⭐ 1/5 — Candidate Experience Review (L1 Interview) I recently went through an L1 interview at Darwinbox. The interview, on the surface, seemed to go well. However, within 5 minutes of the interview ending, I received a rejection email — before any reasonable review of my responses could have taken place. ⚠️ What candidates should know: • The interview felt like a formality. A rejection this fast strongly suggests the decision was made before the conversation even started. • There was zero transparency. No feedback, no explanation — just a templated rejection mail almost instantly. • The entire experience felt disrespectful of my time and effort. Preparing for an interview only to be dismissed within minutes is demoralizing and unprofessional. • Poor candidate experience overall. If this is how Darwinbox treats candidates at the screening stage, it raises serious questions about their internal culture and hiring integrity. To anyone interviewing here — go in with managed expectations. If a role is already decided internally, the process should not waste candidates' time with interviews that are not genuine. I hope Darwinbox takes candidate experience more seriously in the future.

The interview process consisted of three stages: Recruiter, Manager/User 1, and Director/User 2. The interviews went well, and the questions were relevant and made sense. Overall the interview process was quick, all was done within 2 weeks, although the salary negotiation went back and forth.