Process started off great with an initial screening phone call from HR Recruiter who wanted to know more about my background, what I am looking for, why I am leaving my current employer, hybrid working environment and salary expectations. I expressed to her that I was looking for a salary around the $110K-$115K range which she said was definitely within the range for the role so that it made sense for us to move forward.
The first round was a video call with the hiring manager, it was slated for 30 minutes but ended up going for an hour and was an overall positive experience. Wanted to know about my experience with FP&A, why I am leaving my previous employer, specifics about times I had worked through dealing with difficult team members and how I led a project. They stressed to me the importance of being ambitious, and how there was a multitude of opportunities available at the firm. Asked him questions about cyclical vs. project based work, skills for success, etc. Even connected with the hiring manager on continuing education and expressed admiration for his pursuit of the CFA and mentioned I would be interested in it as well if supported.
Then I proceeded to a second round with someone who was above the hiring manager who had worked in his role previously. Again interview went well, asked me about similar things, more focus on behavioral questions and specific examples vs. general knowledge/experience. All in all thought it went well.
After a week I heard back from the initial recruiter who told me I was their top candidate and they wanted to move forward with an offer. Then she took a day to get back to me with specifics and when we got on the phone to present the offer details I was shocked to hear her say the team was willing to offer $95K (vs. the $110-115K we discussed prior). When I mentioned to her that this was far off from what we discussed, she told me they told a lot of time to come up with this number, considered "market rate", "internal equity", and my experience (mind you role required 3+ years of experience, I have 9, and Bachelors degree, I have an MBA in addition). When I told her I was excited about the role but not the offer she gave me a chance to think about it and counter. So when I called back I said I would like to go with the initial amount we talked about of $110K (which she agreed was in her notes of what I said) and they came back to me with a firm "no we will stay at $95K take it or leave it". Needless to say, this was extremely disappointing and I made it clear to this recruiter that I believed they had pulled a bait and switch on me and that if they truly told me the "Max" was $95K I would have never bothered with the interview in the first place. She claimed that by me saying "I'm open to negotiation" that meant I would be willing to take $15K+ less than the bottom of the range we discussed. I am writing this review as a warning to anyone else that they will lie to you just to get you to waste your time on the interview, just to be extremely rigid on the salary. This is a $130B bank, another $15K is a drop in the bucket to them but this clear lack of willingness to even haggle spoke volumes to me. Not interested in applying there ever again.