I applied online. I interviewed at BASF (Berlin) in Jan 2021
Interview
There was only a single panel interview with two very kind technical people. I was offered a position after waiting for 1,5 months. I declined the offer because the salary was way lower than my expectation, the average salary for this position in Berlin and my current salary in my home country.
Pros: Single interview, very nice people, fun interview, a lot of smiles, professional HR process, offer to assist for obtaining a working permit for Germany.
Cons: Long waiting period, very low salary (€10-15K lower than the average), no chance to meet with the team, no clear visibility/written or spoken additional information about the work except the ones that are giving during the single interview.
All in all, my experience was neutral because I had no negativity from any people during the interviews and with the offer process. However, I got the impression that the company's intention was to make a *cheap employment* from immigrants. I think one could barely survive with the salary I was offered and I think that offer was NOT fair for anyone wanting to work and live in Berlin. They ignored my counter offer and didn't raise the initial offer amount.
To simply put: I was offered a GROSS salary, and I am earning nearly the equal amount but in NET (!) in my home country, which is way cheaper than Germany.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The interview started very unexpected to me. There was no explanation initially and there was no structure. I explained my past experiences and while I was speaking the interviewers dynamically asked questions about the topics about what I was talking about.
They focused more on cloud technologies and cloud migration.
They also wanted to know if I would be comfortable executing development tasks myself along with my PO duties.