What is the hiring process like at Universal Music Group?

Other teams seemed to be cohesive teams. IT dept solved my PC issues quickly.

I’ve never written a Glassdoor review before, but after my brief and startling experience at Universal Music Group (UMG), I felt compelled to share. I was employed for just three days before being abruptly fired without a clear, justifiable reason. I left a job I enjoyed, excited for this opportunity, only to find that the reality fell far short of expectations. The interview process was adequate, but in hindsight, there were red flags I should have paid more attention to. I had heard about the difficult reputation of my prospective manager from multiple sources, but I chose to give the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, this was a mistake. While UMG promotes a culture of communication, what I encountered was a team filled with cliques, where inclusion felt performative at best. One of the most shocking aspects was the lack of transparency around working hours. I was informed that the role required a 9-6 schedule only on my first day, despite having multiple discussions prior to my start date that it could have been disclosed. To make matters worse, I was later told that one of the reasons for my termination was leaving at 6 PM – the exact end time I was given on my first day. This was despite the fact that I checked in with my manager both days I was in the office before leaving and was clearly adhering to the guidelines communicated to me. This moving target of unclear expectations eventually culminated in arbitrary reasons for my dismissal. The onboarding process was largely unorganized, with the majority of my welcome coming from individuals outside my team, who were much more friendly and engaging. The manager I reported to seemed more concerned with trivial matters, like his personal office environment and how it looks, rather than providing guidance or setting clear expectations. Despite my efforts to adapt, I was consistently met with resistance, feeling isolated and stonewalled. The culmination of this came when I was fired in a Zoom meeting, during which the SVP and my manager revealed that they had harbored doubts about me from the start. This stemmed from my request to push my start date due to illness – a reasonable request that I was willing to support with a doctor’s note. Ironically, my manager had requested that I contact him via personal cell instead of email, adding unnecessary complexity to an already frustrating situation. There was no opportunity for improvement or feedback through a performance improvement plan (PIP) – just a sudden termination. This was incredibly disheartening, especially considering it had only been three days. I later discovered that this role has seen several people cycle through it in the past year, and I was essentially hired to do a job that realistically requires more than one person. The workload was excessive, and many of the upper management either canceled or skipped check-in meetings entirely. The one exception was the virtual operations team member, who was dedicated to onboarding me properly. Everyone else, unfortunately, was either disengaged or unavailable. I would advise anyone considering this team to proceed with caution. While I did have positive interactions with the IT and benefits teams, as well as some digital staff, my experience within the People, Inclusion, and Culture department was shockingly toxic. The misrepresentation I experienced – from the team culture to the workload – is something I’ll be reflecting on for some time.

Talented colleagues and interesting problems to work on. Unfortunately my experience with my direct manager overshadowed what could otherwise have been a positive role

I joined the team excited to contribute, but my role ended during probation. From early on the management style I experienced felt unusually hostile for someone still onboarding into a complex and highly technical domain. Feedback was frequent and delivered in a strongly critical tone, and discussions often felt confrontational rather than collaborative. At one point I was accused of my work being AI generated when it absolutely was not. Contributions I made in meetings were sometimes later raised in one-to-one sessions as serious mistakes. One of the most difficult aspects of the experience was the contrast between how my manager was perceived internally and how interactions sometimes unfolded in private one-to-one meetings. In group settings the tone could appear friendly and supportive, but in one-to-one sessions it could shift dramatically and escalate quickly into very harsh and personal criticism. This made it difficult to raise concerns because the external perception of the situation was very different from my experience in those meetings. At one point I asked if someone else could join our sessions to help ensure feedback was delivered professionally and constructively. Following that request the situation escalated and HR became involved, which ultimately resulted in my role being terminated during probation. There were also moments where feedback and interpretations of work felt inconsistent with previous discussions, which created confusion about expectations and made it difficult to respond constructively. Over time this created an environment where it felt as though mistakes were being collected rather than addressed collaboratively. During the hiring process it was agreed that I would join at a Senior level. While I was still serving my notice period at my previous role, another designer was hired as a Product Designer. This effectively changed the structure and implications of the role before I had even started, and the difference in titles and expectations was later referenced in discussions around my performance. This change had not been communicated during the hiring process and meant the role differed from what had originally been agreed. The timing of this hire created the impression that the need for the role may have already changed before I arrived.

Other teams seemed to be cohesive teams. IT dept solved my PC issues quickly.

I’ve never written a Glassdoor review before, but after my brief and startling experience at Universal Music Group (UMG), I felt compelled to share. I was employed for just three days before being abruptly fired without a clear, justifiable reason. I left a job I enjoyed, excited for this opportunity, only to find that the reality fell far short of expectations. The interview process was adequate, but in hindsight, there were red flags I should have paid more attention to. I had heard about the difficult reputation of my prospective manager from multiple sources, but I chose to give the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, this was a mistake. While UMG promotes a culture of communication, what I encountered was a team filled with cliques, where inclusion felt performative at best. One of the most shocking aspects was the lack of transparency around working hours. I was informed that the role required a 9-6 schedule only on my first day, despite having multiple discussions prior to my start date that it could have been disclosed. To make matters worse, I was later told that one of the reasons for my termination was leaving at 6 PM – the exact end time I was given on my first day. This was despite the fact that I checked in with my manager both days I was in the office before leaving and was clearly adhering to the guidelines communicated to me. This moving target of unclear expectations eventually culminated in arbitrary reasons for my dismissal. The onboarding process was largely unorganized, with the majority of my welcome coming from individuals outside my team, who were much more friendly and engaging. The manager I reported to seemed more concerned with trivial matters, like his personal office environment and how it looks, rather than providing guidance or setting clear expectations. Despite my efforts to adapt, I was consistently met with resistance, feeling isolated and stonewalled. The culmination of this came when I was fired in a Zoom meeting, during which the SVP and my manager revealed that they had harbored doubts about me from the start. This stemmed from my request to push my start date due to illness – a reasonable request that I was willing to support with a doctor’s note. Ironically, my manager had requested that I contact him via personal cell instead of email, adding unnecessary complexity to an already frustrating situation. There was no opportunity for improvement or feedback through a performance improvement plan (PIP) – just a sudden termination. This was incredibly disheartening, especially considering it had only been three days. I later discovered that this role has seen several people cycle through it in the past year, and I was essentially hired to do a job that realistically requires more than one person. The workload was excessive, and many of the upper management either canceled or skipped check-in meetings entirely. The one exception was the virtual operations team member, who was dedicated to onboarding me properly. Everyone else, unfortunately, was either disengaged or unavailable. I would advise anyone considering this team to proceed with caution. While I did have positive interactions with the IT and benefits teams, as well as some digital staff, my experience within the People, Inclusion, and Culture department was shockingly toxic. The misrepresentation I experienced – from the team culture to the workload – is something I’ll be reflecting on for some time.

Talented colleagues and interesting problems to work on. Unfortunately my experience with my direct manager overshadowed what could otherwise have been a positive role

I joined the team excited to contribute, but my role ended during probation. From early on the management style I experienced felt unusually hostile for someone still onboarding into a complex and highly technical domain. Feedback was frequent and delivered in a strongly critical tone, and discussions often felt confrontational rather than collaborative. At one point I was accused of my work being AI generated when it absolutely was not. Contributions I made in meetings were sometimes later raised in one-to-one sessions as serious mistakes. One of the most difficult aspects of the experience was the contrast between how my manager was perceived internally and how interactions sometimes unfolded in private one-to-one meetings. In group settings the tone could appear friendly and supportive, but in one-to-one sessions it could shift dramatically and escalate quickly into very harsh and personal criticism. This made it difficult to raise concerns because the external perception of the situation was very different from my experience in those meetings. At one point I asked if someone else could join our sessions to help ensure feedback was delivered professionally and constructively. Following that request the situation escalated and HR became involved, which ultimately resulted in my role being terminated during probation. There were also moments where feedback and interpretations of work felt inconsistent with previous discussions, which created confusion about expectations and made it difficult to respond constructively. Over time this created an environment where it felt as though mistakes were being collected rather than addressed collaboratively. During the hiring process it was agreed that I would join at a Senior level. While I was still serving my notice period at my previous role, another designer was hired as a Product Designer. This effectively changed the structure and implications of the role before I had even started, and the difference in titles and expectations was later referenced in discussions around my performance. This change had not been communicated during the hiring process and meant the role differed from what had originally been agreed. The timing of this hire created the impression that the need for the role may have already changed before I arrived.

- Unlimited PTO - The vacations, winter break, and summer Fridays - Getting into the music industry

- I think it depends greatly on your team and department, but this team was toxic. I felt very disrespected there. - Leadership could be very demanding and demeaning to their employees. In my first two weeks, management expected me to perform as if I had years of experience working there. Heavily micro-managed. - No work-life balance. - For this position, the managers and hiring team were not completely honest about the job before I accepted this position. There were a lot of added responsibilities and expectations, and they tried to take away my time off benefits. This position almost felt as if it wasn't a part of the same company. I would stay away from this position. - There are very few opportunities posted within the company and little room for growth. - The compensation was below average.

Goood interview process I dont know

Hirevue is very time consuming

the pay is good for 4 working days

no training provided for new people