I was contacted on LinkedIn by one of BlackRock's recruiters for a "Senior Java Developer" position. After discussing the position and desired compensation, I was sent an online coding test.

A few days after completing the test, the recruiter called me and said that the compensation I required was too high for the "junior position" I was applying for. I asked about the "Senior Java Developer" position I was contacted about and supposedly applying for, and I was told that I needed (x+1) years of experience, but I only had x.

They then proceeded to ask for my current salary so they could add a reasonable amount on top of it, which I told them wouldn't have been lower than what I was looking for. I said I would be flexible with salary if they had a bonus scheme which would make up for the difference in salary, but they wouldn't even mention what sort of percentage I could expect, even as a very rough, unofficial estimate – I didn't know whether to expect 10% or 100%.

Upon asking what I could have done better so that I could have been considered for this "senior" position, I was told that there wasn't anything I could do better or differently; I just needed one more year of experience.

I was not willing to continue on a process which would result in a lower package than my current job.

• Why ask me to spend my time doing an online coding test, phone calls, emails, CV, etc., when our compensation expectations didn't match at all?
• Reassuring me that I was applying for a senior position then calling it a junior position makes it sound like the recruiter doesn't really know the positions they're recruiting for.

It honestly felt like they don't value the applicant's time at all. It would have been perfectly fine if they had outright said they wouldn't match my salary expectations at the start and left it at that.

This was a very negative experience and a complete waste of time.

90-minute coding challenge on HackerRank