I recently went through three rounds of interviews with a company. During the initial screening, my salary expectations were discussed and deemed acceptable.
During the first round and second round, I needed to design and defend a technical architecture. A classic use case, for which I spent around 14 hours and $20 on WiFi mid-flight from London to Kuala Lumpur. (Kudos to KLM, their inflight WiFi is so fast it makes Emirates’s connectivity feel like it’s running on a dial-up modem)
Midway through the process, their budget changed. They didn’t communicate this. They didn’t ask if I could work within the new range. They simply continued the interview process, then offered the position to a candidate whose expectations aligned with their revised budget.
I learned about this only after following up.
Here’s what frustrates me: I understand business decisions. I have been on the other side of the table. Hiring within budget constraints is reasonable. What’s not reasonable is keeping candidates in the dark when parameters change.
A simple conversation like “Our budget has shifted to X. Is this still workable for you?” would have saved everyone time and preserved mutual respect.
Instead, I invested hours across multiple sessions without the information needed to make an informed decision about continuing.
To hiring teams: when circumstances change mid-process, communicate it. Candidates have limited time and resources. Transparency doesn’t guarantee you’ll keep every candidate in your pipeline, but it does guarantee you’ll be remembered as an organization that values people’s time.
To fellow job seekers navigating this market: you’re not alone. Keep your standards for how you deserve to be treated, even when the market is tough.
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