Interviewed for a Presales role and unfortunately had a very disappointing experience. During the initial HR discussion, I was clearly told that the company had an open budget and would be able to match my expectations. Based on that understanding, I proceeded with the interview process and completed three rounds, including one in-person round that required significant time and effort. However, after completing all the rounds and even after the team collected my documents, the final offer came with less than a 10% hike over my current compensation. This was surprising and felt misleading given the earlier conversation about an open budget and matching expectations. It raises a simple question: why would a candidate leave their current organization for such a marginal increase, especially after investing so much time in the process?Candidates are not stupid to invest their time and efforts if the company’s budget doesn’t meet their expectations. Try to respect their time. Greater transparency about budget and compensation expectations at the beginning would help avoid situations like this. The process came across as quite unprofessional and could be handled much better with honest communication. As per their current employees, the work culture is pretty bad and toxic.