CEO had posted on Linked In about an opening on his team and I had asked for more information. He called me the same day and we had about a 30 min conversation- he was very warm and welcoming and basically just wanted to get to know me. He gave me insight on the position and told me that to do the job well, you have to put in the time. The conversation ended with him wanting me to think about everything and to stay in touch. I reached out to him the next day and asked to meet in person in which he responded with a date and time the following week. We met in person for about 2.5 hours and talked a lot about ourselves, just got to know each other because he felt as though it’s important to have likeminded people in his company and wanted to make sure I would fit the culture. He prefaced again that the job would take a lot of time and that I would have to really work hard but the money would be worth it. He told me to take some more time to think about the job and if I really wanted to do it. I reached out to him 4 days later and thanked him for his time and that I felt it would be a good fit for me. I was absolutely willing to put in the time. He told me that he would find time the next week for me to meet with 2 other people who worked for him. The next week I met with the recruiter who I would be working with and who would be training me and also an account manager. These were 2 separate conversations- a total of another 2.5 hours. I had really great conversations with both of them, and once again we talked about ourselves a lot. I was told to give the CEO a call the next day to discuss further steps. The next day I called and he said that he thinks I would be a really great fit for the team and he wanted me to come in the next week to go over compensation. The morning before I was going to go in, he texted me asking for references )which I thought should’ve been done sooner) however I still sent them to him. The following day I went in and met with the CEO- he broke down the commission structure and asked how much I made at my last job which was a base salary of 60k and commission. He never told me what I would be making however he said that he was thinking of 45k for me and that he wouldn’t feel right paying me more than what everyone else was getting paid- but still nothing concerning compensation was straight forward. He told me that I would be interviewing with a woman in HR afterwards, which honestly was the most “interview-like” conversation that I had there. It was fairly short, about 15 min. I met afterwards with the account manager- and then the CEO again. He told me he would call me that day with more information on moving forward. Later that day he texted me letting me know that he had spoken with one of my references and said he would call the next day. I spoke with him the next day and he asked where my head was at. At this point I had spent 3 weeks and numerous hours interviewing with this company. I was still unsure about what my compensation would be. He had let me know in the beginning of the process that he doesn’t like to focus on the pay to soon- which I can completely understand- however dragging out the process and not disclosing what the pay is, is a red flag. I told him that I had been interviewing with similar companies and that they could pay me $54,500 and he told me straight forward that he couldn’t pay me that- however that wasn’t the only thing I was focusing on. I really liked the culture and who everyone was. I never met one person there that wasn’t smiling. I knew I would really do well with the company and in my position. I didn’t mind spending countless hours working- however that conversation was going in circles. He told me that he couldn’t pay me 54.5k however he never told me what he could pay me. He told me that it sounds like I was going to work for whatever company would offer me the most and that he wanted me to take a day to think about everything and he would too. The next day he called and asked where my head was at and I told him that I appreciated all of his time that he gave me. He was very nice and runs a great business (from what I could tell) however he was never clear with the compensation- I was patient in waiting because I know there’s a time and place where talking about that is appropriate- but dragging it out and then never telling me after you say that I would be a great fit for the team is not fair. I felt as if I was being strung along the whole time. He wished me good luck in the future. This whole interview process was not structured at all. Very disorganized. I felt like I could’ve gotten and offer but he told me that he would never offer the position to someone unless he knew they would accept and in the case- I wasn’t.