Very different and weird experience -- though I didnt get the role but thought of sharing my experience. I applied online and was contacted by recruiter and salary expectations and other stuff was discussed -- the recruiter told me that he would send me his details so that I could reach out with questions. A week passed and nothing, I looked up on my emails and found his contact details from an year ago, the same recruiter left me hanging then too. With no expectations whatsoever, this time atleast I was put in the interview process. I had to followup after a week everytime after each interview to get the recruiters attention. After 3 telephone interviews , the recruiter came back and said oh my bad the salary is (discussed range)-50k. I politely declined then, but the recruiter came back after a week to express further interest and now agreeing on a salary of (discussed range )-10k. I went for the face to face interview followed by radio silence for two weeks. I followed up and this time recruiter said there is an interest but we cant pay more than (discussed range )-15k -- to test the waters I agreed and the recruiter said that he would get back to in a week. After two weeks of followup and multiple emails the recruiter called and told me they went ahead with somebody else that was cheaper!
The recruiter at times said he doesnt know anything or more than I do etc. I had to chase him on multiple occasions. Please treat your prospective employees with dignity and dont doubt their intelligence.
Spoke with three folks. All were great and explained the role, their role and also asked me related questions -- I probably gave them better ideas to make the process better and address potential gaps.
All in all, I got the experience the interview process which is reflective of the culture within the firm -- lax and slow. I am glad I failed in expectations and didnt get the opportunity!