Is this normal during interview?
I recently had an interview experience that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, and I’m wondering how common this is.
I interviewed with a major life sciences company in the RA dept. that posted a clear salary range for the role and required applicants to enter a desired base salary in the application. I listed a number roughly in the middle of the posted range, about $35k below the top end.
During the interview, the recruiter asked whether there was “wiggle room” on my number, which already felt a little odd given where it fell within their stated budget. They then explained that the budget for the role had apparently changed quite a bit and that they wanted to go back to HR with a “more reasonable” number as the lower end of the posted range is closer to what they were looking for.
I was honestly a little perplexed. Presumably the salary range was approved before the role was posted, so it felt strange to suddenly be negotiating against an entirely different range after the fact. I did move forward to another interview stage, and I wasn’t looking to be argumentative in the moment, but the whole interaction felt a little…icky? Almost like the goal was to get candidates in the door with one range and recalibrate expectations later.
Another thing that stood out to me was how aggressively they were trying to move the process along. There seemed to be a lot of urgency around hiring quickly, and I was immediately asked back for a second round interview which happened the very next day. I wasn’t sure whether the speed was genuine urgency or part of trying to get candidates emotionally invested and moving fast before they had time to really step back and evaluate things.
I had the complete opposite experience with another company interviewing for a nearly identical role. During the first-round conversation, the recruiter asked about my salary expectations and I gave essentially the same number and they actually responded with something along the lines of, “Got it, so more like XYZ,” and adjusted it upward by about $10k.
Again, relatively new to this so just trying to understand if that first company is a red flag or if that is common before my third round interview. Thanks!!