I had an initial phone interview, followed by an in-person interview at the call center in Tempe at The University Center. The in-person interview was a panel formate with the candidate in the middle. You have to pay for parking at a meter. I think about 8 people were there and a couple took turns asking a few questions.
This position was so perfect for me and I did really well in the process. Throughout this process, salary was not mentioned!
I received a call shortly after informing me that I am on "conditional offer"- meaning if I pass the background check, in addition salary was mentioned. I didn't take this as an actual offer so I did not negotiate salary. I assumed this was just a heads up because that is how the person made it seem. I set up an appointment for fingerprinting, I made a whole spreadsheet of how I would pay off my debt, I was really excited. a Few days later I received an offer via email- this I took as an actual offer. Imagine how excited I was to finally start my career with a Job that I knew I would love.
I kindly emailed the HR lady back asking if a little bit of a higher salary was possible. I expected them to say no but I didn't want to regret not asking later.
The next day I received a voicemail from the hiring manager telling me my offer was rescinded!!! My heart was shattered and I frantically tried contacting them to apologize for whatever I had done. I emailed the hiring manager and she called me. I explained that I had been taught to negotiate salary and I apologize if it was off putting. I pleaded with her not to withdraw my offer but she was very very cold. I realized I was just a number to her.
She actually told me, " we have a pool of great candidates and we already moved on." Which literally made me feel worthless. It was a nice way of telling me, "you don't actually matter to us." I was also surprised by how fast they moved on, this whole interaction happened in a matter of hours. She added that she didn't just rescind the offer because I negotiated, but because I was "hard to get in contact with."
I had 2 phone calls from the school after interviews and both I immediately called back, which lead me to believe she was just justifying the unreasonable withdraw.
I cried for days after! I couldn't believe how disposable I was to them.