M&C Saatchi Group interview questions

Lengthy, There were a couple of rounds online before a face-to-face interview. It was a standard competency-based interview and culture fit style questions. This also included several coffees with team members to ascertain that fit.

Submitted an application for an IT role. I entered the minimum expected salary that I needed for the role. A lady from talent acquisition arranged an interview with me. During the interview she mentioned that my expected salary was 5k above their budge and asked if I would consider it (of course I replied no). Why waste 1 hour of my life and then ask me if I would consider a significantly lower salary? She could have asked this question before arranging an interview. Time waster and unprofessional. My advice to any candidates with M&C Saatchi would be to double check the salary with the recruiter before the interview, in order to avoid wasting your time.