This was my worst interview experience in 2023.

The interview process had 4 stages and half of them were unnecessary. I basically moved from each stage to the next, and was asked the same set of questions but by different people. The final two interviewers also gave me different salary ranges "according to the company's budget" which threw me off. We were two final candidates and the CEO also asked me to sit in and listen during the other candidate's session - which I thought was funny... After the candidate left, my first question was to do a critique of the previous candidate. [LOL] Worst of all was when I was given an offer way below my initially stated desired salary (Which was stated over 2 weeks before this final stage). The CEO stated that I was definitely qualified but he wouldn't want to bring an external hire who would “out-earn” his internal team. However, he needed my experience to head the team and lead. 

I insisted on seeing a full offer in writing and the CEO declined - stating his word was the offer and that was what would be in the letter anyway. I refused the offer, left and sent them a rejection email.

Only for the HR to call me 2 weeks after to ask me why I hadn’t responded to their offer yet.

 There were too many red flags for me and the team evidently lacked cohesion. It screamed “VERY Boss-driven” and “no organizational culture”