A senior candidate walked into what was advertised as a 10,000 to 50,000 role. Over the following weeks, they cleared eight interview rounds, speaking to roughly thirty people across the organisation. The process included a substantial take-home project — a full market analysis and project proposal — plus hours of preparation per stage and multiple 90-minute group interviews.
Starting around round four, the company repeatedly told the candidate each stage was the "final round." Then they added another. After the eighth and genuinely final conversation, the recruiter called with the news: the posted salary range had been a "mistake." The real maximum was 0,000 — forty percent lower than advertised.
The candidate, posting anonymously on Reddit's r/jobhunting, called it "a joke for my level of experience." The post drew more than 5,800 upvotes and over 500 comments. Commenters were split: some saw a deliberate bait-and-switch designed to extract a free consulting project, others a dysfunctional hiring process that wasted everyone's time. The candidate walked. Eight rounds to learn a number that should have been in the first email.