taken aback by this, and asked her to share a tentative offer first, and that I am open to discussion. But she insisted on getting a current salary and expected salary figure from me. Within a day of sharing the expectation, I receive a mail from an automated mailbox saying your profile has been rejected. This left me stumped.
I checked with the HR to understand better, she said your expectation was too high. I reiterated, that I want to know you offer 1st, and am open to discussion.
Then she came back with an offer that was barely 10% more than my current drawn salary. SO I said no to it. Then she said we have another role in another division where hiring budget is higher, and we may be able to accommodate you there. Would you like to interact with the director. I said yes.
I had an interaction of 1 hour with the director (we overshot by 15 mins). After the interview I Heard Nothing from the HR. After 2 weeks of waiting, I mailed her asking about the result of the discussion. To this I receive a template response - "We are sorry to say we wont be proceeding with your candidature"
The HR doesnt realize that the candidate has been on this journey with the company for 2 months, has solved an intense case study for 10 days (while doing their day job), and has performed great in 3 technical interviews. After this , not being told the end result , and having to facing silence and abrupt closures is a low blow. This is part of the Job description of the HR, and it shows the company and its professionalism in poor light.
If salary was a constraint, the expectation discussion should have been carried out at start of the interview process. Else one expects that for the skills being used at work (Deep Learning and AI), the budget will be high.
Before this interaction, I held Epsilon in good esteem. Sadly my experience has made me recosider.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Gave a Case study to solve using LSTM and 10 days to solve it. After they reviewed the solution, I was called back for another round, and a deep dive on the approach and process was done. Some technical questions on working of LSTM Gates, and the data pre processing approach was tested
We are disappointed to hear that your interview experience did not meet your expectations. We value your detailed feedback and we will look into this further.