Unprofessional process and conflicting information about the salary. I had a negative experience with this company through a 5-step process! Here’s a detailed breakdown of my experience with a timeline: In February, I applied for the role of ‘Intelligence Analyst’, which is a technical research role. Step 1: The next day, I received an email with a link to do a 30-minute “aptitude test” on a platform called TestGorilla. The test itself was fine, but had weird questions that don't necessarily give proper insights into someone’s character and cognitive abilities. Step 2: The following day I got an email for the first round of interviews. The call was not very useful as I was given general information about the company but not the role itself. When asked about my salary expectations, I didn't give a number and instead asked what the budget for the role was and clarified that based on that I would determine whether I’d like to continue in the process or not. I was then tol that there actually 2 vacancies: one junior analyst and one senior analyst, and the budget for BOTH was 30-60k, depending on the seniority level of the candidate and their experience. I then said well with my 7+ years of technical research experience, I’d like to be considered for the senior role. I was then told the next step would be to do an assessment and if successful, I’d have an interview with the hiring manager. So far fair, no issues. Step 3: I then received an email with a very, very long assessment. I submitted 10 pages of the test 3 days later. Step 4: 2 weeks later, I get a call back to set up an interview with the hiring manager. I have the interview mid-March, so around a month after I first applied. I made it clear -twice- that I only want to be hired for the senior role and not a junior role, and explained that the role was very similar to my current and past jobs and I was doing more or less the same work. When I asked for feedback about my assessment and about any challenges I should expect in the job, I was told it was clear that I was not a junior and hence would not need much training because it sounds like I was already doing the same work in my current role. Then the first red flag came up: While the role itself entailed technical research mostly related to business intelligence and financial due diligence, 25% of the role would entail PR crisis management to help maintain the reputation of the founder alongside their personal PR consultancy. That was a weird detail but I assumed this was not a big deal. Step 5: After that, I received an email from HR telling me that the feedback from the interview was positive and I progressed to the next steps which was a culture-fit interview. The call was okay and had the usual questions about commuting to the office a few times per week and my visa status. Then I was asked about my salary expectations and I said starting at 50 or 55k. I said explicitly I know this is within your budget for the role based on my first screening call. I was then told I’d hear back within a week. Three days later, I get a call asking why I changed my desired salary and gave two different numbers in the first screening call and then in the culture fit call. Apparently, according to notes, I allegedly first asked for 30k in the first call then asked for 55k in the other call. I clarified that I had not given any salary number in the first call and that 30k is anwyays less than my current salary so I wouldn’t even ask for that. I also clarified that the 50-55k number I gave was the only time I stated my desired salary. I was then told that according to the written assessment, I was a junior and they cannot give that salary to someone with my level of experience. To which I replied that I have been doing the type of research for 7+ years and that the hiring manager himself said I wasn’t a junior and I wouldn't need much training given my long and relevant experience. I didn’t hear back for 2 weeks after that. I then sent several emails asking for updates. In one of the emails, I told the team I had received other job offers and I’d like to receive an answer since I had gone through multiple steps already. Still, I didn’t hear back. A month later, this was mid-May now so 3 months after going through all these steps, I sent an email telling them I was disappointed in how they handled the salary conversation and the recruitment process and that it was disrespectful to ghost me after this many steps and a 10-page technical assessment. I also mentioned I would write this honest review on glassdoor. Naturally, one person immediately replied, saying they would check what was going on and why I hadn’t heard back, as if they hadn’t also ignored my emails lover the previous two months. The last person from the last call replies the next day asking for a call which I declined as they had already wasted enough of my time. They then send me an email that did not address my points about being ghosted and about the salary conversation and their confusion about my seniority level. The email only said that they wanted to hire me but my desired salary exceeded their budget -which was false as the upper bracket of the salary was 60k- and they blamed internal miscommunication without addressing the fact that they had collectively ghosted me and wasted my time for 3.5 months.