Communications started with an email invitation following my application through the company's career portal.
Approximately two weeks later, I was invited for an in-person meeting with two interviewers. First impression I had when I arrived was that I was at the wrong place! A very cold, unfriendly environment, dark rooms, narrow corridors with low light. No smile on people's faces - I could feel their tension and apprehensiveness. Everything looked so business-driven (number-driven?) they probably did not had time to think about employees' wellness. This was my first and most important disappointment: where is the famous employees' awarded company? So, am I going to spend 8 hours of my day in a place like that? I don't think so...
When the interview started, half of my energy and enthusiasm were already drained by the stone cold place. The interviewers were very polite and professional, although very demanding (robotic?) and focused, giving the impression that it was a test, a challenge, instead of an interview. A great hint on what kind of management I could expect to have - which may be great to others, but just doesn't work for me.
Questions were very broad and somehow disconnected, from the usual "tell me about yourself" to very hypothetical questions about systems and tools. Sorry I cannot remember further, but at a certain point I just wanted to leave the place...
Maybe I could see more if I accepted the job and had given them a chance, but a hiring process is a two-way road: a candidate must brand him or herself to the employer as much as the company must brand itself to the candidate. When I hear the question "why should I hire you?" (or questions alike), I always think about reversing the question such as "why should I work for you?". I am sure the answer would be focused on numbers and overall sentiment, which was totally different from what I saw there.
When I asked "do you like to work here?", the answer was a brief "Yes". I confess that I almost asked "Are you sure?"...
I wish someone could really show me why, where and how did Janssen/J&J win the employees' awards for being a good place to work, because during the interview I could not see it, neither from the interview itself nor from the workplace surroundings and from the people working there. Maybe this is different at other sites, but this one in Belgium is awful!