That’s fair, and I’m sure it can be done tastefully. I gave an earnest answer and it got an overall positive response.
But there was an air of “putting me in my place” and making it clear that this is not “fun and games”. When I mentioned my previous compensation (when I lived in a more affluent country), I was immediately made to know that this is unrealistic and even laughable for a starting position. Sprinkle in a 9h workday, in-office requirements and the fact that often people work overtime (“Though you really don’t need to do that.”), and the notion that the company cares about work-life balance rung very hollow.
The HR question at the end - what do you do in your free time? (so that they could put it as a blurb on their People page) - was just the cherry on top.
Basically I was given low expectations and I don’t recall the job ever being presented as something I’d want to do.
I appreciate the honesty, I guess. Better to know upfront than find out latter. I did end up being called back, but declined. Soon enough I was making 1.5x the minimum they weren’t happy to accept upfront (“maybe once you’ve been with us for a while - you are an expense to us in the first months”).
TBH, looking back at it, they were just predatorily looking for cheap labor in their new offices in a low-income area. Which is sad, since the interviewer came from the same country yet acted quite full of himself. I just happened to have more options than their “ideal” candidate.
But there was an air of “putting me in my place” and making it clear that this is not “fun and games”. When I mentioned my previous compensation (when I lived in a more affluent country), I was immediately made to know that this is unrealistic and even laughable for a starting position. Sprinkle in a 9h workday, in-office requirements and the fact that often people work overtime (“Though you really don’t need to do that.”), and the notion that the company cares about work-life balance rung very hollow.
The HR question at the end - what do you do in your free time? (so that they could put it as a blurb on their People page) - was just the cherry on top.
Basically I was given low expectations and I don’t recall the job ever being presented as something I’d want to do.
I appreciate the honesty, I guess. Better to know upfront than find out latter. I did end up being called back, but declined. Soon enough I was making 1.5x the minimum they weren’t happy to accept upfront (“maybe once you’ve been with us for a while - you are an expense to us in the first months”).
TBH, looking back at it, they were just predatorily looking for cheap labor in their new offices in a low-income area. Which is sad, since the interviewer came from the same country yet acted quite full of himself. I just happened to have more options than their “ideal” candidate.