The first-level screening discussion was scheduled after I submitted my application, including my expected CTC details. The call mainly ended up being around compensation alignment. During the discussion, I was informed that the maximum budget for the Software Manager role was around xx LPA, which was already in line with my current compensation. My concern is that the compensation range could have been validated before scheduling the interview, as it would have saved time for both sides. Since there was no meaningful compensation upside, we mutually decided not to proceed further.