Total waste of time!
They reached out to me back in April for a job opening of Senior Software Engineer. There were supposed to be three rounds. Two technical and then the final round was with the CTO.
The two rounds went well. The interviewers were quite helpful throughout the process, and after that, I was set to sit for the third round, which was supposed to be a mix of technical and managerial.
The last round went well. There were straight questions which were addressed with straight answers. Generally, if an interviewer is not satisfied with an answer, they ask a follow-up or try to inspect it in bits and pieces. However, that was not the case here, which had me thinking the interview went well.
After everything, the HR asked me about the expected compensation again, which was weird and then in the evening, they sent me an email regarding the rejection.
Now, what struck me was not clarifying the reason for rejection, and when I called the HR, addressing my concerns, she had no clue why I was rejected, and later she asked if I could reconsider my expected compensation, they might kinda think about it.
I was disappointed, but I kept my composure and tried to make her understand that the call itself, in the first place, was not for negotiation. The call was a response to the rejection mail seeking clarification for the reason of rejection, which they did not have and never will.
I got what I asked for in another company, and they might have found a better candidate. Life goes on. It's just that the professionalism is not there.
If they had budget constraints, they should not have gone for the candidate, and if they are rejecting someone, there should not be a place for salary negotiation post-rejection, especially when they do not have a reason for the rejection.